Sunday, February 27, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Radio Formats: Explained
Active Rock | The term often used for stations which play rock music designed to be played loudly, such as "hard rock", "metal", and "heavy metal". |
Adult Album Alternative (AAA) | A station which plays largely current music which tends to appeal more to adults than to teenagers. AAA playlists are much broader than the limited playlists of hit radio, and therefore depend on album tracks as well as on music released or designated as singles. Stylistically, such stations may play rock, folk-rock, country-rock, modern rock, blues, folk, and world music. |
Adult Alternative | A station which plays current hits, whether single releases or popular album tracks, which tend to appeal to adults more than to teenagers. Playlists are drawn from rock, pop, country-rock, folk-rock and blues releases. |
A station primarily playing popular and rock music released during the past fifteen or twenty years, designed for general listeners rather than for listeners actively interested in hearing current releases. The playlists of many AC stations will also include a limited selection of older material and current hits. Best examples: Radio City 91.1 (most stations currently use this format or it’s variant) | |
Album Oriented Rock (AOR) | This is a format so named as to distinguish itself from Top 40 stations of the past, which played primarily singles. AOR stations thrived between the late 60's and the 80's, during the heyday of FM Rock Radio. See Rock, Classic Rock. |
A station which plays rock music of grunge bands of the late 80's, and to some extent, the punk/new wave artists of the late 70's, rather than the "classic" rock artists of the 60's and 70's. These stations are aimed primarily at teenage audiences and feature mostly current single releases and popular album cuts. | |
Americana | A station which plays mostly current country-rock, folk-rock, blues and American roots music which tends to appeal to adults more than to teenagers. |
A station which plays rock music released during the 60's, 70's and 80's. These stations recreate the sound of Album Oriented Rock stations of that period (although often with a much more limited playlist) and appeal mainly to adults rather than to teenagers. Some Classic Rock stations play a limited amount of current releases stylistically consistent with the station's sound. | |
Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) | A station which plays a significant amount of current popular music, whether singles or album cuts. As it is no longer unusual for a single to remain on the charts for 30-40 weeks or longer, "current" refers to music released within the last year. A more accurate description for "CHR" would be "Current Hit Radio". Although some CHR stations base their playlists on surveys of local record sales or phone requests, most rely on published charts such as the Billboard Hot 100. As of December, 1998, the Billboard Hot 100 chart began to include popular album tracks not commercially released as singles, and began weighing a song`s airplay three times as heavily as a song`s sales. The Billboard Hot 100 chart is therefore a measure of which songs are being played on CHR stations which, in turn, base their playlists on Billboard`s Hot 100 chart. Some CHR stations play a significant amount of hits released during the past ten or fifteen years, particularly if there are insufficient current hit releases which fall within the station's stylistic range. |
Dance | A station which plays music, whether or not current, produced primarily to be played for dancing. This type of music was originally known as Disco music. |
Ethnic/International | |
A station which plays commercial popular and rock music released during the past fifteen or twenty years which is more lively than the music played on the average Adult Contemporary station, but is still designed to appeal to general listeners rather than listeners interested in hearing current releases. Another definition of "Hot Adult Contemporary" used in the radio industry is an Adult Contemporary station which plays a significant amount of new rock/pop releases. There is no strict rule as to how much new material a station needs to play in order to be considered "CHR" rather than "Hot AC". To confuse matters further, you will often see an "Adult Contemporary" music chart, which tracks current songs which appeal to adults but are more pop-oriented than songs found on the "Adult Alternative" chart. Billboard Magazine also compiles an "Adult Top 40" Chart, which tracks rock singles and album cuts which appeal to an adult audience. Example: Big 93.8 FM | |
A station playing particularly easy-going popular and rock music released during the past fifteen or twenty years designed to appeal to general listeners. This is "Easy Listening" format of years past. See ACHot AC. | |
A station which plays mostly current rock music performed by artists which have become prominent during the past five to ten years. Stylistically, the music tends to fall between Rock and Alternative Rock. See Alternative Rock, Rock. | |
A station which plays popular, rock 'n roll, and rock music released during the "golden era of hit music", roughly 1955-1975. The term "Oldies" is actually a misnomer; a more accurate name for this format would be "Golden Hits", as music from the post-1975 period may qualify as "old" but will rarely qualify as "gold". | |
Personality | Programs or formats which rely on the personalities of an on-air host or hosts to entertain listeners, often with humor, parody, satire, or commentary on current events. Personality programming may also include music, interviews, and other features. |
A station which plays mostly current rock music, whether single releases or album cuts. Due to the diversity within rock music today, the playlists of different rock stations will tend to fall within different stylistic ranges. See Modern Rock, Alternative Rock, Active Rock, Rock AC. | |
A station which plays rock music released largely during the past fifteen or twenty years, designed for the general rock listener who is not actively interested in following current releases. These stations, sometimes known as "rock hits", include some "classic rock" material and some current material in their playlists. Some of the "name" formats such as "Jack" include some pop material along with rock hits. | |
Talk | A format or program which features one or more hosts discussing current events and other topics, often in the context of a particular political ideology. Talk programs frequently feature in-studio guests and calls from members of the public, representing varying degrees of expertise. Health, medical, and financial topics are especially popular. |
Programs which play music which evokes musical styles of one or more regions of the world, but is not necessarily performed by musicians from those regions or aimed solely at listeners from those regions. Compare Ethnic/International Music. |
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
BBC Hindi to stop services???
