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Radio talk shows are one of the medium’s oldest forms. Having listeners interact with talk show hosts and guest experts isn’t particularly new. Indeed, this kind of interactivity pre-dates new media by more than a generation. Where the mere idea of listeners grilling a politician live on-the-air is almost revolutionary, the mobile phone puts immediacy at the test.
Ukrainian radio station Radio Era FM has teamed up with mobile operator MTS Ukraine for “a series of talk shows devoted to social issues,” said a station statement (September 1). The idea is “to attract the attention of local authorities to the urgent problems of Ukrainians.” Suggested topics are housing, government budgets and the environment.
The program is modeled, says the station, on the popular BBC Radio 4 program “Any Questions?” MTS Ukraine has organized a voice ‘hot-line’ as well as SMS portal. The program – ‘Scope’ – airs Friday evenings. (See more on media in Ukraine here)
Radio Era operates in several Ukrainian cities on FM frequencies. Some of its programs had, until recently, broader coverage carried by state broadcaster National Radio Company of Ukraine (Natsradio). That relationship ended, soured by disagreements “for the last time” between Radio ERA owner Andrey Derkach and Natsradio over re-transmission fees, reported Delo (August 31). (JMH)
Broadcasters are highly rated for brand reputation, according to a survey by Portuguese market research firm Marktest (September 2). Public broadcaster Radio Television Portugal (RTP) ranked first, tied with magazine Visão, and radio channel TSF ranked third among Portuguese media brands. Rádio Comercial ranked fourth followed by television broadcaster SIC.
Of all brands, Google remains the most trusted brand in Portugal.
The survey was conducted in June from interviews with residents of Portugal between 15 and 64 years. (JMH)
It was a mystery to me when Phil Stone mentioned hearing about the International Radio Festival opening in Zürich (September 6). Doing my best to check it out, I’m still not quite sure what it is. It seems to be something of a secret…at least not much publicity.
From the website (see here) and a couple of short press releases there will, indeed, be a gathering of broadcasters invited – “hand picked” – by the organizers to present their stations during the six day program. Those invited include some of the world’s most erudite radio stations – Radio One from Bangalore, Radio Nova from Paris, 4FM from Vienna, Dynamo from Istanbul and others. Apparently the output from these stations will be broadcast in Zürich on temporary FM and DAB frequencies. There’s a webcast.
If anybody knows anything more, let me know.
This International Radio Festival is not to be confused with the annual International Radio Festival held in Iran. (JMH)
The Jungfrau, fabled Swiss mountain, is picturesque. There’s a little train going to the top. Also up there, 3,700 meters, is Europe’s highest transmitter site. Soon it will close.
The relay site was first built in 1954 and Swisscom Broadcast no longer needs it, reported Klein Report (September 1). Technology has moved on. The site will close in 2013.
Jungfrau Railways, however, is interested in acquiring the building for the breathtaking views of Alps. (JMH)
For all the sour verbiage, mostly from AP, since the end of their three-year news content licensing agreement in January you just knew that there would eventually be a new contract because Google wants to show it’s a nice guy to the media and the AP, frankly, needs the money. And so it was little surprise that the two have finally announced a new Agreement that allows Google to host AP content in search results for the Web in general and also for Google News.
Google says the two want to “work together to create a better user experience and new revenue opportunities.” The “new revenue opportunities” are probably what interests the AP the most. AP says the two will work together “to improve discovery and distribution of news.”
Google and AP signed their first Agreement in 2007 which expired in January. In February the AP signed a news licensing deal with Yahoo.
Back in June we wrote about how North Korea made the unusual big decision during the World Cup to actually broadcast its team playing live rather than via tape delay. But given how authorities in the country really don’t want its people to see bad news that the state can’t control there were fears for the team and the coach as Portugal embarrassed North Korea 7-0 live and direct from South Africa.
And sure enough once the team and its manager returned home the Asian media was full of stories about how the government forced the team and managers onto a stage at the People's Palace of Culture in front of 400 government officials, students and journalists where they were subjected to six hours of criticism, and that the manager had been banished.
