Global saves local radio - yes, really!

Capital gains six new FM transmitters from Monday as the brand replaces Touch FM, Banbury Sound and Rugby FM.

It comes after Quidem, which had been operating at a financial loss, entered a brand licencing agreement with Global in September and its format change requests were approved by Ofcom.

The usual suspects will bemoan the "death" of local radio through consolidation into national networks when, in fact, this move safeguards the future of these stations.

What's the alternative? The company winding up and handing back the licences to Ofcom would be in no-one's interests leading to:

• a reduction in choice (at least in the short term)

• a reduction in local journalism at a time when it's never been more important 

• a lengthy process whereby the licences are re-advertised likely leading to another small operator coming in and having a go shortly before also declaring itself unprofitable

A takeover of Quidem by Global could've been subject to a CMA investigation with a "hold separate" order to prevent integration - as we're seeing with Bauer's acquisitions earlier this year - and given the financial pressures in this case that could be detrimental to its operations.

The current ownership structure means Quidem will have to provide its own three-hour regional show despite being in the same approved area as Global-owned Capital Birmingham.

The Radioplayer boom and speaking with one voice

UK Radioplayer celebrates its ninth birthday next year.

First announced in 2009, as a partnership between the BBC and commercial radio, it was initially a Flash-based web console before developing iOS and Android apps. 

Its key aim was to improve the online experience for listeners by delivering an attractive and interactive solution for client stations, but it was also a bid to speed up digital growth with the internet accounting for a mere 3% share of all listening according to RAJAR.

In Radioplayer's first few months, having started with around 150 stations, it attracted 5.7m unique users. Today, that figure stands at 7.6m with more than 400 radio stations and listening via online and apps has increased by 10 percentage points (still impressive considering internet growth has been slower in the UK owing to the strength of our DAB market).

Fast-forward to 2019 and Spain has just become the 12th country to adopt the Radioplayer platform. It's one of the UK radio industry's biggest success stories.

Despite the BBC and the main players in commercial radio no longer directing listeners to Radioplayer, their stations are still available on the app and, as stakeholders, they remain committed to supporting the organisation's current primary focus on striking deals with the automotive sector to secure radio's in-car future as the prominence of connected vehicles grows.

Radioplayer and Radiocentre demonstrate the benefits of working together to achieve everyone's best interests. The commercial case for building one's own listening platform is strong and I don't blame an established group with the scale of Global or Bauer for doing so.

The wider point to make is that, as radio competition intensifies, it may seem as though the industry is becoming increasingly fragmented - but, for a sector faced with powerful new digital rivals, speaking with one voice has never been more important.

Magic 100% Christmas returns

Bauer has announced Magic will play 100% Christmas music again for 2019 starting at 9am tomorrow.

While the festive format flip is commonplace in the lesser-regulated US market, with hundreds of stations making the temporary switch each year, a flagship UK radio outlet had never made this bold move before Magic twelve months ago.

It's a proven audience winner in the States and in the UK we've seen a sprinkling of all-Christmas stations over the last decade at both a local and national level.

Magic is synonymous today with a more upbeat and positive feel than its former easy-listening self making the festive theme a perfect fit. It's a strong brand with a loyal listenership and brand extensions to cross-promote too, reducing the risk of post-Christmas churn.

Social media may not be the most accurate representation of anything but the response from followers is largely positive which does offer a flavour of the wider audience reaction.

We can’t tell from RAJAR how Magic performed in December alone as each set of data is recorded over a three-month period, but given it added 45k listeners in London and a whopping 227k listeners nationally in 2018 Q4, I don’t think Bauer will be too worried.

What's more, Sky Cinema obviously see commercial benefits having returned for 2019 as the headline sponsor of Magic 100% Christmas.

Petition to save the good old-fashioned "best of..."

Here's a question: why does no UK talk radio station do a packaged show looking back at the best calls of the week?

I ask because, in any debate, only a small percentage of calls are "radio gold" so a tightly-packaged highlights show, drawing output from across the entire station, would be a good listen (as is LBC's Callers of the Year at Christmas).

Many individual shows have "best of" compilations available either on-air or as a podcast but I'm surprised there's nothing that showcases a whole station as a shop window.

Some would argue it's the "kind of thing you do as a podcast these days" rather than broadcast but the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. At the end of the day, while there's more than one way of preparing and/or delivering it, it's all audio made by creative people going into ears.

Live has unique benefits, primarily instant listener interaction and reactivity, but if not being used to its advantage a well-produced pre-recorded show might be preferable. Both have their place.

I'm not of the view that radio's success is largely down to liveness. People love radio because it's helpful in some way. That could mean interesting, thought-provoking, educating or entertaining - and when playing your best bits, you can be sure you're ticking one or more of those boxes.

Ofcom study: live radio leads smart-speaker usage

Back in May, Ofcom's Online Nation report revealed the following data on smart-speaker usage:

• 20% of UK homes now have a smart-speaker compared with 13% two years ago
• 56% use theirs to listen to live radio
• 47% search for information
• 46% ask about the weather
• 36% set alarms and schedule reminders
• 34% get news reports

If one thing's for sure, it's that linear radio is not dying. We know reach has long remained static, hovering around the 90% mark, and digital now accounts for 56.8% of all listening. The device is changing but the overall number is not.

RAJAR's latest MIDAS survey also found that 75% of listening on smart-speakers is to live radio, vs 23% for podcasts/listen again, having grown its share of all radio listening to 7% (sounds small in the grand scheme of things but it's early days and DAB & FM still dominate - smart-speakers are now level with PCs which have been mainstream for a lot longer and just six percentage points behind smartphones).

With many homes being wireless-less, smart speakers are effectively reinstating the good old-fashioned radio which is something to celebrate.

Of course, going forward as online sees further growth, competition from both more radio stations and new skills/services will only increase as it becomes more and more of a level playing field.