BBC Hindi to stop services???
Stating that BBC Hindi radio was a source of "accurate, impartial and independent news" for 10 million listeners in India, a group of intellectuals, artists and journalists has asked the British government to rethink its decision to severely cut funding for the BBC World Service to enable continued transmissions on shortwave radio.
Why Use Radio To Advertise?
The Radio Multiplier Study
Conducted by Millward Brown International, in October 1999 - April 2000. Commissioned by Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB)
- Toplines of Research
- Findings Research Summary
Toplines of Research Findings - A large-scale continuous tracking survey of radio and TV
This Millward Brown study involved nearly 5500 interviews in continuous research to track awareness and attitudes to 17 brands. The media tested were Commercial Radio and TV in the Central Region of UK. - Adding radio to TV has a 15% multiplier effect
If 10% of a given TV budget is re-deployed onto radio, the efficiency of the campaign in building awareness increases on average by 15% - Radio in isolation was measured to be three-fifths as effective as TV at raising advertising awareness
On average, in this test, radio was three-fifths as effective as TV at increasing advertising awareness amongst an audience of 16-44 year old radio listeners - But this radio effectiveness result was achieved at one-seventh of the cost
On average, in this test, radio prices were about one-seventh of those for TV. While the price relativity for other audiences will vary, the achievement of three-fifths of the result at one-seventh of the cost makes radio significantly more cost effective than TV.Obviously price variance between radio and TV will vary depending on area and audience. - More effective radio campaigns
The most effective radio campaigns outperformed even the average for TV. Enjoyability is an important factor but, above all, the best-performing ads are well branded - Misattribution
There is clear evidence that consumers often think they have seen a campaign on TV when in fact radio was the only advertising medium used; splitting the sample into listeners and non-listeners helps to offset this misattribution
Research Summary
This study was devised to find out how effective radio advertising can be relative to TV, and to learn more about what kind of radio advertising is more effective: effectiveness was gauged in terms of measuring increases in advertising awareness.
The study tracked perceptions amongst consumers aged 16-44 for seventeen brands advertised in two comparable regions. For each brand, one town had radio advertising while the other did not. TV advertising was the same across both towns.
Millward Brown, who conducted the study across October 1999 to April 2000, model effectiveness in terms of the Awareness Index
Across the seventeen brands:
This study was devised to find out how effective radio advertising can be relative to TV, and to learn more about what kind of radio advertising is more effective: effectiveness was gauged in terms of measuring increases in advertising awareness.
The study tracked perceptions amongst consumers aged 16-44 for seventeen brands advertised in two comparable regions. For each brand, one town had radio advertising while the other did not. TV advertising was the same across both towns.
Millward Brown, who conducted the study across October 1999 to April 2000, model effectiveness in terms of the Awareness Index
Across the seventeen brands:
- the average Awareness Index for radio was 3
- the average Awareness Index for TV was 5
Therefore radio was, on average, three-fifths as efficient as TV at driving advertising awareness amongst radio listeners.
In terms of price advertising agency Universal McCann, advise that for the TG 16-44 Yrs, TV is around seven times the cost of radio. So, by achieving three fifths of the awareness at one seventh of the cost, the radio campaigns were significantly more cost-efficient than the TV campaigns.Obviously price variance between radio and TV will vary depending on area and audience.
This cost effectiveness advantage means that radio has a multiplier effect when added to a TV schedule. If 10% of a given TV budget is re-deployed onto radio, the efficiency of the campaign in building awareness increases on average by 15%.
This cost effectiveness advantage means that radio has a multiplier effect when added to a TV schedule. If 10% of a given TV budget is re-deployed onto radio, the efficiency of the campaign in building awareness increases on average by 15%.