FIFA, the world football governing body, always takes exception to governments interfering with football, so a letter was dispatched asking the North what was going on. Back has come a letter that satisfied FIFA that the media reports were false.
"The (North Korean Football Association) assures FIFA that Mr. Kim Jong-hun, head coach of the national team, and all the other members of the national team are training as usual," FIFA said in a statement. "The association also indicates that there were no sanctions to the coach and that the reports on this matter were baseless. With all of the information at hand, and having checked all of its sources, FIFA has decided to close the matter."
North Korea is to compete at the 2011 Asian Cup, but will it allow live TV coverage? Once burned twice shy?
The economy is hitting cable TV in two ways – subscribers who believe cable is a “nice to have” but not a “must have” are cutting the cord, so to speak, whereas those who find their going out lifestyle crimped (fewer movies, fewer meals) are spending more on combined cable and Internet services for the home.
Research Firm SNL Kagan says that for the first time ever the number of US cable subscribers dropped in Q2, down 711,000 customers. Maybe the likes of Hulu and other Internet services might have something to do with it but the research firm said, “We believe economic factors such as low housing formation and a high unemployment rate contributes to subscriber declines.”
On the other hand those who remain are paying more, often exceding $200 monthly. Most of the major cable companies have imposed price increases this year -- Cablevision, 3.7%; Comcast, 3.9%; DirecTV, 5.5%, and Time Warner Cable, 7.1%.
You’ll recall that Helen Thomas, who made her name as the United Press International (UPI) White House correspondent for 40 years before she went to work for Hearst – she turned 90 in August – had to resign back in June after she said in a video interview that Jews should leave Palestine and go home to Europe or America. That left her prized front row center seat in the White House briefing room up for grabs and most major news organizations wanted it. Well, the White House Correspondents Association finally decided it should go to Thomas’s arch UPI enemy -- the Associated Press.
Fox News also got to move up to the front row, taking the AP’s former seat, while National Public Radio (NPR) jumped from the third row to second row. To all of us out in the real world this doesn’t mean much but to the White House media this is all about pecking order.
And talking about Thomas, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan – the second largest American-Arab community in the US – says it is trying to raise some $30,000 for a statue to honor Thomas who is of Lebanese descent. Most Jewish groups are opposing the statue although Richard Nodel, President of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit. said he hopes “the support for the memorial (she’s not dead yet!) is there despite her anti-Israel and anti-Semitic views, and not because of them.”
Yet another big media buying house has adjusted upward its ad spending forecasts for the rest of 2010 and, maybe, 2011. Carat says global ad spending will rise 3.9% this year and 4.7% next year. Its March forecast was lower, 2.9% for this year and 4.0% next.
Television and the internet will be the growth engines, with TV ad spending taking 45.4% of all ad spending. Radio and cinema ads spending will also grow. Ad spending in the print sector will continue to fall with ad spending in magazines improving in 2011.
The media buyer predicts 13.5% growth in online spending this year taking internet advertising to 11.3% of total ad spending.
“While all major markets are now showing signs of stabilization,” said Aegis Group’s Jerry Buhlmann, “this is being led by a faster than expected rebound in the US and continued growth in Asia Pacific and Latin America. Western Europe continues to be slower, and is impacted by Germany and Spain, which remain in negative territory.” Carat is owned by Aegis Group. (JMH)
One of the most troubled public broadcasting “youth-oriented” radio channels is Radio France’s Le Mouv. It fights an uphill battle against popular national commercial channels Skyrock and NRJ. Audience ratings for Le Mouv have been anemic compared with BBC Radio 1, WDR’s Eins Live or NRK’s P3.
Le Mouv is, however, the “grand project of the season,” said Radio France General Director Jean-Luc Hees (August 30). He wants that audience share doubled. (See more on radio audience in France here)
The plan, said Le Mouv director Hervé Riesen, is to significantly increase the speech content. High profile show hosts have been recruited, included France 4’s Yassine Belattar for the morning show. “Plan B,” said Riesen, is the return of Frederic Bonnaud, once a mainstay of France Inter. The channel will “embody young people without clichés.”
