Interesting Times ahead

After several months of speculation, News UK has finally confirmed plans to launch Times Radio later this year.

Times Radio will provide a daily schedule of news, analysis and commentary with a line up of high profile presenters, as well as contributions from the rich pool of expert commentators from The Times and The Sunday Times.

Contrary to initial reports, the new station will not replace talkRADIO which is set to continue broadcasting. You'd guess TR will see closer alignment with The Sun, perhaps rebranding at some point, giving the company a radio outlet for each of its newspaper brands. We're already seeing this to an extent (Dan Wootton landing the drivetime show for example).

Editor of The Times, John Witherow, said:

Times Radio will provide provocative, well-informed, entertaining and useful discussion covering the key stories of the day, and informing the national conversation.

Times Radio, infused with our world-class journalism, will be the perfect complement to our print and online offer.

What's particularly exciting is Times Radio's ad break-free approach while allowing for sponsorship across its schedule. News Corp is a unique case with a practically limitless budget so it can afford the risk but if the model is a commercial success that could set a precedent for other stations.

Sign of The Times?

The Telegraph reports that News UK may publish plans for Times Radio next week - "a DAB channel funded from the marketing budget of The Times titles".

It comes amid speculation surrounding the future of talkRADIO - described in this article as "a heavy loss-maker which has been at risk of closure" - but City A.M. understands the new station will sit "alongside Murdoch’s existing radio offerings".

Just this week, talkRADIO introduced new imaging replacing its personality-driven funny liners with a very corporate sounding male VO and a dramatic top of the hour ident. My immediate thoughts considered the initial reports of Times Radio before Christmas and whether it could be in transition.

It was confirmed on Friday that The Sun's executive editor, Dan Wootton, will replace Eamonn Holmes on talkRADIO drive from next month. Joining the dots, it seems logical for News UK to have two radio stations each aligned to one of the newspaper titles. Could we be about to see the return of SunTalk?

We await a formal announcement which may or may not come next week.

iHeart's "new direction"

In the US, iHeartMedia has announced it will undergo a "technology transformation" and utilise a "new organisational structure" this year.

It means local radio presenters face losing their shows and the first wave of layoffs at the company has already begun.

I feel for everyone affected. We've seen it in the UK too. It's important to remember this says nothing about you or your performance. Keep being awesome and see it not as the end but as a new beginning.

Danny "DJ SAB" Scott, who said he was with Kiss 107.1 for 15 years, said there have been rumours of layoffs within iHeartMedia for years. 

Scott said iHeartMedia's new direction intends to cut more local DJs and go for more syndicated, automated programming as a way to compete with music streaming services like Spotify and Pandora.

I'd question whether replacing live and interactive programming with automation is a good way to compete against the likes of Spotify. It depends what that automation is and how the tech is utilised.

If it’s just a jukebox with 10-minute ad breaks, the "new direction" is laughable and they will sleepwalk into oblivion.

Danny Scott continues:

There's just not as many listeners as there used to be. So it's what they have to do to survive and compete and I understand that as a business owner myself.

If there's not as many listeners now, the output clearly isn't good enough and the obvious solution would be to make it better. Cutbacks won't solve the problem on their own. You need to invest in world-class content with the money saved or, frankly, just get out of radio if you can't use the medium to your advantage.

Listeners will name your radio station for you

My Winchester Radio colleague Anna O'Brien shared this last night:

We've just watched latest Midsomer Murders. Starts in radio station 'Midsomer FM'. I should be disturbed by dead animals; bridal deaths by tightening corset and confetti gun. But no - BRANDING! I'm more perturbed all signs say 'Midsomer FM' but jingles are 'Radio Midsomer'!

I haven't watched an episode of Midsomer Murders in at least six years - and just from hearing about this branding nightmare I'm glad I haven't!

What's more, even the presenters refer to Midsomer FM despite imaging that says Radio Midsomer.

It seems murder isn't the only offence committed in that place and I wish it wouldn't overshadow this crime against broadcasting.

All jokes aside, it resembles the renaming of radio stations that goes on all the time with people missing out words (always "Hampshire Radio") or bolting "radio" onto the beginning or "FM" onto the end or replacing the former with the latter and vice versa.

Why does it still seem to happen to us more than other brands even in an age where radio has as much of a visual presence as any other?

Old man yells at cloud

What reason to be angry could the Daily Mail possibly have found today I wonder?

How the hell is THIS going to help? Songs referring to 'fire' are BANNED from radio because woke stations fear the tunes could be seen as 'insensitive' amid Australia's deadly inferno crisis.

A few things to say:

1. Music radio stations taking some songs out of rotation is obviously not going to "help" the situation and nobody is suggesting that it will.
2. Understanding how your audience feels about something and reflecting them is fundamental.
3. Respecting sensitivities is not "woke" (by definition, "woke" is being "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination" - so nothing to do with the matter at hand).

I was programming a station in 2017 when the horrific deadly blaze at Grenfell Tower occurred and the sheer number of songs referencing "fire" or "burning" we rested during that time was surprising.

Reelworld's new sound for BBC Local Radio

Radio Leicester has today become the first of the 39 BBC Local stations to air the network's new sung jingle package from Reelworld.

ReelWorld Europe · ReelWorld BBC Local Radio 2020 Launch Demo

37 of them are still using the Mcasso 2015 package while BBC Hereford & Worcester is even further behind on the previous Mcasso package (circa 2011/12).

It's been suggested that this new sound indicates a totally new direction for the network. Perhaps - and questions will rightly be asked about whether or not that is the right strategy.

However, I do not agree that the jingles aren't suitable for a traditional BBC Local Radio audience. More modern (it is 2020 after all) but melodic and cheerful. You don't get stuck in the past when you turn 50.

UPDATE: 07/01/2020:

I'm perplexed by one criticism I've seen today:

All 39 stations using the same package would seem anything but local.

1.  A jingle package isn’t local content. It’s there to identify a station and reflect its sound.
2. Each station will have localised versions of the same cuts.
3. Stations have been ordering resings of existing packages for as long as jingles have been around.

Radio saving lives?

The fires down under are truly heartbreaking.

Australia's national broadcaster, ABC, has delivered exceptional coverage on all its platforms.

In many cases, the destruction of infrastructure has led to radio being the only form of communication for communities affected.

Journalist Calla Wahlquist highlighted the essential service local radio is providing and the lifeline it is proving to be:

Communities in East Gippsland are communicating with each other by calling in to the local ABC on UHF radio and knowing their family will be listening.

The only reason we knew of the 100 people stuck at Cann River is because they managed to call the ABC and the ABC told fireys.