Some radio campaigns performed much more strongly than others - indeed the strongest outperformed the TV average.
Radio campaigns with higher scores were characterised by good branding - these were campaigns where consumers were in little doubt which brand was being advertised. Enjoyability was also a characteristic of the better performing campaigns, although this could not overcome weak brand linkage.
Branding and enjoyability appear to be significantly more important factors than spot length or media laydown.
Proprietary branding devices (e.g. jingles, theme music) were strong contributors to the effectiveness of radio advertising, even though they may have originally been established on TV.
Proprietary branding devices (e.g. jingles, theme music) were strong contributors to the effectiveness of radio advertising, even though they may have originally been established on TV.
Misattribution is an important issue. Consumers may think they have seen a campaign on TV even when it has only run on radio. This has important implications for measuring the effect of radio - most importantly, research samples need to be split into listeners and non-listeners.
Why Radio? What makes radio to stand apart???
There are clear cut advantages which make radio popular, amongst them:
1. Radio is a non-intrusive medium: Simply put it doesn’t come between you and your work. You can drive, cook, work or mostly do anything with the radio playing at the background, and it won’t hamper your output. But the same doesn’t hold true for Television or magazines, where you need to concentrate on the medium to get the sense out of it.
2. Radio is extremely portable: A point which needs little explanation, it can go anywhere you go, but whether you’ll be able to use it or not depends on service; but still it can stay with you anywhere.
3. Radio is local: One of the biggest advantage, radio is restricted to a particular region and this gives immense potential to radio. Both the users and advertisers gain a lot from it. A local advertiser is able to market his/her product to the potential clients. Pick any spot (commercial) e.g. There is a sale at a jewelry store in Lucknow, now wont it make sense for it to advertise its upcoming sale to the potential customers within Lucknow. Will it gain any advantage by putting the ad on a national television (local channels have very limited viewership) and incur huge cost when maximum number of viewers will never be able to take advantage of the sale.
The same spot on radio will not only deliver the message to the correct customers but will also make more sense as both the store and the potential customers are located in the same city, plus it will be much more cost effective, and will have high value for money.
Apart from this, local news/updates or local connect can only be achieved through a local medium. You can connect with the people by talking about things which makes sense to them e.g. Weather, traffic conditions, train timings or local issues.
People can connect with the on-air staff or the station, and can give their feedbacks or suggestions, they also have the opportunity to connect with their favorite RJs. Connecting the same way with a TV station is virtually impossible even for the local residents of the city where the TV channel is based.
4. Radio is Live: Together will local connect this really boosts radio as the true and one of the most effective public communication medium. Live updates are possible on radio which is impossible for print and very difficult for television to manage. A jam at a crossing in a particular city is of relevance to the residents of that city only or those visiting it, a radio station can give out exact details, same goes for other local and
5. Radio is Inexpensive: A locally manufactured non-branded Radio can be bought for a few rupees, whereas a TV will still cost couple of thousand. Plus you don’t need to pay for the service, but TV/newspaper/magazines carry their cost.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
FDI ceiling for non-news media to go up to 74%
The government is set to propose simplified foreign direct investment (FDI) norms for media companies in India, classifying them into two categories: news media and non-news media. While the FDI cap for news media will continue at 26%, it is the non-news media which benefits more, with a higher FDI ceiling of 74% —up from the existing 49%.
Radio MidDay records 70% growth in revenues
94.3 Radio One, the joint venture between Mid-day Multimedia and BBC worldwide has recorded exceptional growth in revenues and EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, Tax and Amoritzation) for Q3 as compared to the same period in the previous year.
Radio Mirchi’s EBITDA grows 33% to Rs. 28 crores in Q3
Entertainment Network (India) Ltd., India’s leading Private FM Radio operator, popularly known as Radio Mirchi, today reported buoyant results for the quarter ending December 31, 2010. On the back of a 22% growth in revenues to Rs 77.5 crores in the quarter, the company’s EBITDA rose by 33% to Rs 28.2 crores. With exceptional income at Rs 12.03 crores, the profit after tax of the company stood at Rs. 24.9 crores against Rs. 10.7 crores reported in Q3 last year. The Company’s EBITDA margin improved from 33.2% in Q3FY10 to 36.4% during the current quarter.