Riesen took over Le Mouv in 2009, moving from Swiss public broadcasting’s youth channel Couleur 3. Le Mouv also moved from Toulouse, where it was launched in 1997, to Paris. (JMH)
Following RTL Group’s record profit report, speculation has been raised that the company may well exit another minority television holding. Quoting public disclosures and referring to unnamed sources, Kommersant (August 26) ventured that an option to sell its 30% REN TV stake will be exercised sooner rather than later.
Officials with both RTL Group and the Russian majority partner LMWH declined to speculate on any possible ownership change at REN TV. An option agreement between the partners, signed in April, gives LMWH management control over REN TV, allowing it to consolidate its own holdings in Russian television. RTL Group, then, has a sell option, open before 2015.
RTL Group has not been involved, effectively, in the management of REN TV since the manager it named on acquiring the stake left the company in 2007. The company owns, separately, a 50% stake in Russian production company Content Union.
RTL Group CEO Gerhard Zeiler noted in a conference call related to the release of half year 2010 results (August 25) that the company had no deals “in the pipeline” though there’s interest in investment in Asia and Eastern Europe. (See more on RTL Group results here) RTL Group recently vacated UK channel Five.
“In the past two years,” noted the Kommersant article, “Russian authorities have not welcomed the entry of Western strategic investors in major national media outlets.” (See more on media in Russia here)
Kommersant quoted an unnamed source within REN TV saying the current strategy at RTL Group is to “leave those countries where there is no control over assets or where it does not occupy a leading position in the market.” (JMH)
Swiss public radio channels Rete Tre and DRS4 News were honored as Radios of the Year 2010 at the annual Swiss RadioDay (August 26).
Rete Tre is the youth-oriented channel of the Swiss-Italian public broadcaster RSI. DRS4 News is the all news channel of Swiss-German public broadcaster DRS. The Radio of the Year award is determined by market share increase. All public radio channels in Switzerland have national coverage, usually FM but also DAB+, internet and satellite.
The annual Radio of the Year award is always shared between a Swiss-German channel and one from either the French or Italian speaking regions.
Private broadcaster associations in the Swiss-German and French speaking regions announced plans to open a joint office this fall in the Swiss capital Bern.
The 12th Swiss RadioDay will be held in Zürich, August 25, 2011. (JMH)
Investigating complaints, Polish media regulator National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) has asked the operators of religious radio station Radio Maryja to submit recordings of its programming, reports Gazeta Wyborcza (August 26).
“This is a routine request to provide records,” said KRRiT board member Krzysztof Luft. “I do not want to say specifically what content drew complaints or who submitted them.”
Broadcasters in Poland are required to keep recordings of their daily programming for 28 days. The KRRiT requested recordings of broadcasts between August 9th and 15th. (See more on media in Poland here)
A spokesperson associated with Radio Maryja, quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza, called the regulators action a ”political attack” reminiscent ”of communist-era censorship.”
Radio Maryja is one of several media outlets in Poland operated by ultra-conservative priest Father Tadeusz Rydzyk. The station has been controversial in broadcasting highly inflammatory programs pointedly critical of individuals and institutions out of favor with Father Rydzyk.
Complaints to KRRiT charging “religious insensitivity” have been lodged against other broadcasters in Poland, sometimes resulting in fines. Neither fines nor sanctions have resulted from complaints against Radio Maryja. Since recent elections in Poland, the KRRiT has been restructured with new board members. (JMH)
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The Recession Is Dead. Long Live The Recession.
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Another Lesson From The Old Spice Guy, Maybe Two…
Every year the World Association of Newspapers and Newspaper Publishers (WAN-IFRA) releases its World Press Trends covering 223 countries and the lead is basically the same – overall global daily newspaper circulation has gone up because of big gains mainly in India and China while Europe and North America go steadily down. But not for the 2009 -- even with some Asian growth overall global circulation and advertising revenues fell.
Three highly-paid English football players and a Scottish golf star have gone to court within the past 30 days asking for, and getting, gag orders preventing newspapers printing stories about their so-called private lives. There is no Act of the UK Parliament that provides for privacy law so the UK courts have taken it upon themselves to write such law as they go along. In the UK, where Parliament has failed to act the courts are not afraid to tread.
