The session, titled “How Society, Listeners and Broadcasters All Benefit from Securing Radio’s Digital Future,” was a highlight of the one-day WorldDAB Summit 2024, held on Nov. 14 in Zagreb, Croatia. The key message from WorldDAB, the industry group promoting the DAB+ digital radio standard, emphasized radio broadcasters must collaborate to ensure the survival of the medium in an era increasingly dominated by on-demand streaming services.
“It’s essential,” said Edita Kudlácová, the European Broadcasting Union’s head of radio. “If we don’t collaborate, especially on the advocacy and on the distribution, nobody will succeed.”
Radio Remains Popular
Even with her conclusion, Kudlácová extolled radio’s continued popularity with the public. “People love it,” she said. “We have seen the numbers from our research. It’s clear 82% of people in Europe listen to the radio every day.”
[Related: “Bierhorst Outlines DAB Rollout Progress at 2024 Summit“]
However, the reflexive habit of people tuning into radio could be eclipsed over time as streaming media and other audio forms take hold. “In order not to lose that muscle — to be everywhere and to be taken for granted to be everywhere — I think we need to work together,” said Kudlácová. She added both public and commercial broadcasters have a role. “I don’t think it’s only our job or it’s only commercial radio’s job,” she said. “I think we have to do it together.”
Radio Must Guide the Development of In-Car Content Delivery
During the session, Kudlácová and other panelists pointed to the EBU’s “Connected Car Playbook” as a blueprint the radio industry needs to promote worldwide. According to its website, the playbook was “developed as part of an EBU-wide initiative” and “aims to ensure that audiences can continue to easily find and listen to the content they love in connected vehicles.” EBU said its playbook centers around collaboration from auto manufacturers, operating system providers, app stores and the radio industry.
Convincing the car industry of radio’s vitality is critical to its survival, according to WorldDAB President Jacqueline Bierhorst, even in countries not using the DAB+ broadcasting standard. “If OEMs try to make a radio in their dashboards, we can give them a set of rules that are actually including everything that has to do with broadcasts in any form,” she said.
In a modern connected car, radio’s best chance is to adopt a hybrid model where listeners can tune in off-air or via their car’s internet connection. “We see radio as a hybrid solution,” said Luka Đurić, vice president of the Association of European Radios and director of the Croatian Radio Forum. He also emphasized the importance of the industries working together. “That’s critical in achieving any of the goals in the future concerning the radio button in the car, smart speakers and everything else.”
For the best audience experience, broadcasters need to ensure hybrid radio is seamless to operate, because listeners aren’t as concerned about technology. “They just want to press the button,” Đurić concluded. “What’s behind the button, it’s not their issue. That’s the issue we should take care of, [because] their aim is to get the best and the strongest signal at the time and the content that they want.”
