A weekly audio column with the most interesting news about radio's future. James Cridland is a radio futurologist - a writer, speaker and consultant concentrating on the effect that new platforms and technology are having on the radio business across the world. James has worked in radio since 1989…
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
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The EBU released its Radio Trends Report 2026. Weekly reach across Europe is 81.3%, down 2.7% from five years ago. As above - time spent listening is 2h 10m per day - down 15 minutes on 5 years ago (and down 50 minutes from 20 years ago).Nielsen released its Podcast Listen & Watch Report, though there's information in there for radio as well. Particularly, it quotes Edison Research's Share of Ear for Q1, which sys that 20% of time spent with ad-supported audio is podcasting: radio is more than three-times larger.In Australia, Kyle Sandilands will start his paid-for live online show on August 10. It will cost AUD $99 for the year (£51, US$69) - listeners won't be able to buy monthly. Game Changers Radio seems to think it will be easy to get 10,000 listeners paying that. Sandilands has said he needs 50,000 to “cover costs”. Prior to his sacking, his show had 1.1 million listeners, 96,000 of those online; he had 291,000 listeners to the podcast too. I'm fascinated to watch this.
Links and much more to read at https://radioland.email
Data from Edison Research makes me question what radio is marketing for.
More at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/radio-4-longwave-closes/
More at https://radioland.email
All the links are here: https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/no-kyle-jackie-no-switchoff/
More over at https://radioland.email
https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/abc-sbs/ is where to go to find links for all these stories
Yikes! The economy! Plus, more news about radio's future
I buy a new radio! I dig into the ownership of the BBC's longwave transmitters! More at radioland.email
All the links at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/acma-foi-tapt/
And a new radio streaming app for iOS.More at https://radioland.email
See the baker's van at https://radioland.email
https://radioland.email to subscribe and get this in your inbox!
Well, should you?More at https://radioland.email
There's a nice graph here: https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/multiplatform-radio-figures/
Latvia is the home of Radiodays Europe this yearhttps://radioland.email for more!
New research shows that radio's core audience is changing rapidly.More on this and everything else at https://radioland.email
One of Australia's biggest radio shows, Kyle & Jackie O, has ended. Tuesday's announcement to the ASX, the Australian stock market, makes it clear that it isn't a stunt. The show is now off the air: Kent Small is doing the breakfast show in both Sydney and Melbourne (this is Australian radio, so he has to have a nickname, which is “Smallzy”).Employment lawyers will now be involved, in two of the biggest media legal cases in the country, as things begin to get messy. Jackie “O” Henderson is now saying that she “did not quit or resign”, in a statement that, perhaps pointedly, didn't mention Kyle's name once. Kyle (who has also taken time away from TV duties) is also reported to be priming his lawyers for a reported $88mn; potentially arguing that a similar argument on-air last year wasn't treated as serious by ARN, his whole show was based on controversy, and a slightly misguided view that ARN's censors should have prevented the argument going out. There's plenty more informed coverage in the Game Changers Radio podcast.This might look like a peculiarly Australian news story. But, actually, I think it raises questions for radio people everywhere. Here are some of them.
More at https://radioland.email
Read this, see the links and more at https://radioland.email
The new rules from CRA in Australia. What do they say?https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/new-australian-rules for links and more!
Links and more at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/emergency-broadcasters/
Links and more - https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/abc-comes-off-iheart/
https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/stv-radio-launches/ for links and more
https://james.cridland.net/blog/2026/closures-at-end-of-2025/ for links to everything I talk about, and more
More including audio at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/arn-change-minds/
There's links at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/am-switchoff-continues/
From https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/australia-social-media-ban/ - a little extra.
More at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/global-arn-australia
https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/wsqk-and-obsession/ for all the links and more audio!
Links and lots more info at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/hey-google-acma/
The whole thing with links and more of Heart - https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/tim-davie-traffic-acma/
Links and more here:https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/news-requirements-radio/
Links and more over here: https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/emergencies-and-weekends/
And, 4BC loses a breakfast presenter.https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/tesla-model-3-no-radio/ to read all of this, and see the links.
https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/radiozeit-patent/ has links and lots more info
Links and more at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/kick-kyle-off/
It's amazing! See pictures here: https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/review-deepelec-dp-666/
Links and more at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/acras-and-audio/
Links and all this written down over here: https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/how-to-listen-to-bbc-radio-overseas/
All the links! All over here. https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/bbc-brand-extensions/
Links and stuff are over here: https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/to-bradford-and-pennine/
Links and much more at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/radiodays-asia-jakarta/
Links! And more! https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/apple-radio-everywhere/
Links and lots more at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/in-car-on-demand
Links and more info at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/australian-multiplatform-radio/
Read this over here: https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/so-long-james-whale/
Lots of links to the stories and things I talk about here: https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/feedback-and-more/
All the links and details at https://james.cridland.net/blog/2025/abc-radio-brisbane-100/
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