Day 1 Of RadioDays In Vienna Looks To Future

RadioDays Europe 2018

It's MONDAY morning in VIENNA as RADIODAYS EUROPE kicked off officially with an impressive range of speakers from all over the broadcasting world.

The key headline moment of the opening session came from BBC's BOB SHENNAN, who detailed the launch of a new re-vitalized audio product or a[[ for U.K. audiences that will combine streaming and radio, as well as the internet and DAB, or as SHENNAN called it the “mixed economy.” He was also able to provide clarity on the BBC’s take on digital radio switchover. “We now know DAB is important, but only a part of the story, along with FM and the Internet. We need to do more before we consider a switchover in the U.K,. and for that to be genuinely audience-led." Later, GLOBAL agreed with his statement and backed up the feeling that FM is not-dead-yet.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY Professor of Communication is ROBERT F. POTTER spoke about how listeners subconsciously experience audio, music and radio – and our ability to remember what we hear.  POTTER explained that there are two types of attention – one is “controlled” (when people are told to pay attention). The second is “automatic attention," which happens very quickly and is an evolved response to something new in the environment, like a whistle blowing. It causes an “orienting response”, which traces back to PAVLOV. “When you are hearing a dialog, you are hearing a voice change,” he explained. People pay automatic attention for a brief time after voice changes in audio messages. Using more than one announcer in productions is recommended – particularly with different types of voices.

WIRED Contributing Editor and noted futurist BEN HAMMERSLEY posed the question “What will we be discussing at RADIODAYS EUROPE 2025?”  “ALEXA play the next one” and “Niche-ification” were all buzz points of HAMMERSLEY’s presentation, as he admitted, “My real loyalties today are to RADIO UTOPIA and MAXIMUM FUN and other niche podcasts that have emerged.” HAMMERSLEY also added, "Targeted advertising is for sure the next step – it’s where the real money is and it cannot be done with linear or terrestrial broadcast but it can only be done with smart devices. We are living through a golden age of audio; more people are listening than ever before and the diversity of programming is better than ever.” 

The RADIO SUMMIT featured four top-level radio executives from across EUROPE. Danish head of radio GUSTAV LUTZHOFT commented,  “Even on the train I heard people listening to radio on smart devices. We are seriously engaged with audio in our ears – all in all I feel quite optimistic." 

Swedish radio executive CILLA BENKO offered the following advice: “Get down from your ivory towers and engage with your audience by giving them the content that they want." 

EUROZET GROUP PLAND CEO ANDREZJ MATUSZYNSKI talked about broadcasting in his country, “The situation with the radio market is very stable – platform radio like apps don’t kill radio – they realize they need radio.” 

BAUER MEDIA U.K. Group Managing Director STEVE PARKINSON added, “The important thing is working together as an industry. Radio is a very high number two with TV as a number one in terms of places for brand building – we have seen an upturn in advertising – but now it’s a case of talking to the advertising agencies”  

During the SMART SPEAKERS session, PARKINSON said, “It’s not about the content; it’s about how you are going to ask ALEXA for the content... 66% of SMART SPEAKER owners use their devices to entertain friends and family with 60% of that 66% using them to play music. 65% say that they wouldn’t want to go back to life without their SMART SPEAKER.” Find the full report here. 

RADIO FRANCE Digital Audio head LAURENT FRISCH likened the SMART SPEAKER revolution to the self-driving automobile.

GERMANY ALEXA TEAM LEAD JONAS BEDFORD-STROHM agreed, “Once people start adopting this – it’s gonna change."

The INNOVATIONS FROM AUSTRIA session was bursting with new ideas, with KRONEHIT's RUDIGER LANDGRAF explaining how SKIP FM works in the company's app, which allows users to skip music within the live radio stream. LANDGRAF says the app is available on iTUNES in GERMANY, AUSTRIA and SWITZERLAND.

O3 AUSTRIA's ALBERT MALLI demonstrated XEBRIS FLOW, a new kind of traffic software for radio stations, claiming, “Maybe it will be the new industry standard for all advertising traffic in EUROPE.”

TONIO AUSTRIA's FLORIAN NOVAK has created an app for TV channels and radio stations which enables broadcasters to send extra, synchronized information direct to their audience, adding, “The strategy is to create a great editorial experience."

iHEARTMEDIA VP/Talent Development DENNIS CLARK chaired the panel on successful women working in radio, sharing the shocking U.S. statistic that “only 10% of all PDs are women." CLARK wondered why there weren't more to the other participants, including iHEARTMEDIA Top 40 WKSC (103.5 KISS FM)/CHICAGO's ANGI TAYLOR, NPO RADIO 2 NETHERLAND's ANNEMIEKE SCHOLLAARDT and OTVORENI CROATIA's IVANA MISERIC.

TAYLOR advised women who seek a career in radio, “On your way to where you want to be, do everything you can to be where you want to be.”  The group also commented on “Time's Up” and “#Me Too," saying it created a relevant opportunity for women in media to have a voice, and as a broadcaster, to offer some honesty about their own experiences, while considering empowerment solutions. 

For THE SCIENCE OF POP, U.K. author, broadcaster and evolutionary biologist ARMAND LEROI opened with a clear enthusiasm about the genre, adding, “The science of pop is going to be an evolutionary one.”

ARMAND called the evolution of pop hits "a systematic change of people getting used to something new." His findings included an experiment with the BBC to see if an algorithms could pick out the next big hit. He pointed out, while it’s not exactly a romantic way of finding new music, a computer can do the same job. 

RADIODAYS EUROPE #RDE 2018 ends tomorrow evening when the venue for next year’s conference is revealed. To find out where it will be happening in 2019, keep following ALL ACCESS' EUROPE correspondent, ENDA W. CALDWELL @radioenda

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