What the audience wants Helen Shaw Athena Media EBU Digital Radio June

My perspective Print Journalist – Radio Producer -RTE Radio NCA Editor – BBC Northern Ireland Director of Radio – RTE Weatherhead FellowHarvard – Athena Media – Sept 03 Drace – Creator of online ‘radio’ channels

Brecht: radio and communications Radio is one sided when it should be two sided A means of distribution rather than communications ‘turning the audience not only into pupils but into teachers’ 1932 –The Radio as a Tool of Communication.

European Trends Europeans spend 24 hrs a month online - ComScore 2.5 million download podcasts in UK - Rajar One third of European listen to radio online – Mediascope A third of under 24s visit network sites - Mediascope Broadband hits TV/papers but 43% of UK listen to radio online - Ofcom

What does the audience ‘want’? Audience wants to use and create What they want, when they want it, where they want it - MyMedia To shape and share the content The digital divide is a generational one Not technology but mind-frame Not audiences but users/creators Not broadcasters but content generators

Digital Generation Mediascope % of 16-24s use mobile devices to access net 13 hours a week online – cross media 40% online with a radio on But quarter of year olds listen to radio on mobiles (UK – Rajar) Think audio not radio

Social networking and radio Myspace.com – 185 million Radio is a natural base for social media networking Last fm model – 1.5 million users European public radio - reinvention as multimedia portal Multi-platform and multi-positioned Darwin: Flexibility/mobility/adaptability

Where is it all going? ‘Online and offline will be redundant terms in two to three years time because all communications will be digital and the most important thing in your home will be your boardband connection’ Chris Dobson – MSN sales and marketing general manager. But – ‘audience’ don’t have the answers – you do!

The more things change….. Its still about quality - content Ideas, creativity and added value letting go of preconceptions Its still about communications A space rather than a channel Value is in connecting –being useful And creating relationships

Radio’s digital future – user-led Being ubiquitous – being where ears are Being on demand - access Being ‘visual’ – adding value Being a shape shifter Being reborn – not being afraid of reinvention Being useful to users – social media Remaining mobile + predominately audio

The Challenge… ‘media fragmentation could dominate the future and see investment in quality content collapse’ Jenny Abramsky – BBC (April 2007) ‘public broadcasters can capitalise on public trust and become portals of choice…in the digital commons’ – Graham Murdock - (Nov 2004)