ftm Radio Page - April 1, 2016

Social media petition cites anxiety over changes to popular channel
cyclists and vegetarians speak out

A Facebook petition calling for recent changes at Polish public radio channel Troika to be rolled back has by the first of this week gathered more than 40 thousand supporters, reports wirtualnemedia.pl (March 30). Since February leadership at Polskie Radio (PR) has changed station managers, show hosts, editors, reporters, producers and programming at Troika, a popular and eclectic channel offering everything from rock and pop to electro, jazz, folk, blues and more. The petition has been sent to PR president Barbara Stanislawczyk.

“Anxiety” about changes resulting from “personal differences” between staff (fans as well, obviously) and Polskie Radio management prompted the online petition, Save Three (Ratujmy Trójk, in Polish). According to December 2015 - February 2016 Millward Brown/Radio Track national audience estimates Troika ranked 3rd with 8.4% audience share, up from 7.0% year on year. (See more about media in Poland here)

“Tradition and highlighting Polish music are important elements” of new Troika music director Piotr Metz plan, he explained to wirtualnemedia.pl (March 10), to “distinguish Troika from commercial stations.” Polishing their culture credentials, Polish government leaders have express their intention to remove “cyclists and vegetarians” from Polish public radio and television. “I want us to understand tradition as not only Pink Floyd,” said Mr. Metz.

Syrian YouTube star brings humor to refugees
“a good job”

Outreach to Arabic-speakers in Europe continues to gain interest among public broadcasters. Most efforts - all well-meaning - have been long on information and rather short on entertainment. Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) is taking a notable big step.

Starting soon on national channel SR P2 is a planned weekly talk show called “Talk show in Arabic.” OK, so the name may be a bit traditional but the show, according SR, will be different. Along with regular SR show host Miriam Riaie is Mahmoud Bitar, a Syrian refugee notable for reporting his three year journey to Sweden on YouTube with a definite sense of humor.

"Amazing that they invest in a talk show in Arabic,” he said, quoted by medievarlden.se (March 29). “I am so glad that I got such a good job in Sweden. It's going to be fun to work with Swedish Radio. Now I'm on to learn Swedish quickly.” The YouTube videos from his journey attracted more than 9 million viewers.

“He is a comedian, I'm a journalist,” explained Ms Riaie. “I am a TV host, he's my sidekick who goes in joking. But we will also have serious conversations, heavier topics to talk about.”

Radio Page week ending March 25, 2016
radio in Austria, digital radio, KommAustria, DAB+, ORF, Kronehit, Radio Arabella, European Digital Radio alliance, EBU, online radio, streaming audio, Spotify, Echo Nest, Gramma Music

Radio Page week ending March 18, 2016
radio in the UK, BBC Radio, Helen Boaden, RadioDays Europe, digital radio DAB+, radio in Germany, smartphones, EBU

Radio Page week ending March 11, 2016
radio in Germany, ag.ma, MA Radio 2016/I, public broadcasting, Antenne Bayern, Radio NRW, WDR, BR, Energy Munich, SWR, Radio Regenbogen, EinsLive, B5 aktuell, news radio, radio in France, streaming audio, Spotify, Europe 1, social media, RTL

Radio Page week ending March 4, 2016
radio in Austria, new media, ORF, FM4

Recently added radio audience figures and resources

• Germany - Radio Audience (March 2016)
  leading stations, audience trend, daily reach
• Sweden - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (February 2016)
  public and private radio channels, owners, management, national market share trend
• UK - National Radio Audience (February 2016)
  market share, trend, sectors
• UK - London Radio Audience (February 2016)
  market share, trend
• UK - National Radio Audience (February 2016)
  BBC/commercial 'gap'
• France - Greater Paris Radio Audience (January 2016)
  national and local channels, market share, trend
• France - National Radio Audience (January 2016)
  national channels, sectors, market share, reach/TSL
• Switzerland - Radio listening by region (January 2016)
  public and private sectors, penetration, time spent listening
• Switzerland - French region Radio Audience (January 2016)
  share, trend
• Switzerland - Swiss-German region Radio Audience (January 2016)
  share, trend
• Switzerland - Italian region Radio Audience (January 2016)
  share, trend
• Poland - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (January 2016)
  public and private radio channels, owners, management, platforms, market share
• Estonia - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (December 2015)
  public and private broadcasting companies, channels, management, platforms, audience estimates
• Spain - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (December 2015)
  public and private broadcasting companies, channels, management, platforms, audience estimates
• Ireland - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (November 2015)
  national public and commercial radio channels, major local/regional stations, management, listening share
• Finland - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (September 2015)
  public and private radio channels, management, market share, platforms
• France - National Radio Summer Audience (September 2015)
  national channels, summer period 2010-2015 trend
• Ireland - National Radio Audience (August 2015)
  market share, 07h00-19h00, trend
• Ireland - Dublin Radio Audience (August 2015)
  market share, 07h00-19h00, trend
• Spain - National Radio Audience (July 2015)
  national channels, reach share, trend
• Greece - Major Media - Radio Broadcasting (June 2015))
  public and private broadcasting, owners, executives, market share

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