BIG FM notchs up second position in Mumbai : Week 5
BIG FM: Second position in Mumbai: Week 5
92.7 BIG FM the radio arm of Reliance Broadcast Network Limited tops the chart with 2nd position in the RAM Rating in Mumbai for week 5th for the year 2011. Owing to its entertaining and extensive researched programming 92.7 BIG FM is making its way to the top with a gain of 0.5 % in the market share beating its competitors.
Monday, February 21, 2011
700 stations in Phase III???
Updated News as in the third week of January 2011:
The Group of Ministers on FM radio phase-III, which will see an additional 700 radio stations in operation, has finalised an e-auction model for its roll out.
The GoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee , met yesterday and decided against the conventional open auction model and instead chose the e-auction method, official sources said today.
While over 200 private FM radio stations are already in operation, the third phase may allow another 700. The third phase would also focus on smaller cities and towns, where private FM radio is absent till now.
The license period for the radio stations has been extended to 15 years from the existing 10 years, they said.
The FM-III policy includes the provision of broadcast of news and current affairs as reported by Prasar Bharati. It also aims at cutting down infrastructure costs by 50 per cent.
Sources said key issues like Prasar Bharati rentals and music royalty are addressed in the Phase III draft.
Radio broadcasters have been vocal about the high rentals charged for Common Tower Infrastructure (CTI) draining their profitability.
With FM-III expanding to smaller tier 'D' cities, it is likely to provide greater freedom and multiple ownership, promotion of local content, talent and culture. Formats like talk shows, dramas, classic and folk music concerts, programming specifically for children, short stories and plays with a social message too are likely to be incorporated.
Profiles In a Radio Station!!!
The moment we hear the word Radio or a career therein, we end up thinking about Radio Jockey, much like the moment we think about TV Serials we think only about the actors working in it. But the fact is that a radio-station has many more opportunities. And one would find various teams in a radio station, mostly:
Programming: This is the creative department, where all the ideas/shows or any other thing which you hear on a radio are churned out. You can call this the core of the station.
Programming: This is the creative department, where all the ideas/shows or any other thing which you hear on a radio are churned out. You can call this the core of the station.
2.
Sales: Obviously this department gets the dough to keep a station working.
Sales: Obviously this department gets the dough to keep a station working.
3.
Technical: Responsible for smooth operation of all the machinery, including uplinks, audio systems, internal monitoring, studios, generators, air-conditioning, CTI etc.; basically anything which comes under electrical or electronic heading falls in their domain.
Technical: Responsible for smooth operation of all the machinery, including uplinks, audio systems, internal monitoring, studios, generators, air-conditioning, CTI etc.; basically anything which comes under electrical or electronic heading falls in their domain.
4.
Administration/Finance/HR/Marketing/PR: These are mostly handled by couple of people in a non-metro station. And the same person can be looking after Finance, HR and Admin or maybe working with a different combo.
Administration/Finance/HR/Marketing/PR: These are mostly handled by couple of people in a non-metro station. And the same person can be looking after Finance, HR and Admin or maybe working with a different combo.
Within programming and sales department there are various profiles. Mostly in non-metro radio stations a programming person looks after more than one aspect. So at times a show producer will also act as a script writer or an ad-sales producer, a jock may fill in as a music manager, the programming head might be looking into marketing tie-ups as well…so the boundaries are not absolute; and multi-tasking is expected and part of the norm.
Still the profiles which might be found in a station can include:
1.
Programming:
Programming:
a. Programming Head: Responsible for all aspects of programming
b. Radio Jockey: Hosts shows or does OBs
i. Show Hosts
ii. OB jocks
c. Producer: One who produces an idea is the producer. The role of a producer demands making of a program completely – from generating ideas to deciding on the music and to finally getting it aired. Besides this, a producer also looks after radio show formats, co-ordinates with guests, briefs callers and sees if the show is aired on time.
i. Show Producer: Is responsible for complete content and orientation of a show
ii. Ad-Sales Producer: Is responsible for sales coordination and preparing jingles or ads for clients.
iii. Promo Producer: A term which is often used to describe a person who does the work of both a producer and a sound engineer.
iv. Station Producer: One who looks after the production of promos, jingles and other in-house properties.
d. Sound Engineer: Works to mix or enhance an audio which is supposed to be aired.
e. Script Writer
f. Music Manager: Responsible for the correct flow of songs, maintaining database, and preparing reports. Music is an integral part of radio as in the absence of visuals, it’s only music that maintains the continuity of any radio program.
2. Sales:
a. Sales Head
b. Account Manager
i. Retail Sales Executive
ii. Corporate Sales Executive
So you might be good in one or the other thing because each of these jobs require a particular mindset and it should be in sync with your attitude and abilities. Any clash between your attitude and the requirements for a profile will frustrate you and you will lose in the long run.
