WEBVTT 00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:02.990 Hello, I'm James Criddon, the radio futurologist, 00:00:02.990 --> 00:00:05.429 and this is Radioland, my international radio 00:00:05.429 --> 00:00:08.949 trends newsletter for January the 18th, 2026. 00:00:09.269 --> 00:00:13.310 And this podcast is sponsored by RSS .com, a 00:00:13.310 --> 00:00:16.649 great podcast host that has a free tier if you 00:00:16.649 --> 00:00:20.309 are local or niche and you wish to have a podcast 00:00:20.309 --> 00:00:24.129 of your very own. Well worth a look at RSS .com. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:27.980 Now, with all the talk of closures last time 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:31.820 round, let's cover a brand new station. STV Radio 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:36.340 went live in Scotland on DAB. Its tagline is 00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:39.780 never the same song all day long. It's owned 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:42.600 by STV, the television company, and it should 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:44.820 therefore benefit from significant promotion 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:48.280 on the TV airwaves. I linked in my newsletter 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.219 to the main studio. in a picture from Facebook 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:54.460 which looks larger than any studio I've ever 00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:57.000 seen. I have a feeling it was the magic of the 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.799 camera lens. Notable comments on Facebook, though. 00:01:00.060 --> 00:01:02.799 I tried to get it on my Google Nest, but it didn't 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:06.099 recognise you. And good luck, Alexa, not picking 00:01:06.099 --> 00:01:08.900 it up, though. Station launches are hard these 00:01:08.900 --> 00:01:12.760 days, aren't they? James Masterton, a full -time, 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:15.920 a long -time supporter of this newsletter, even 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:18.599 if he's nothing to do with radio anymore, thank 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:21.579 you James, wrote about a long day's set of interviews 00:01:21.579 --> 00:01:23.579 about the Christmas number one in the UK. He 00:01:23.579 --> 00:01:26.780 writes a website called Chartwatch UK, which 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:30.739 is worth a peek. My favourite bit is that he 00:01:30.739 --> 00:01:35.079 appeared via Zoom for BBC Radio 2. in spite of 00:01:35.079 --> 00:01:37.719 being able to literally see the studio from his 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:41.060 hotel room, which is classic BBC. And it reminds 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:44.980 me of appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live from a radio 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:48.640 conference in 2007 or so. Now, the BBC had blocked 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:51.579 off half of the hotel restaurant. They'd set 00:01:51.579 --> 00:01:54.579 up a full mixing desk with a radio engineer looking 00:01:54.579 --> 00:01:57.799 after it, which took hours to set up. Stephen 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:01.620 Nolan was sent to chair this whole 10 -minute 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.030 panel. And I remember thinking what a lot of 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:08.090 work it all was. And then I thought, hang on 00:02:08.090 --> 00:02:10.669 a minute, this is weird. Because when we finished 00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:13.629 it, I stood up for the first time, looked across 00:02:13.629 --> 00:02:16.650 the street. And across the street in Belfast 00:02:16.650 --> 00:02:21.710 was the headquarters of BBC Ulster. They had 00:02:21.710 --> 00:02:26.360 done a full, expensive outside broadcast. literally, 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:29.719 to stop me crossing the road and sitting in a 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:34.689 BBC studio. Just really weird. Bless. AM Death 00:02:34.689 --> 00:02:38.090 Watch Corner, a number of US broadcasters are 00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:42.030 asking the FCC to make it easier to get their 00:02:42.030 --> 00:02:45.009 AM stations onto FM. There's a complicated set 00:02:45.009 --> 00:02:48.110 of requests in a petition that I linked to. David 00:02:48.110 --> 00:02:51.110 Oxenford has done a good job of summarising them. 00:02:51.349 --> 00:02:53.330 You'll find that linked from the newsletter. 00:02:53.469 --> 00:02:56.650 And Desi Radio, an Asian station in Southall 00:02:56.650 --> 00:03:01.509 in London. Closed on 1602 kHz on December 31st. 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:06.270 It continues on DAB Plus and online. In Germany, 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:09.610 classical music station Classic Radio. completed 00:03:09.610 --> 00:03:12.810 its plans for FM switch -off. The station has 00:03:12.810 --> 00:03:16.210 handed back more than 30 FM frequencies since 00:03:16.210 --> 00:03:19.590 2012. It's available nationally now on DAB Plus 00:03:19.590 --> 00:03:24.610 and online. Also, Radio WSW, which is a top 40 00:03:24.610 --> 00:03:29.020 radio station, which is probably WSWA. I don't 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:31.840 know. Anyway, that has decided not to renew its 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:35.060 FM licence on December 31st. It's now DAB Plus 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:38.740 and online only. And the station doesn't matter 00:03:38.740 --> 00:03:44.259 whether it's WSW or WSW, because the station 00:03:44.259 --> 00:03:48.659 is now called Radio Sachsen 1. So there we are. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:51.759 In France, what is the number one radio station 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.620 by total listeners? It's France Inter, according 00:03:55.620 --> 00:04:00.020 to a fancy graph from La Lettre Pro and sponsor 00:04:00.020 --> 00:04:03.840 RCS. All of the top five stations went down in 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:07.000 weekly reach, though. Skyrock are at number six, 00:04:07.060 --> 00:04:09.460 bucking the trend for younger stations everywhere. 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:13.340 But yeah, it's a good graph and worth a peek 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:16.060 from the newsletter version of this. YouTube 00:04:16.060 --> 00:04:19.579 is used by more people in the UK than BBC television, 00:04:19.980 --> 00:04:23.740 according to some new analysis. The data measured 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:26.800 so -called three -minute monthly reach. That's 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:28.860 people who've used each platform for at least 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:31.199 three minutes a month. But in a parallel with 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:33.959 podcasting figures, people don't use YouTube 00:04:33.959 --> 00:04:37.720 for long. If you compare a 15 -minute monthly 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:41.220 reach, BBC Television still comfortably beats 00:04:41.220 --> 00:04:44.579 YouTube by six million users. And then, of course, 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:47.120 there's the radio and podcasts to add in as well. 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:51.639 And I hear that Virgin Radio UK has undergone 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:54.860 a reworking and now has, among many changes, 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:57.600 has Geoff Lloyd returning to the evening show. 00:04:57.699 --> 00:04:59.899 For the first time, seemingly, that station has 00:04:59.899 --> 00:05:02.720 decided to remind people of its glory days in 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:05.120 the 1990s with a music policy to match. It should 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:11.220 be worth a listen. I'm told that the positioning 00:05:11.220 --> 00:05:13.850 jingles aren't very good. But I'm told that the 00:05:13.850 --> 00:05:16.930 music and everything else is excellent. And certainly 00:05:16.930 --> 00:05:20.850 if you watch the interviews that Christian, Christian? 00:05:21.230 --> 00:05:25.850 No, that Chris Evans is doing on his breakfast 00:05:25.850 --> 00:05:29.189 show, then you will recognise the TFI Friday 00:05:29.189 --> 00:05:33.189 desk, which is now in the studio, which is a 00:05:33.189 --> 00:05:35.649 very clever idea. So congratulations to them. 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:38.350 Ben Jones, of course, bouncing Ben Jones on in 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:40.829 the afternoon as well. He probably doesn't like 00:05:40.829 --> 00:05:43.540 being called bouncing Ben Jones. Any more, I 00:05:43.540 --> 00:05:46.740 should stop. He will be probably at Radio Days 00:05:46.740 --> 00:05:50.199 Europe, as will I be in Riga in Latvia in mid 00:05:50.199 --> 00:05:52.379 -March. I will be talking about the future of 00:05:52.379 --> 00:05:54.819 audio being people -powered. Please come and 00:05:54.819 --> 00:05:58.319 see me. I'm at the end of the first day. I'm 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:02.860 in track three. So it's well worth coming along. 00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:05.800 And who knows what I'll be saying for 40 minutes. 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:09.319 But we'll find out together. Also, I'm speaking 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:12.000 at the podcast show in London in mid -March. 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:15.319 May. I'm keynoting at that event as well as recording 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:19.120 a Pod News weekly review as well. If you want 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:23.220 money off, then you can get money off by subscribing 00:06:23.220 --> 00:06:26.339 to Pod News. Podnews .net is where you go for 00:06:26.339 --> 00:06:30.290 that. And you will see links to help you save 00:06:30.290 --> 00:06:34.089 money for that as well. Thank you to Meliora. 00:06:34.149 --> 00:06:36.990 Thank you to Brun Audio Consulting. And thank 00:06:36.990 --> 00:06:40.990 you to Admaster for your kind support. Plus Greg 00:06:40.990 --> 00:06:44.129 Strassel, Sam Phelps, Richard Hilton, Emma Gibbs, 00:06:44.329 --> 00:06:47.889 Jocelyn Abbey and James Masterton for being regular 00:06:47.889 --> 00:06:49.889 supporters. If you would like to support my work 00:06:49.889 --> 00:06:52.769 in any way, you can buy me a coffee. Buymeacoffee 00:06:52.769 --> 00:06:56.069 .com slash James Cridland. You can become a member 00:06:56.069 --> 00:06:58.459 to give. regularly or just give a one -off coffee 00:06:58.459 --> 00:07:01.740 or five, you can do that at buymeacoffee .com 00:07:01.740 --> 00:07:05.300 slash James Cridland. I'm on Mastodon or the 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:09.160 Fediverse as james at bne .social. That's my 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:11.339 pen dropping to the floor. That gave me a shock. 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:15.300 And you may find me somewhere else, but frankly, 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:18.040 Mastodon is the only thing that I'm really keeping 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:20.779 updated now. And my website has more details 00:07:20.779 --> 00:07:22.899 about who I am and what I do and whether I can 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:25.660 help you further. You'll find that at james .cridland 00:07:25.660 --> 00:07:29.040 .net. And until next time, keep listening.