On 13 July 2010, Shore Media and Astral Radio entered into both a Put and Call Agreement and a Loan Agreement (the 2010 Agreements). The Put and Call Agreement provided Shore Media shareholders with the ability to require Astral Radio to purchase all of their shares in Shore Media. Shore Media shareholders exercised their option as per the 2010 Agreements on 14 July 2011. The Share purchase agreement between Astral Radio and Shore Media was executed on 22 July 2011 (the 2011 Agreement).
In Revised criteria for the application of the licence trafficking policy, Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-220, 19 April 2010 (the licence trafficking policy), the Commission stated that during the first two years following the launch of a service, any transaction involving the licence will normally be denied, except where the applicant can demonstrate the necessity of the transaction as a result of a force majeure event.
Read more here.
Consumers and creators alike have their ears perked for the reintroduction of the government’s copyright bill, expected Thursday.
Industry Minister Christian Paradis and Heritage Minister James Moore are unveiling the details at a news conference on Thursday morning.
Moore indicated in early September that the government planned to reintroduce the copyright bill in exactly the same form as the legislation that died when the last session of Parliament ended in the spring, the former Bill C-32. At that time, Moore indicated that the government wants to pick up where it left off in the last session, and the legislative committee studying the bill will not be inviting groups that have already commented to appear before the committee again.
Read more here.
The Commission announces that it has received an application by Dufferin Communications Inc. to change the frequency of its station CIRR-FM Toronto from 103.9 MHz to 88.1 MHz, as well as to increase its transmitter power. Given the scarcity of FM frequencies in the Toronto market, the Commission calls for applications from other parties wishing to obtain a radio licence to serve this area.
Persons interested in responding to this call must submit a duly completed application to the Commission by 19 December 2011 using the appropriate application form for a licence to operate a new radio station. Applicants are also required to submit all necessary technical documentation to the Department of Industry (the Department) by the same date.
Read more here.
Konrad von Finckenstein’s departure next year as chairman of the CRTC could herald the beginning of the Harper government’s efforts to reshape the Canadian media landscape.
Critics of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s policies on broadcasting and media have argued for years that von Finckenstein was an obstacle to what they saw as Harper’s agenda to deregulate — or at least differently regulate — Canadian media.
Read more here.
Apple on Tuesday (27 September) sent out invitations to members of the press for an event at its San Francisco HQ next Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 10am with the tagline “Let’s talk iPhone.” While they will not confirm the exact details of the event most feel it will be to unveil the next generation iPhone 5.
The unveiling is also expected by many to include an updated version of last year’s iPhone 4, which has become the best-selling smartphone in the world since its launch last June 2010.
Internet rumors predict the iPhone 5 will have a larger screen than the existing iPhone 4, and that it may include a near field communication chip which will enable it to be used with payment services such as Google’s Wallet service. If this is true then it will allow the iPhone to compete with Google’s Nexus S phone, released at the end of December, which contains an NFC chip, and other forthcoming phones from handset makers.
Apple’s next-generation iPhone will be on sale by the end of October and is expected to further increase its market share in the smartphone.
This means more of your listeners will be carrying an iPhone than ever before, especially with the likely price drops of the older iPhones. This is a great time to be building an iPhone app for your radio station. For more details about how to get an iPhone app for your radio station go to https://byrnesmedia.com/communications-new-media/
The Canadian Press has learned that the head of Canada’s broadcast regulator won’t be re-appointed to the post.
CRTC Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein’s five-year term expires in January.
Read more here.
Facebook’s Mark Zukerberg had a Steve Jobs look and feel to him yesterday (Thursday 22 September 2011) when he took to the stage at the f8 developer’s conference in San Francisco to introduce a “master plan for the social network.” Facebook will try to turn the web on its head and rewire it from “Search” to “Social”. For example they are adding a “Listen” button which will be similar to the “Like” button. Listen buttons will start to replace the familiar Like button where there’s something to hear, along with Watch and Read. For example a “Listen” button will send a message out to your friends which may say “Chris Byrnes just listened to the new Split Enz song.” This seems remarkably similar to one of the tools in the Listener Driven Radio system that has been increasing Tune-Ins and Time Spent Listening by allowing fans of a radio station to introduce their friends to a radio station. Now your Facebook friends will be able to see what song, artist or radio station you like.
Facebook users will also be able to incorporate their favourite music services such as Rhapsody using custom apps. They will be able to share music with their friends and listen to songs together in real time with a number of different music sharing services. For example, Spotify users who connect to Facebook can now automatically share the songs they’re listening to through Facebook’s new news ticker. This will be like Napster but with the approval of the music industry. You can read more about the music service here. Here is another take on the music service from The Guardian’s website
Clear Channel is also getting into bed with Facebook and Bob Pittman promises “an enhanced social music listening experience on iHeartRadio that is integrated with Facebook, making it easier for people to discover and share new music online with their friends.” People using iHeartRadio can feature their listening activity on their Facebook profile in real-time. Check it out here.
