At last weeks EBU Digital Radio Conference I saw a most brilliant demonstration of how DAB+ radio really improves our medium.
A radio show was set up and broadcast from the conference. As guests were being interviewed, simple photos of them at the microphone were added to the programmes Slideshow output. As people across Europe listened their radio displayed a picture of that speaker in the studio.
I know this is akin to having a webcam in a studio which people can see on a website but there one important difference …

Having more and more people listening to radio on smart phones is great but it’s not without pain.
Most are listening on 3G with the result that listening to radio eats up their data plan and flattens their battery fast! It’s also costing the broadcaster in infrastructure costs and additional royalty payments.
The beauty of radio broadcasting is that you have flat-rate transmission costs regardless of audience size.
A new development from RadioDNS offers the best of both worlds. The listener’s app will stream as normal but when within range of an …

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StQzASudq1k
Take a glimpse of how it should be.
Above is a Nokia mobile with a built-in FM tuner and wi-fi … both fairly standard features on a mobile phone.
What happens is the radio can pick up certain information from the FM broadcast which points it to a webserver which then displays programme associated data on the phone.  If you want to know more about any of the pictures displayed simple click on it to be brought to the stations website.
This works just as well with DAB radio as it does with …

I like James Cridland. He’s a UK based radio guy who just “gets it”. Not just about radio but how radio and media and the internet are all converging.
Last year he did a very brave thing many of us would love to do but don’t have the balls to. He packed in a big job at the BBC to travel the world for six months learning about radio around the globe.
The results are a nice escape from the inward looking boxes we find ourselves in sometimes and you can hear/see …

Tagging is simply hitting a button on your DAB radio so it will remember a bit of information playing on the screen.
The video below shows tagging in operation using an iPhone app called TuneMark. When you hear a song you want to remember the name of, you tag it.  With this app you can look up the song name later, email it to yourself or shock horror even buy it on the iTunes store.
This is all nice and sweet for the music industry but what I really like about it …

The increased choice of radio station you get with DAB is nice but what really makes it sexy is Slideshow.
This is a simple jpg or series of jpg images broadcast along with the audio and displayed on your DAB receiver. It can be as simple as a static station logo or a bit more advanced with several sides showing album artwork for the currently playing song, a studio webcam or something really useful like a graphic weather display or latest traffic information.
Because it’s a simple jpg you can expand …

James Cridland is a “radio futurologist” who just get’s the advantage of combining traditional radio and new platforms to make radio amazing.  After much experience at Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio) and the BBC he is now working independently.
James has a rather unique and very effective way of making engaging presentations.  Below is an 8 minute presentation he gave recently to the WorldDMB General Assembly in Paris. Watch it and in 8 minutes you too will “get it”.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0mYHHoIaMY
Check out James’ blog at james.cridland.net/blog

In August this year Australia officially launched DAB+ in it’s major cities. Uniquely, all competing stations gathered together in the major cities for simultaeneous live broadcasts without any major ego incidents !!!
Here is a short video of the day and the immense media coverage it received from Commercial Radio Australia.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pWqYScq6Qc

Media, the web, radio, television .. it’s all changing at an alarmingly fast rate. Here is a short video doing the rounds at the moment with some interesting facts.

It means “Digital Audio Broadcasting” and even though it’s only at it’s most basic form in Ireland, it is still streets ahead of FM radio. Watch the short video below for a short demonstration of the advantages of basic DAB.