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ftm Radio Page - March 25, 2016

Music to fit your mood just an algorithm away
gimme shelter

Perplexing radio broadcasters since the medium’s Second Golden Age sputtered out has been appealing to the tastes of music fans. Picking the hits, so to speak, became a specialist’s task, often highly rewarded. But music tastes change fast; the fashion and the fad a moveable feast.

Streaming services terrify music radio people, and for good reason. Music fans can find just their favorites and, in theory, avoid the rest. Spotify and others are famous for curated playlists attuned to, largely predictable, music styles.

Big data is making all this so much more scientific. A couple of years ago Spotify acquired the “music intelligence” company Echo Nest to crunch together all that can be discerned from smartphone and online users with all that’s known about music preferences. Algorithms are us; Echo Nest was developed by MIT Media Labs. Spotify got into a bit of difficulty with users for plugging GPS data into playlist selection. (See more about online radio and streaming audio here)

Adding a bit of social psychology to that metadata is Irish start-up Gramma Music’s “reactive radio” project, reported by thejournal.ie (March 21). Gramma Music “works with” Echo Nest. By grabbing data bits specific to the user - from location and weather to facial expressions - the search for the perfect mood music is on. The ad people will be big fans.

Digital transition as an adventure
"and a river runs through it"

The trek toward switching European radio broadcasting from old analogue FM to new digital platforms has certainly entered uphill terrain. Only in Norway will silence come to national FM stations in favor of DAB (digital audio broadcasting) platforms early next year. Audio streaming to mobile devices emerged from the cave of slow data rates. Still, competitive issues are the wild beast along the path.

Broadcasting on the DAB platform in Austria has been slow to catch on. Since last May a DAB+ multiplex, the upgraded technology, has offered 15 radio channels to the Vienna area in a trial authorized by media regulator KommAustria. The plan was to run the trial, check the happiness then launch DAB+ multiplexes across the country over the next couple of years with the intention of phasing out FM broadcasting by 2024.

Public broadcaster ORF and Austria’s biggest privately owned radio broadcaster Kronehit declined to participate in the Vienna DAB+ trial, both preferring the streaming path. In February KommAustria asked broadcasters and other interested parties to share their ideas on digital radio transition. So far, views remain intractably split.

“We should not be chasing an adventure just because a few broadcasters and the electronics industry want it,” said ORF director general Alexander Wrabetz, quoted by derStandard.at (March 16). He also said transition to the DAB+ platform would be too expensive and, anyway, ORF is limited by law to just two additional national radio channels that must be ad-free. (See more about digital radio here)

“What will come out of this needs assessment is the same as before,” said Kronehit managing director Ernst Swoboda, quoted by kurrier.at (February 16), responding to the KommAustria request for industry comments. “DAB+ is marginal in Austria. And, also, international skepticism is great.”

“FM is a successful business model, but offers no more development opportunities,” retorted Digitalradio Österreich vice chair and Radio Arabella managing director Wolfgang Struber, quoted by derStandard.at (March 18). “The result will be losing more and more listeners to streaming services from international providers. Digital radio offers opportunities to make radio viable: diversity, interactivity, audio quality, reliability, security.”

Radio Arabella is, notably, a member of the newly announced European Digital Radio Alliance (EDRA). Most of the dozen founding members are public broadcasters. BBC Radio director Helen Boaden is chair and the office located at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in Geneva. Bauer Media, Global Radio and Radio Arabella are commercial/private broadcaster members. ORF is not participating in the EDRA.

“Digital radio offers great advantages to listeners but for too long we have seen it as a national issue,” said Ms Boaden in a statement at RadioDays Europe. “That fragmented approach has been holding back investment.” An important distinction between EDRA and WorldDAB, the Eureka-147 digital standard support group, is the place of chip-makers; integral to WorldDAB, absent from EDRA.

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

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