ZUCKERBERG also touted the network’s new Timeline feature, which he described as “the story of your life. ” All the user’s stories and apps will be included, creating a “new way to express who you are.” He described it as an electronic scrap book which can display your life by month or location. See a mock on example from Facebook here.
We think these improvements to Facebook create some great opportunities for radio stations and radio personalities. For example, you could easily create the History of your radio station online using pictures, video and audio to tell the story. Make it easier for listeners to interact with and share music and other content. Some of these changes are live now and some will not show up for a few weeks, but we will keep you up to date with each enhancement and suggest ways you might use them to your advantage to drive more listener engagement with your radio station.
Rob Pittman of Clear Channel shared enthusiasm for the radio industry at the Radio Show. Pittman says “the consumer loves radio, radio is a companion, nearly everyone uses radio. This is not a product in trouble.”
For the full story from Radio INK, click here.
The importance of using Social Networks to influence ratings and tuning was front and centre at the NAB radio show in Chicago yesterday. The session called “R U a Social Misfit” focused on actionable things radio personalities can do to engage audiences. Radio stations are using social media to have conversations and deepen engagement with radio listeners, open advertisers to a wider audience and to drive more traffic to a station’s website.
Lori Lewis, the director of digital and social strategies at rock radio consulting firm Jacobs Media, who moderated the session says, “The social and digital channels we have to operate with today will allow our audience to consume our product on their preferred platforms.”
BJ Shea, host of The BJ Shea Morning Experience for Seattle-based rock station KISW-FM engages his listener’s via Facebook, Twitter and his online blog and said he figured out early on that this was a powerful way to connect with people. Shea now has approximately 5,500 Twitter followers and 13,000 likes on his Facebook page. All four members of his morning show have Facebook pages and all of them update Shea’s page while he is on the air. He also works the social platforms after hours to simply tweet back to followers and comment about local sporting events such as Seattle Seahawks games.
80% of posts should be about communicating with followers and 20% should be about promoting you. If it is the other way round, which is the case on many Twitter accounts, then you risk being perceived as being too self-indulgent which will turn off or even anger followers.
Another error the station made is when a different on-air talent posted a question on the station’s Facebook page, generating 77 responses, but neglected to reply to any of them. “That’s like saying to somebody, ‘What’s your favorite color,’ and then not listening and walking away,” McKenzie said. “You’ve got to get your on-air staff to talk to them. … When you reach out on Facebook, you’ve got to keep reaching out.”
Given social’s ability to build up a station’s fan base, advertisers are becoming increasingly interested in showing up within a station’s social content, Weston said. The challenge is trying to find a way that makes them happy without compromising the integrity of the content you’ve created, Lewis said.
For example, WMMR put up a Facebook post with a picture of a new beverage for client McDonald’s and a caption that read like ad copy. The post generated only three comments, two of which were negative, he said. But for Dunkin’ Donuts, Weston said the station put up a picture of the back of an on-air talent’s truck littered with trash and a bunch of empty branded ice coffee cups. It was accompanied by copy that admitted he was paid to drink Dunkin’ coffee, but he really liked it. “It was a glimpse into his life, and he was sharing a little bit of who he is,” Weston said. “It was done in a way that was personal and it didn’t sound like an ad.”
Panelists also addressed concerns that Facebook and Twitter could actually take viewers away from station sites and negatively impact online ad revenue. The solution is using Facebook and Twitter to entice followers back to a station’s site, McKenzie said. WNCY has sent messages hinting about guests in their studios with a link directing followers to the answer on their website. McKenzie said she also uses on-air time to entice people to visit the station’s on-site blog to get the full story and see pictures related to topics they talk about.
While many stations may still be getting a hang of Facebook and Twitter, they can’t neglect other forms of social media starting to emerge. Shea said he was so adamant about getting an app for his show that he told management he was going to put down his own money. Station management was so excited about the idea, and the app’s audience-building and revenue-netting potential, that they invested money themselves in an app for all of KISW programming.
At Byrnesmedia we build applications for radio stations for the iPhone, Android and the Blackberry platform. Check out an example here.
Jeff Haley President of the RAB had a very clear message for broadcasters as he spoke to a crowded room at the combined RAB/NAB conference in Chicago this week. He feels there are three things that really matter and Radio’s position with regard to these issues:
First – Scale Matters
Second – Live and Local Content Matters
And third – Mobile Matters
He wants radio stations to focus on scale, being live and local, and also take advantage of the mobile platform. “As far as Scale is an issue in media today – nobody has as broad and deep a platform as our nearly 11,000 broadcast radio stations. There are niche players who after ten years have barely scratched 20 million subscribers” said Haley.
He wants radio to build a common interactive mobile platform for Radio, continue to push for FM on cell phones and respond in a united way to advertisers who want us (radio) to show them the road ahead.
You can read his complete address here
