Hello, I'm James Cridland, the radio futurologist,
and this is Radioland, my radio trends newsletter
for the 1st of March 2026, my goodness. And we're
sponsored by RSS .com, podcast hosting that's
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it super easy to get audio straight out of your
playout system and straight into a podcast. In
the UK, Radio Today has reported that media regulator
Ofcom is to require local analogue radio licences
in the UK to air local news between six in the
morning and seven in the evening weekdays and
also to air local news over weekends as well.
The regulator says this local news must consist
of or include some news which has been locally
gathered by journalists physically present in
the relevant areas. Most stations have one year
to comply. Now, most local analogue radio licences
in the UK actually carry national programming
these days or nation programming, i .e. programming
for Wales or Scotland or Northern Ireland. And
that is from the likes of Global's Heart, Capital
or Smooth, Bauer's Hits Radio or Greatest Hits
Radio, or Kiss, I guess, or Nation Broadcasting's
Nation Radio. And these stations do carry local
news and weather and advertising, but this rule
is potentially onerous for broadcasters. Ofcom
estimates it'll cost the industry an additional
US $450 ,000 a year. Now, as a broadcaster, if
you don't fancy the idea of paying at least two
journalist salaries as news gatherers for each
analogue licence... then you do have another
option available to you, and that option is to
simply hand back your licence. And that's not
as ridiculous as it might seem, because in total
only 25 % of all UK radio is listened to on AMFM
anymore. The rest is through DAB or online. And
while some local stations will see more listening
share through analogue, that figure will only
go down. Now, in the UK, appearance on your local
DAB multiplex, which gets 42 % of all radio listening,
isn't contingent on you owning an analogue licence
in the area. So you can just hand your analogue
licence back with no real penalty. and many AM
services have already been, and Ofcom hasn't
re -advertised any licences who have. Indeed,
last year, Nation Radio reacted to Ofcom's consultation
about local news provision by surrendering their
Ceredigion licence in Wales. So just weeks after
the UK government announced a review into continued
FM and AM broadcasting in the UK, it would seem
that stronger regulation might be hastening analogue
switch -off in the country. In the US, a historic
moment. Podcasts are now bigger than spoken word
radio. So says Edison Research at SSRS from its
Share of Ear study. The graph, which I reproduced
in PodNews on Friday, shows a significant drop
in radio's share of spoken word audio time over
the last 10 years, and 2025 is the year when
podcasting finally overtook radio. 25 % of all
daily audio time in the US is spent with spoken
word audio, according to the research company,
which does suggest that the vast majority of
listening is to music. But as you'll hear in
my Radio Days Europe speech, radio has less of
a unique selling proposition for music than spoken
word. Edison Research also publishes The Infinite
Dial, which is to be presented in a webinar on
Thursday, March the 12th at 2pm Eastern. And
I am thrilled once more to be co -presenting
that, along with VP of Edison Research at SSRS,
Megan Lazarek. Please join us. It's free. There's
a link that you'll find in my newsletter. It's
the research that gives us the big number about
podcasting, which is how many people listen in
the US. But there's plenty more as well. Besides,
this year, never before seen data on AI usage
as well. Please, it would be excellent to see
you on the webinar in a couple of weeks time.
Back in the UK, the Radio Academy, where I was
once a trustee, has become the Audio Academy.
And it's really difficult to report on that because
it's both simultaneously the right change, I
believe. but also hard to see it as good news
for radio, isn't it? Now to Australia. Australian
radio network ARN, the home of Kyle and Jackie
O, released its financial results. Revenue is
down 10 % on the year, profit down 30%. More
job cuts have been announced. Details are to
follow. Already people have been announced as
leaving the organisation. The current market
cap of the whole company is 109%. 0 .5 million
Australian dollars. That's down 45 % in the last
year. And just to put it into context, $109 million
is roughly half the value of Carl and Jackie
O's contract. Now, the Kyle and Jackie O effect,
how they messed up the radio industry, is an
article on a new -to -me radio website. It's
called ComRadio Australia, not to be confused
with the CRA. It's mostly RSS -driven links elsewhere,
but does carry its own articles as well. And
it is arguing that the show is responsible for
significant cost -cutting throughout ARN. Jackie
O was off all last week after a bad argument
on the air, and Radio Info reports that Kyle
didn't bother coming in on Thursday either. He
was apparently unwell. It's the end of the first
survey for Australian radio ratings. Numbers
for these six weeks, which unusually aren't merged
with a previous survey's data, come out on March
19th. It will be a fascinating, fascinating survey
to have a look at. Another week, and the ACMA,
by the way, the world's weakest media regulator,
still hasn't made a decision about the licence
conditions for The Kyle and Jackie O Show. Do
we make podcasts that are essentially television?
