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Money migrates to podcasts
the audience is listening

Every cool media thing eventually becomes, well, a product. With that comes a business model, then investors, then specialization, then criticism, then boredom, followed by the next new thing. It’s the marketplace.

Podcasts and podcasting, generally, have reached a new phase. Everybody with a microphone, a recording instrument and internet access has one, or several. Ideas are flying.

Almost everybody is a fan. “The podcast industry is growing out of its teen years - and facing a new identity struggle,” headlined Neiman Labs Hot Pod newsletter (March 12). The entry of “corporate America” into the “podcast craze” is but the “latest form of the internal memo,” observed the Wall Street Journal (March 13). “Have podcasts sold out?” asks The Guardian (March 12).

Big streaming audio (not just music any more) giant Spotify is making serious investments in podcasting. It bought “podcast-creating” start-up Gimlet Media in February for US$230 million. The Gimlet Media production staff, about 80 folks, are organizing through Writers Guild of America, reported BuzzFeed (March 13). “Gimlet is no longer (a) small, scrappy operation,” said the union organizing committee. Spotify is planning, reportedly, on spending US$500 million of podcasts. (See more about podcasts and podcasting here)

Apple has Apple Podcasts. Google has Google Podcasts. Every publisher and broadcaster has podcasts. “Everybody makes podcasts. Can anyone make them profitable?” asks Bloomberg (February 22). Start-up Luminary raised US$100 million for a subscription podcast service offering exclusive content. US$8 per month.

Radio broadcasters are looking at podcasts differently. The most recent Neiman Labs Hot Pod newsletter notes that a third of US 18 to 34 year olds listen to podcasts in their automobiles, once the preserve of the radio people. After decades of rotating the same 283 tunes hour after hour and watching overall listening drop (think: cost per thousand) the radio people have an opportunity. Perhaps it will migrate to the airwaves.

Broadcaster shuttered for rules violation related to election broadcasts
"unfounded and political"

Broadcasters are, usually, required to police the contents of their programming. Nigerian radio station Jay FM failed this, said regulator National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), and was ordered to radio silence, reported Premium Times Nigeria (March 2). There had been warnings in February about a feature by a local religious leader “charging his followers how to vote” and a call-in item from a listener questioning the reelection of president Muhammadu Buhari. The general election was held February 23rd and president Buhari was reelected.

Jay FM managing director Clinton Garuba called the closure “unfounded and political” because the Department of State Security (DSS) interviewed several employees. Mr. Garuba has asked the NBC to allow the station to reopen. Jay FM has operated from Jos, central Nigeria, and is known for “critical analysis of issues ranging from politics to economy and sports,” said This Day (March 2). (See more about media in Africa here)

The shutdown of Jay FM earned the attention of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “Nigeria’s broadcasting regulator should immediately permit Jay FM to resume broadcasting and intelligence services should cease harassing journalists,” said a statement from CPJ Africa program coordinator Angela Quintal (March 12). “Political broadcasts are not grounds for the complete shutdown of a news outlet.” (See more about elections and media here)

This was not the first time Jay FM drew the ire of the NBC. Last August the regulator imposed a fine for “continuous airing of vulgar and indecent music lyrics in spite of verbal and written warnings to the station,” said its statement, quoted by Vanguard Nigeria (August 18 2018). All Nigerian broadcasters are mandated to adhere to the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, which the music played on Jay FM allegedly violated.

Chief editor stands for reappointment, treads lightly
better to be on-the-air than off

The long serving editor-in-chief and very public voice of well-known Russian radio channel Ekho Moskvy - Alexei Venediktov - could be replaced this week. Then, too, he might be reelected to another five-year term. Nominations have ended with Mr. Venediktov and Alexei Golubev, an Echo Moskvy correspondent, standing.

Under its organizational statutes, Ekho Moskvy’s editor-in-chief, a board position and effectively its most important figure, serves a five-year term after nominations from shareholders holding stakes of 5% or more and journalists tenured for six months are put to a vote by the editorial staff. “Only a candidate who has received the support of journalists can be brought to the board of directors,” explained Mr. Venediktov, quoted by Interfax (March 11). (See more about media in Russia here)

Ekho Moskvy is a news and talk radio channel, available across the Russian Federation. It is majority owned (66%) by Gazprom Media. The remaining stake is held by a holding company, principally owned by Mr. Venediktov and former Ekho Moskvy chief executive Yury Fedutinov, who was unceremoniously dismissed in 2014. Mr. Venediktov has been editor-in-chief since 1998, briefly leaving the board of directors in 2012 and 2018 in protest of Gazprom Media policies.

Mr. Venediktov has fiercely defended the editorial independence of Ekho Moskvy, tempered with a certain political realism. A recent spat with a St. Petersburg official denying accreditation to an Ekho Moskvy reporter was diffused. “We are not going to fight with the Legislative Assembly,” he said, quoted by Novaya Gazeta (February 26). “We have complaints about a specific person. Ekho does not boycott anything.”

Radio Page week ending March 8, 2019
media in France, CSA, DAB+, Air Zen, radio in Germany, consumer electronics, FM shut off, digital radio, radio in Switzerland, digital transition, music radio, Michael Jackson, NRK P1, BBC Radio 2, Spotify

Radio Page week ending March 1, 2019
radio in the UK, Global Radio, national radio brands, local media, Capital, Heart, Smooth, BBC Radio, media brands, DJs

Radio Page week ending February 22, 2019
radio in Austria, KommAustria, radio license, O24, Antenne Salzburg, radio in Poland, Eurozet, Radio Zet, Chillizet, Antyradio, Meloradio, Agora Group, TOK FM

Radio Page week ending February 15, 2019
radio in Belgium, radio audience, CIM, RTBF, VRT, Studio Brussel, VivaCite, MNM, Radio Contact, Nostalgie, Qmusic, Joe FM, Classic 21

Radio Page week ending February 8, 2019
radio in the UK, radio audience, RAJAR, BBC Radio, public broadcasting, commercial radio, Radio 2, Radio 4, Radio 1, Magic, LBC, Heart, Classic FM, Kiss, Smooth, digital radio, digital transition, radio in Denmark, Radio24syv, Berlingske Media

Radio Page week ending February 1, 2019
radio in Italy, radio audience, measurement, RadioTER

Radio Page week ending January 25, 2019
radio in the UK, classical music, Millennials, Scala Radio, Classic FM, BBC Radio 3, Bauer Media, radio advertising, radio in Norway, radio in Sweden, digital radio

Radio Page week ending January 18, 2019
radio in France, Mediametrie, RTL, France Inter, BFM, France Info, radio news, gilets jaunes, NRJ, Skyrock, radio in Poland, radio audience, Radio Track, RMF FM, Radio Zet, Polskie Radio, Jedynka Radio, Trojka Radio, RMF Classic

Radio Page week ending January 11, 2019
radio in Africa, radio in Democratic Republic of Congo, radio in Gabon, RFI, Radio Gabon, radio in the UK, Virgin Radio, digital radio, DAB, BBC Radio, News UK

Radio Page week ending December 7, 2018
radio in Poland, Eurozet, Radio Zet, Chillizet, Czech Media Invest, mergers and acquisitions, Agora Group

Radio Page week ending November 30, 2018
radio in Spain, EGM, AIMC, Cadena SER, Grupo Prisa, Los 40 Principales, Onda Cero, M80, Cadena COPE, RNE, Atresmedia

Radio Page week ending November 23, 2018
radio in France, Paris radio, radio audience, Mediametrie, RTL, Europe 1, France Culture, Radio Latina, radio in Austria, music rights, digital radio, DAB+

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