PODCAST KILLED THE RADIO STAR

A SEXIST CULTURE AND SEVERE BUDGET CUTS HAS PUT AUSTRALIAN RADIO BACK ON TOP OF THE AUSTRALIAN NEWS LIST. JENNIFER HUYNH CONSIDERS THE FATE OF AUSTRALIAN RADIO IN A CONSUMER DICTATED WORLD.

A sexist culture and severe budget cuts has put Australian radio back on top of the Australian news list.

Radio has long received criticism of its gendered culture, the recent sackings of high profile women and staff cuts at ABC’s Radio National begs the question, is radio a dying industry?

Now, radio completes with several streaming services that allow listeners to narrow down exactly what they want to hear.

Pandora uses music analysis to create personalised playlists for listeners based on suggestions they enter. Spotify is an on-demand music streaming service with an extensive library of artists and playlists and includes nifty tools like matching the beat of your running step with your favourite music.

Importantly, both these services allow listeners to by-pass ads for a low subscription fee. Listeners can also access Itunes as a marketplace for all their podcast and music purchasing needs.

This creates an environment for radio that is extremely difficult to compete within. People are no longer forced to listen advertisements or hosts they are not interested in to hear the songs they like.

Whether radio will die completely is unknown, but the industry has to adjust and innovate as the shift into music streaming and podcasts is undeniable.

Successful podcasting can be valuable contribution to content marketing. It is able to reach an audience that has an interest in your subject area. It’s also easy to generate material for podcasts such as through interview like questions. These podcasts can be turned into written material by using and editing transcripts.

By Jennifer Huynh