WEBVTT 00:00:00.750 --> 00:00:03.290 Hello, I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist, 00:00:03.290 --> 00:00:05.450 and this is Radioland, my weekly international 00:00:05.450 --> 00:00:08.949 radio trends newsletter. What's the date today? 00:00:09.029 --> 00:00:12.509 It's February the 16th, 2026, and this podcast 00:00:12.509 --> 00:00:15.990 is sponsored by rss .com, podcast hosting that's 00:00:15.990 --> 00:00:18.250 actually free. You can start your podcast for 00:00:18.250 --> 00:00:20.929 free today with unlimited episodes, automatic 00:00:20.929 --> 00:00:24.190 distribution to major listening platforms. and 00:00:24.190 --> 00:00:26.989 detailed analytics from day one. You can upgrade 00:00:26.989 --> 00:00:30.190 at any time as well. RSS .com is where to go 00:00:30.190 --> 00:00:33.630 for that. Now, I've been watching the troubles 00:00:33.630 --> 00:00:36.750 of the television industry in a detached sort 00:00:36.750 --> 00:00:39.210 of way because it's very clear how quickly the 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:41.750 business of live television is collapsing before 00:00:41.750 --> 00:00:44.729 our eyes. It seems every few weeks there's another 00:00:44.729 --> 00:00:47.149 story about cost -cutting within the TV industry. 00:00:47.490 --> 00:00:49.990 I can't really remember the last time I watched 00:00:49.990 --> 00:00:52.939 live television. From the antenna, actually I 00:00:52.939 --> 00:00:56.479 can, we turned on the TV on January the 24th 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:59.280 to listen to Triple J's Hottest 100 on the big 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:01.979 speakers in the front room, but that wasn't watching 00:01:01.979 --> 00:01:04.680 the television really though, was it? Particularly 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.239 from an infrastructure point of view, the end 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:10.040 of broadcast TV is moving really very quickly. 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:13.140 In the UK, there's increasing talk about switching 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:16.879 off terrestrial television broadcasting. 2034 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:20.359 is given as a potential switch -off date. given 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:22.719 that that's when the contracts are due for renewal 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.799 with broadcasting infrastructure company Arkiva. 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:29.040 But that's television, and we don't need to care 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:32.799 about television, do we? So I thought. But what 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.680 I'd not appreciated until now was that of course 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:38.200 this means that the costs for maintaining the 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:42.200 terrestrial transmitter network post -2034 would 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:45.170 no longer mostly be paid for by television. That 00:01:45.170 --> 00:01:48.090 means that radio could end up being charged significantly 00:01:48.090 --> 00:01:52.469 more, according to a story in the iPaper. Radio 00:01:52.469 --> 00:01:55.709 isn't always co -sited with TV, but clearly maintenance 00:01:55.709 --> 00:01:59.030 of masts, ground rent, the cost of staff and 00:01:59.030 --> 00:02:01.109 offices and many other parts of the broadcast 00:02:01.109 --> 00:02:04.109 infrastructure world would end up having to be 00:02:04.109 --> 00:02:07.510 paid for almost entirely by radio broadcasters. 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:09.810 And frankly, there isn't the money to go around 00:02:09.810 --> 00:02:12.370 there. There's much to think about, I think. 00:02:12.759 --> 00:02:15.699 While FM and DAB Plus don't require anywhere 00:02:15.699 --> 00:02:18.699 near the same kind of infrastructure as AM or 00:02:18.699 --> 00:02:22.080 TV, at high transmission powers they still do 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:25.580 require proper transmission. Meanwhile, the UK 00:02:25.580 --> 00:02:28.460 government is running a review about the future 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:34.080 of FM radio beyond 2030. DAB is still much, much 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:36.080 bigger than online, so there's no suggestion 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:38.599 right now that it's the end of terrestrial radio, 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:42.020 and those masts will still need to be required. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:46.300 Radio Today has reported a Europe -wide piece 00:02:46.300 --> 00:02:49.419 of work celebrating listening to radio in the 00:02:49.419 --> 00:02:52.509 car. And I'm still surprised at the piecemeal 00:02:52.509 --> 00:02:54.530 approach that the radio industry is taking towards 00:02:54.530 --> 00:02:56.830 car manufacturers, which means that we get the 00:02:56.830 --> 00:02:59.669 sort of bad experience that I have in my car 00:02:59.669 --> 00:03:02.889 right now in terms of a radio receiver, because 00:03:02.889 --> 00:03:05.030 nobody is apparently talking to auto manufacturers 00:03:05.030 --> 00:03:08.090 about how to make it better. And that's not been 00:03:08.090 --> 00:03:10.870 helped by commercial radio in Australia overfilling 00:03:10.870 --> 00:03:13.449 its multiplexes, which has broken much of the 00:03:13.449 --> 00:03:16.469 functionality of DAB in my car, which is, again, 00:03:16.569 --> 00:03:18.490 something that nobody cares about either. My 00:03:18.490 --> 00:03:21.189 goodness, the amount of time that I've spent 00:03:21.189 --> 00:03:24.490 talking to the CRA about it and not getting particularly 00:03:24.490 --> 00:03:28.870 far. The BBC has launched a new tech podcast 00:03:28.870 --> 00:03:31.889 called The Interface. It's a BBC Studios audio 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:34.789 production for BBC Sounds of the UK and BBC .com 00:03:34.789 --> 00:03:38.340 internationally. And true to form, it has a bewildering 00:03:38.340 --> 00:03:40.900 distribution plan. If you're in the UK, you'll 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:44.000 be able to listen to it on BBC Sounds or wherever 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.659 you get your BBC podcasts. Outside the UK, you 00:03:47.659 --> 00:03:50.659 can listen to it on bbc .com or wherever you 00:03:50.659 --> 00:03:54.750 get your podcasts or watch it on YouTube. Outside 00:03:54.750 --> 00:03:57.909 the UK, despite the BBC's website having full 00:03:57.909 --> 00:04:00.069 video capability, you're not watching it there. 00:04:00.229 --> 00:04:02.889 No, you only get to watch it on a US website, 00:04:03.189 --> 00:04:05.750 Google's YouTube, with advertising and tracking. 00:04:06.530 --> 00:04:10.069 And inside the UK, in spite of the BBC's website 00:04:10.069 --> 00:04:12.669 having full video capability and the BBC having 00:04:12.669 --> 00:04:14.710 this thing called the iPlayer, which you might 00:04:14.710 --> 00:04:17.269 have heard of, which has lots of long -form video 00:04:17.269 --> 00:04:19.930 content, you don't get to watch this thing at 00:04:19.930 --> 00:04:23.050 all. It's just audio for you and tough. Just 00:04:23.050 --> 00:04:25.160 bizarre. Really don't understand what the BBC 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:28.699 is doing. Now, discovered for pod news, but in 00:04:28.699 --> 00:04:31.439 radio, we'll find this helpful as well. You probably 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:36.639 know about FFmpeg. It's a wonderful command line 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:41.259 thing that works command line in Linux and also 00:04:41.259 --> 00:04:44.939 in Darwin, which the Mac uses and all of that. 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:48.339 It's very good for audio encoding. It's very 00:04:48.339 --> 00:04:51.970 good for audio conversion and all of that. You 00:04:51.970 --> 00:04:54.029 might not know that it's also capable of sorting 00:04:54.029 --> 00:04:56.370 out LUFS levels. You can add compression with 00:04:56.370 --> 00:04:58.509 it. You can add EQ with it. You can add all kinds 00:04:58.509 --> 00:05:01.750 of additional things just using FFmpeg, which 00:05:01.750 --> 00:05:06.589 is lovely. So there's a thing called FFab, Scotty. 00:05:07.529 --> 00:05:12.769 FFab, it's a really nice UI for FFmpeg. And it 00:05:12.769 --> 00:05:14.529 gives you the command line for what it's doing. 