WEBVTT

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I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist, and

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this is Radioland, my international radio trends

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newsletter for December the 7th, 2025. Does a

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trademark application tell us anything about

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Global's plans? This podcast is sponsored by

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rss .com. Now, rss .com has just launched some

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free podcast hosting if you're doing local podcasts.

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It's well worth a look. rss .com is where to

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go. It's a very good thing. rss .com is where

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to go. Now, back in mid -November, I covered

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SEA's lacklustre heart here in Australia, jokingly

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saying that if you're expecting to turn up the

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feel -good and enjoy a version of the vibrant

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heart from the UK, then you'll be disappointed.

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Well, it appears that Global in the UK, which

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owns Heart, the biggest radio brand in the country,

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has noticed. A search of IP Australia for registered

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trademark applications reveals that an Australian

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trademark application for Heart was made by Global

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on October 31st, just three days after SCA launched

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its own Heart. Global's also filed a removal

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of registration for non -use against SCA, who

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used to own Hart 107 .3 in Hobart, but that radio

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station changed name in 2006. Global also applied

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for the newsagents as an Australian trademark

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in 2023, a year after the launch of the Daily

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News podcast. And the company already owns a

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few trademarks here in Australia. Global itself,

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Global ID, the user registration tool, Global's

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newsroom, the name of the company's news gathering

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services. Oh, and turn up the feel good. Hart's

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positioning statement registered in September

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2021. I've often had a very funny joke that Global

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isn't. because it only owns radio stations in

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the UK. Now it owns a radio station in Monaco

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as well. But those trademark applications show,

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I think, that it appears to be interested in

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radio overseas. And I suspect it's just biding

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its time. In 2020, the FCC allowed iHeartMedia

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to be 100 % foreign -owned. The Bahamas -based

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Global Media and Entertainment Investments Limited

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currently owns 14 % of iHeartMedia in the US.

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But perhaps Global isn't just interested in the

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US. Australia has many parallels to the UK. Two

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big radio groups, opportunities with DAB +, a

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strong public service broadcaster, and no specific

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rules against foreign ownership. Maybe Global

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is waiting for an Australian radio group to fall

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on bad times. A low share price. low confidence

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in management and current owners willing to sell.

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By complete coincidence, News Corp has just sold

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its shares in ARN. ARN's the rather embattled

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owner of Kiss and Gold in Australia, which is

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currently warning of significantly lower profits.

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News Corp had owned those shares for a decade,

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having increased its holding to 14 .99 % in March

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2015 at 88 cents a share. News Corp will get

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$18 million and will also lose $18 million since

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it sold its stake in ARN. for just 44 cents a

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share. The current market cap of ARN is 140 million.

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Sydney smut peddlers Kyle and Jackie O have just

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completed the first two years of a 10 -year deal

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at 200 million dollars, a deal worth more than

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the worth of the entire company. Oh, and ARN

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has a brand license for iHeart Media's iHeart

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Radio and iHeart Podcasts in this country, as

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well as access to the app. Handy. Elsewhere,

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how should you use AI within radio? I linked

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to an article today from the newsletter. It's

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not about radio, but it might as well be. Gordon

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Firemark, who is a media lawyer in the US, has

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been thinking long and hard about how to use

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AI within podcasting. And it's all relevant for

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radio as well. One takeaway, you can't copyright

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anything that was produced by AI. So if you make

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a logo using it and someone else nicks it, then

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tough. It's a really good read. Highly recommended.

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I also linked today to an audio advent calendar

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with a different sound behind each door. I suppose

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I should find out what the sound is today. What

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is it? It's the 7th today. And let's see what

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this sound is. It's Russell Street. Step off

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here for the State Library of Victoria. A ten

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-minute walk from the next stop is the birthplace

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of Melbourne's vibrant cafe culture. Well, there

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you go. It seems that we were in Melbourne. I

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would have thought. That sounds like a Melbourne

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tram to me. So there's a thing. Anyway, it's

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very good. You should go and have a listen. YouTube's

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algorithm appears to have changed in September.

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It now heavily favours recency, according to

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a man called Mario Juice on LinkedIn, who shares

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a way that you can isolate that data for yourself.

