Tag: radio

Radio and television will follow Marconi and Baird to the grave

This country needs to be at a watershed when NZ on Air asks Where are the audiences? in 2025.

The trends in its latest biennial report, released last week, suggest that by the time it next surveys New Zealand audiences we will have reached a point where traditional institutional concepts of media are no longer sustainable.

Between now and 2025 we need a fundamental rethink of media business models, organisation, and regulation. And the thinking will have to have been translated into action if we are to avoid systemic failures.

The Where are the audiences? survey has been monitoring media use since 2014, mapping trends that have seen the rise of competing digital services and the steady decline of traditional broadcasting. You can access the 2023 report here.

Along the way there have been numerous crossover points but the latest survey notes what may be the most significant crossover in the nine year history of the research. For the first time, broadcast television no longer commands the majority of viewers in prime time between 6 pm and 10.30 pm. Also for the first time, New Zealanders overall are spending more time using digital media than traditional media. Continue reading “Radio and television will follow Marconi and Baird to the grave” →

Did I just buy my last radio?

When I bought a new radio last week, I wondered whether it was the last one I would buy.

No, I’m not planning to part this mortal coil any time soon, but I did wonder whether the wireless was headed for the scrapheap.

After all, smartphones are the new Swiss Army Knife and podcasts are a growth market. Conversely, the daily reach of radio among New Zealand audiences has dropped by 30 per cent since 2014 and it is a straight-line rate of decline.

So here I was, splurging $27.00 on a portable pocket AM FM transistor radio (with emergency flashlight, I might add) and hoping that radio wasn’t dead before Amazon managed to deliver it across Covid-tossed seas. Continue reading “Did I just buy my last radio?” →

Ego poisons radio’s culture

Commercial radio really must stop feeding the Ego Monster.

By over-inflating the self-worth of some of their employees, the broadcasters create risks for the public, toxic environments, and rods for their own backs.

The problem is not limited to radio hosts, although they are the most obvious manifestation of the abnormality. It affects executives and, indeed, anyone in the organisation who buys into the belief that they are personally contributing to success in the latest audience ratings. Continue reading “Ego poisons radio’s culture” →