00:05:14.589 --> 00:05:16.750 So you can add the commands to your workflow. 00:05:16.889 --> 00:05:19.069 It's genuinely amazing what FFmpeg is capable 00:05:19.069 --> 00:05:21.740 of doing, it turns out. And this is really nice 00:05:21.740 --> 00:05:24.300 UI, which lets you play with the buttons or faux 00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:26.720 faders and all that kind of stuff to your heart's 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.959 content. It's very nice. FAB isn't Scotty, is 00:05:29.959 --> 00:05:32.540 it? FAB is something else. I'm trying to remember 00:05:32.540 --> 00:05:35.399 what it is and I can't remember. Anyway, there 00:05:35.399 --> 00:05:42.139 we are. I did a web search for Phil Reilly, trying 00:05:42.139 --> 00:05:45.500 to remember where I'd read that main story about 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:49.509 the cost of radio. And I noticed... Then he'd 00:05:49.509 --> 00:05:52.329 blogged at the end of last year about the funding 00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:55.949 debate for the BBC and its effect on radio. Privatising 00:05:55.949 --> 00:05:58.910 bits of the BBC would be a calamity for everyone, 00:05:59.050 --> 00:06:01.389 he argues. It's good. There's some good maths 00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:06.569 in there. It's worth a peek. Now, two pieces 00:06:06.569 --> 00:06:08.850 of random radio research, which you'll find linked 00:06:08.850 --> 00:06:11.350 from my newsletter, which you'll find at james 00:06:11.350 --> 00:06:16.220 .cridland .net. or indeed at radioland .email. 00:06:16.220 --> 00:06:18.220 Yes, can't forget that, radioland .email. It's 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:21.579 rather easier, isn't it? Anyway, two pieces of 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:23.439 random radio research. Firstly, I'll link to 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.920 2025's radio figures for Finland. Radio reaches 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:30.540 83 % of the population there a week. Daily listening, 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:33.860 two hours, four minutes. Although, if you look 00:06:33.860 --> 00:06:37.040 at people aged under 24, that two hours, four 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:42.250 minutes drops to just 32 minutes. Gosh. There's 00:06:42.250 --> 00:06:46.050 some nice data in the pack about where they listen 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:48.910 and who to. It's a lovely, really clear, really 00:06:48.910 --> 00:06:51.829 inclusive report, which is really nice. And I 00:06:51.829 --> 00:06:57.529 also link to the Survey 325 survey for New Zealand. 00:06:57.709 --> 00:07:00.970 And unlike the Finnish one, it's two sets of 00:07:00.970 --> 00:07:03.629 tables with a tiny cramped graphic at the bottom 00:07:03.629 --> 00:07:07.829 of page one. The figures don't include RNZ, the 00:07:07.829 --> 00:07:10.110 public service broadcaster, or indeed many of 00:07:10.110 --> 00:07:12.430 the community stations. I think that radio is 00:07:12.430 --> 00:07:15.170 much stronger in Aotearoa than these figures 00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:17.230 would tell you, and I don't think they tell a 00:07:17.230 --> 00:07:19.149 very good story about radio at all. Bit of a 00:07:19.149 --> 00:07:23.589 shame. Now, I'm on ABC television tonight in 00:07:23.589 --> 00:07:26.910 West Australia during their 7pm news, as I record 00:07:26.910 --> 00:07:31.199 this. Two hours' time. talking about ABC Radio 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:35.360 Perth's switch later this month over to 102 .5 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:40.199 FM. That's a familiar frequency for me. Anyway, 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:43.120 hopefully it'll be almost as good as a very nicely 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:45.779 written piece from the ABC on its website, which 00:07:45.779 --> 00:07:48.600 correctly catches all of my tedious caveats about 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:51.139 AM still being very important in regional Australia, 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:56.300 but this being a particularly good fix. for city 00:07:56.300 --> 00:08:00.420 broadcasting, which is what ABC Radio Perth is, 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:04.000 stroke, should be all about. Anyway, it's a nice 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.180 piece which you'll find linked from my newsletter. 