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And if there's one thing that radio benefits

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from, it's recency. Unlike most other media,

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we're producing new stuff every single day. So

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particularly with YouTube Shorts, we should benefit

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from that, I would have thought. I link today

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to an unlocked story at the New York Times. College

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radio keeps its cool. Here's a quote from it.

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But if soon after the late summer of 1991 the

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internet killed radio, everyone forgot to tell

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the student stations. It's a good read. In Australia,

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CRA reports that quarter three 2025 saw broadcast

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radio revenue down around 5 % year on year. Digital

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audio revenue is up 12 .1%. but it's just 9 .7

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% of total revenue for the country's radio broadcasters.

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If you want to compare that with somebody else,

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well, iHeart in the US says that they are earning

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14 % of their total revenue just from podcasts.

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Additionally, CRA members only represent a third

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of the digital audio ad market. You'd assume

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that they would represent around 95 % of the

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radio ad market, so I'm surprised how low that

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is. Spotify's wrapped, and Apple, YouTube and

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Amazon equivalents all dropped this week, and

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I was curious as to whether any radio stations

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have done the same. Something like, you know,

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we played 40 ,000 songs. Sabrina Carpenter was

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our most played song or our most played artist.

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The most popular time to listen is 8 .42. It

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seems like it's an obvious no -brainer to highlight

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the significant size of radio broadcasting and

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reaffirm some marketing messages. I'd love to

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cover something like that. It'd be really interesting.

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Maybe that's a radio station doing that. Maybe

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that's somebody like Radio Centre or CRA or somebody

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else. but given that we've just been bombarded

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with raps over the last week, you kind of think,

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well, maybe there's an opportunity there right

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at the beginning of December. Who knows? And

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many breakfast shows in the Brisbane market have

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packed up early, with another week of survey

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still to go. At Nova, two out of the three hosts

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finished up last Friday, as Mr Brisbane has reported.

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For BC, their breakfast announcer disappeared

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in mid -October. And Kiss, where a well -respected

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trio ended a few weeks ago, and where Craig Lowy

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Lowe... It's apparently doing a new show from

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mid -January, though I'm still hedging some bets

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that all isn't as it seems. Anyway, the last

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survey this year ends on Friday and will report

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for the period October 5th to December 13th on

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January 20th. Now, I'm next speaking. In Florida,

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in the US, Podfest. Yes, I'm looking forward

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to doing that. Where we've been and where we're

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going, a look back at where we've come from,

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including last year's podcast news and trends

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to help us understand how podcasting is changing

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and how we should be changing with it. Plus,

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I look forward to what to do in 2026. I'm looking

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forward to writing it. Also, I'm speaking at

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Radio Days Europe in Riga in Latvia in mid -March.

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That's an excellent thing that you should go

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to. RadioDaysEurope .com is where to go. The

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future of audio is people -powered. The way people

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consume media is changing. James Cridland, the

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radio futurologist, that's me, takes a look at

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global trends in radio and on demand. How will

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we listen on which devices? How can we make our

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output truly unique? How do we do it in a resource

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-efficient way? And what part does video play

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in the future of audio? In this wide -ranging

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session, bringing together data from North America,

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Asia, Australia and Europe, we'll learn why the

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future is bright. as long as we understand why

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our audience comes to us in the first place.

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I'll go and watch that. In fact, I will be. So

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it'd be great to see you at one of those two

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things. Thank you so much to the many supporters

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of this podcast and my newsletter, Media Realm,

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rss .com, Brun Audio Consulting. and Clyde Broadcast,

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the radio people. Thank you to you. Thank you

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also to Greg Strassel, Sam Phelps, Richard Hilton,

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Emma Gibbs, Jocelyn Abbey and James Masterton

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for being regular supporters. James Masterton

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particularly because he's not using his radio

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anymore. But he says that he quite enjoys doing

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this. Anyway, if you'd like to support my work

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in any way, then please do. That'd be lovely.

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You can buy me a coffee. You can become a member

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to give regularly or just give a one -off coffee

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or five. You can do that at buymeacoffee .com

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slash James Cridland. Or alternatively, you can

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do that with Stripe. There's a link in the newsletter.

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And my website has more details about who I am

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and what I do and whether I can help you further.

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You'll find that at james .cridland .net. And

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until next time, keep listening.