Or do we pursue and deepen our relationship with
sound and its imaginative possibilities? Siobhan
McHugh spoke at the Radio and Audio Studies Symposium
last month in a talk called Viva! The Narrative
Podcast, The Case Against Video. You can read
the full speech in Pod News. I've linked to that
today. Or you can watch the full keynote as well
on YouTube. It's definitely worth reading with
a radio hat on as well. And in podcasts, talking
about podcasts, which we kind of were, in Wade
Kingsley's The Quarter Hour podcast, we hear
from the Australian music industry. Australia
has a music quota, much like Canada or France.
Annabelle Hurd is both CEO of the Australian
Recording Industry Association and of rights
holder PPCA. And she says good things about radio,
but also suggests that radio has a responsibility
to promote local music. I'm assuming, by the
way, that my conversation with Stingray's Steve
Jones at Radio Days Europe will be touching on
Canadian content, incidentally. There'll be a
lot of talk about TuneIn, which Stingray now
own. Meanwhile, the Media Club with Matt Deegan
talks about more government regulation in the
UK for television. Clive Dickens from Meliora
comes in to talk more AI. And a reminder that,
yes, this is also obviously a podcast. It's called
Radioland, and it's available wherever you get
your podcasts, but you know this already, and
I shouldn't have read this bit out. But as I
say in the newsletter, it's not very edited,
is it? Random radio ratings corner now. And from
the Netherlands, I link to the annual report
from trade organisation Audify, which shows audio
ad revenue and radio listening and radio platforms.
Here are two numbers for you. Radio listening
in the Netherlands around 89 % weekly reach.
Radio platforms, only 28 % of total hours is
spent listening to FM. Online, much, much bigger
than DAB in that country. No radio listening
at all is listed for AM. And thank you to John
McDermott, who bought me three coffees. Yay!
To thank me for the new podcast trailer feed.
You'll find that at newpodcasts .net. That's
very kind of you, John. So thank you for that.
Where am I speaking next? I'll tell you. I'm
speaking at Radio Days Europe in Latvia. in mid
-March, I'm flying via Hong Kong. So I should
be okay. Woe betide anybody, Wade Kingsley, who's
flying via somewhere else, like Singapore is
probably okay. But yeah, Doha? Yeah, no. Dubai?
Yeah, no. So that's going to be fun, isn't it?
But anyway, that's all exciting. I will be talking
about the future of audio. They have just told
me, but it's not yet on the website. They've
just told me that there's been a room change
and I'm now a bit nervous because it sounds as
if I've got the big room. Anyway, if that's true,
then I will see you first thing on Tuesday. And
that'll be fun, won't it? The night after the
big party. I'm going to have to up my game and
start writing it soon. That'll be fun. But anyway,
I am talking about what the future of radio is,
obviously, how we'll listen on what devices,
how we can make our output truly unique, and
how we do that in a resource -efficient way.
You won't agree with much of it, so come along.
That'd be good. I'm also talking with Steve Jones
of Stingray about TuneIn, about Canadian Radio,
and lots more. Please join me for that too. And
I'll be speaking at the podcast show in London,
May the 20th to the 21st, keynoting at that event,
as well as recording a Pod News Weekly review.
If you're a Radioland reader, then email me if
you want some money off. It's not much, but,
you know, it's a pint of beer or whatever. Then
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that. And thank you to our many supporters, including
Marty from New York. Gavin Watson, Greg Strassel,
Sam Phelps, Richard Hilton, Emma Gibbs, Jocelyn
Abbey and James Masterton for being regular supporters.
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to appear. Who should we mention this time round?
Studio, obviously, Meliora. Radio Today, hooray!
And Soma FM, there you go. If you would like
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