00:08:06.279 --> 00:08:09.199 Tomorrow morning, I'm also on ABC Radio Perth. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.579 If you're up at 6 .15 in the morning Perth time, 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:15.699 it's 8 .15 in the morning Brisbane time, so I 00:08:15.699 --> 00:08:19.180 will have had enough time to get into the centre 00:08:19.180 --> 00:08:21.519 of Brisbane and used something called the TARDIS, 00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:25.750 which the TARDIS is there. A little radio studio 00:08:25.750 --> 00:08:28.370 where you go in and you talk to people at the 00:08:28.370 --> 00:08:30.509 other end of the line rather than it just being 00:08:30.509 --> 00:08:32.590 at the end of a phone call. Rather nicer. Anyway, 00:08:32.669 --> 00:08:35.669 there we are. Now, I didn't hear from Peter in 00:08:35.669 --> 00:08:37.870 Waverley last week. I did hear, though, from 00:08:37.870 --> 00:08:40.830 another former ABC employee called Ed, who sent 00:08:40.830 --> 00:08:43.190 me a grumpy email saying, I do carry on so much 00:08:43.190 --> 00:08:47.429 about AM, adding, I'm just interested in the 00:08:47.429 --> 00:08:49.429 content and I couldn't really care less about 00:08:49.429 --> 00:08:52.419 the form of modulation. Well, Ed. I am interested 00:08:52.419 --> 00:08:55.019 in people actually listening to the content and 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:57.899 therein lies the difference. Now, I spoke last 00:08:57.899 --> 00:08:59.960 week at the radio festival in New Delhi, at least 00:08:59.960 --> 00:09:02.539 I think I did, and you can watch many of the 00:09:02.539 --> 00:09:06.440 sessions on their website. YouTube's captions 00:09:06.440 --> 00:09:09.759 are really good at translating the mix of English 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:13.919 and Hindi that the session was all done in. There 00:09:13.919 --> 00:09:16.519 was a session called Is Radio Dying or Thriving 00:09:16.519 --> 00:09:19.679 where some radio people genuinely stood there 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:22.559 at a radio conference, saying that radio was 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:24.860 dying which i thought was a brave career move 00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:28.190 yes i understand the conversations But also, 00:09:28.269 --> 00:09:32.690 wow, gosh, okay. So the lady from Fever 104, 00:09:32.970 --> 00:09:34.830 I thought, yeah, brilliant. I mean, good for 00:09:34.830 --> 00:09:39.110 you, but wow. So anyway, worth a peek. There's 00:09:39.110 --> 00:09:42.690 a whole day's worth of coverage there. And thank 00:09:42.690 --> 00:09:46.529 you to Radio Today in the UK for becoming my 00:09:46.529 --> 00:09:49.330 latest supporter. As soon as I say that, I start 00:09:49.330 --> 00:09:50.769 thinking about the little jingle that they used 00:09:50.769 --> 00:09:54.440 to have with MCASO. Anyway, as long as I've been 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:56.759 in radio, Radio Today has been there covering 00:09:56.759 --> 00:09:58.799 the changes in the industry. It's an excellent 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:01.960 resource. And I'm also very excited to see some 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:04.740 of Mr. Roy's money. So I will be spending that 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:07.159 wisely, quite possibly in Riga, in Latvia, which 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:10.379 is where I'm speaking next towards the end of 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:13.820 March. My session is called The Future of Audio 00:10:13.820 --> 00:10:16.919 is People Powered. I've got lots of data, lots 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:20.799 of excitement, but also talking really rather 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:25.720 more about the content that we put on our transmitters, 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:29.139 not necessarily what those transmitters actually 00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:31.980 are. And certainly I don't think I'll be mentioning 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:35.120 AM once because it's Europe and Europe has moved 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:37.750 on from all of that sort of thing. You should 00:10:37.750 --> 00:10:40.470 be going to Radio Days Europe as well. It is 00:10:40.470 --> 00:10:42.970 a marvellous, marvellous, marvellous event if 00:10:42.970 --> 00:10:45.750 you're interested in anything to do with radio. 