Research on how audio is consumed
Spotify and Group M have published details on how streaming media is consumed and what listeners expect from it. Called ‘The Streaming State Of Mind’ the report confirms that listening to streaming audio is, like radio, an individual activity. There is a one to one relationship between the consumer and the provider and you are literally inside the listeners head. People who take the free subscription option for services like Spotify have relatively little resistance to hearing commercials. They have taken the option to hear them rather than pay for an ‘ad free’ service. There’s an interesting thought on tailoring scripts and sound design to how and where they are being listened to. Listening on headphones while in the gym, or in the car or on speakers at home are ‘very different tasks and require different types of messaging’, i.e. different creative. There is no suggestion that you can do this just yet – but if we can directly target (eg) drivers on the school run e could this could be really exciting....
read moreFacebook Audio
Facebook Live Audio has been introduced to allow just audio to be broadcast as part of updates and news feeds. The key advantage is that you can still send and receive content when the signal is too low for a video bulletin. Or – it will be ‘allowing real time connectivity with users’. At the moment the main users are predicted to be publishers and news broadcasters with a few U.K. companies already on board and a larger ‘roll out’ due in the next couple of months. Interesting to have audio without pictures as new development and with a large number of people listening to Facebook individually via headphones, there’s the opportunity for some interesting sound...
read moreSimon on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4’s ‘Archive On Four’ on Saturday September 17th, looked back at public information Films, TV and radio produced by the Central Office of Information. Simon was interviewed about his time in COI Radio in particular an Army recruitment radio commercial ‘Tank’. The team behind that commercial were Nik Studzinski and Jay Fretwell then at Saatchi & Saatchi, creative directors were Adam Kean and Alex Taylor and sound design was by Rohan Young at Scramble Soho. Simon confessed that although he had the grand title ‘Head of COI Radio’ – for a while the department was just him ‘and a lovely chap from Oldham called Paul’....
read moreNight Time Radio
Interesting piece in The Observer on late night radio, the loyal following it has and some of the different presenters and their different styles of broadcasting. It’s certainly true that live radio is at it’s most personal at night. It’s the one time that you’ll be listening as a primary source – rather than the station being on air in the background while you focus on (eg) your route to work. At the moment Simon is hovering between Iain Lee on Talk Radio, Ian Collins on LBC and 6 Music’s Gideon Coe. Way back in the last century Simon presented late night radio programmes for a number of years, and also presented the news on BFBS (Forces radio) from midnight to 06.00 AM....
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The Grand Man Of Radio
Terry Wogan, correctly described by Chris Tarrant and the nicest and best radio broadcaster. In the early 90’s Simon was putting a consortium together for Berkshire commercial radio franchise. It was a bit of a nightmare and he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. Simon met Terry at the BBC to ask his advice. He was encouraging and reassuring and said he would ‘help in any way I can’, offering to do some radio programmes and put some money in. I said if we didn’t win, which we didn’t, he would be the most high profile ‘loser’. ‘Never mind about that, let’s give it a go!’ What a fantastic person and sadly...
read moreDecember 2015 – Aerial Award
Big congratulations to everyone involved in the Transport for London radio commercial ‘Road Safety Distraction’, including (nervous cough) Simon. As well as winning the December Aerial Award it will also be entered into D&AD radio.
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Creative Circle – 2 radio winners!!!
A good night at The Roundhouse in London on March 17th. We won 2 Creative Circle Radio Golds for TfL radio! Simon went up to collect the awards with Chris Ross-Kellam the creative from M&C Saatchi behind the campaign. Congrats also to Soho Square Studios who weaved their magic with the sound...
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