Soon I’ll post about the requirements to be a good radio jockey and some universal requirements for any profile in a radio station.
...Be With Me...
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Understanding Digital Radio
Digital radio has several meanings.
1. Today the most common meaning is digital radio broadcasting technologies, such as the digital audio broadcasting (DAB) system, also known as Eureka 147. In these systems, the analog audio signal is digitized into zeros and ones, compressed using formats such as mp2, and transmitted using a digital modulation scheme. The aim is to increase the number of radio programs in a given spectrum, to improve the audio quality, to eliminate fading problems in mobile environments, to allow additional datacasting services, and to decrease the transmission power or the number of transmitters required to cover a region. However, analog radio programs and equipment, especially for the FM broadcasting system, still dominate the market.
2. An older and more wide definition, that still is used in communication engineering literature, is wireless digital transmission technologies, i.e. microwave and radio frequency communication standards where analog information signals as well as digital data is carried by a digital signal, by means of a digital modulation method. This definition includes broadcasting systems such at digital TV and digital radio broadcasting, but also two-way digital radio standards such as the second generation (2G) cell-phones and later, short-range communication such as digital cordless phones, wireless computer networks, digital micro-wave radio links, deep space communication systems such as communications to and from the two Voyager space probes, etcetera.
3. A less common definition is radio receiver and transmitter implementations that are based on digital signal processing, but may transmit or receive analog radio transmission standards, for example FM radio. This may reduce noise and distortion induced in the electronics. It also allows software radio implementations, where the transmission technology is changed just by selecting another piece of software. In most cases, this would however increase the energy consumption of the receiver equipment.
One-way digital radio (digital broadcasting systems)
[edit]One-way digital radio standards
One-way standards are those used for audio and video broadcasting, and sometimes also datacasting, as opposed to those used for two-way communication. Digital radio broadcasting standards may provide terrestrial or satellite radio service. Digital radio broadcasting systems are typically designed for handheld mobile devices, just like mobile-TV systems, but as opposed to other digital TV systems which typically require a fixed directional antenna. Some digital radio systems provide in-band on-channel (IBOC) solutions that may coexist with or simulcast with analog AM or FM transmissions, while others are designed for designated radio frequency bands. The latter allows one wideband radio signal to carry a multiplexconsisting of several radio-channels of variable bitrate as well as data services and other forms of media. Some digital broadcasting systems allow single-frequency network (SFN), where all terrestrial transmitters in a region sending the same multiplex of radio programs may use the same frequency channel without self-interference problems, further improving the system spectral efficiency.
While digital broadcasting offers many potential benefits, its introduction has been hindered by a lack of global agreement on standards. The Eureka 147 standard (DAB) for digital radio is the most commonly used and is coordinated by the World DMB Forum, which represents more than 30 countries. This standard of digital radio technology was defined in the late 1980s, and is now being introduced in many countries. Commercial DAB receivers began to be sold in 1999 and, by 2006, 500 million people were in the coverage area of DAB broadcasts, although by this time sales had only taken off in the UK and Denmark. In 2006 there are approximately 1,000 DAB stations in operation.[1] There have been criticisms of the Eureka 147 standard and so a new 'DAB+' standard has been proposed.
To date the following standards have been defined for one-way digital radio:
[edit]Digital audio broadcasting systems
- Eureka 147 (branded as DAB)
- DAB+
- Digital Radio Oceane
- ISDB-TSB
- Internet radio
- FM band in-band on-channel (FM IBOC):
- HD Radio (OFDM modulation over FM and AM band IBOC sidebands)
- FMeXtra (FM band IBOC subcarriers)
- Digital Radio Mondiale extension (DRM+) (OFDM modulation over AM band IBOC sidebands)
- AM band in-band on-channel (AM IBOC):
- HD Radio (AM IBOC sideband)
- Digital Radio Mondiale (branded as DRM) for the short, medium and long wave-bands
- Satellite radio:
- WorldSpace in Asia and Africa
- Sirius XM Radio in North America
- MobaHo! in Japan and the Republic of (South) Korea
- Systems also designed for digital TV:
- Low-bandwidth digital data broadcasting over existing FM radio:
- Radio Data System (branded as RDS)
- Radio pagers:
[edit]Digital television broadcasting (DTV) systems
- Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB)
- Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB)
- Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB)
- Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV or DTT) to fixed mainly roof-top antennas:
- Mobile TV reception in handheld devices:
- Satellite TV:
source: wikipedia
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