00:10:46.470 --> 00:10:48.649 I know it's called Radio Days Europe. There's 00:10:48.649 --> 00:10:50.909 people from all over the world there. It's a 00:10:50.909 --> 00:10:53.350 really invigorating couple of days. It's well 00:10:53.350 --> 00:10:55.809 worth going to. RadioDaysEurope .com is where 00:10:55.809 --> 00:10:58.389 you can buy tickets now and you should be buying 00:10:58.389 --> 00:11:01.009 tickets now for it. The tickets will go up and 00:11:01.009 --> 00:11:04.040 up and up and up and up in terms of costs. And 00:11:04.040 --> 00:11:06.879 you should be sorting that out right now. So 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:09.299 RadioDaysEurope .com is where to go for that. 00:11:09.639 --> 00:11:11.860 I'm also speaking at the podcast show in London, 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:14.679 May the 20th to the 21st. I'm actually doing 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:20.240 the first speak, the first keynote. Yes. Anyway, 00:11:20.419 --> 00:11:22.480 I'll be on at quarter past nine, if you can get 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:26.620 in, in the first 10 minutes. So that'll be good. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:28.679 And I'll be last on as well, recording a Pod 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:32.059 News Weekly review from something which I can't 00:11:32.059 --> 00:11:35.620 tell you yet. So there we are. And probably a 00:11:35.620 --> 00:11:37.279 few other things as well. The podcast show is 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:40.779 very good too. If you subscribe to PodNews, then 00:11:40.779 --> 00:11:42.580 you get some money off as well. podnews .net 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:45.970 slash extras if you do that. And thank you to 00:11:45.970 --> 00:11:48.830 our many supporters, including Radio Today and 00:11:48.830 --> 00:11:52.309 Gavin Watson, Greg Strassel, Sam Phelps, Richard 00:11:52.309 --> 00:11:55.330 Hilton, Emma Gibbs, Jocelyn Abbey and James Masterton 00:11:55.330 --> 00:11:57.950 for being regular supporters. If you would like 00:11:57.950 --> 00:12:01.730 to support this in any way, then you can buy 00:12:01.730 --> 00:12:04.389 me a coffee. You can become a member to give 00:12:04.389 --> 00:12:07.820 regularly. or just give a one -off coffee or 00:12:07.820 --> 00:12:11.919 five. That's all good too. Just, where'd you 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:14.320 go for that? Oh yes, buymeacoffee .com slash 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:17.200 James Cridland, or indeed just go to radioland 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:21.059 .email and find the link there. I'm on Mastodon 00:12:21.059 --> 00:12:23.690 if you want to follow me on the socials. James 00:12:23.690 --> 00:12:28.850 at BNE .social. Mastodon's good. None of the 00:12:28.850 --> 00:12:31.429 rest are. So that's basically me. And my website 00:12:31.429 --> 00:12:34.110 has more details about who I am and what I do 00:12:34.110 --> 00:12:37.090 and whether or not I can help you further. Thank 00:12:37.090 --> 00:12:39.769 you to a few people who have contacted me and 00:12:39.769 --> 00:12:41.649 said, would you like me to edit this podcast 00:12:41.649 --> 00:12:45.590 for you? No, no, no. This podcast is literally 00:12:45.590 --> 00:12:48.470 me opening the microphone, recording it, closing 00:12:48.470 --> 00:12:51.149 the microphone. and then uploading it. There's 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:54.330 no editing on this at all, can you tell? But 00:12:54.330 --> 00:12:57.389 until next week, thank you for listening, and 00:12:57.389 --> 00:12:58.169 keep listening.