Here at News Service towers, we have fond memories of radio. Some of us got our start in media doing hospital radio, that almost uniquely British pastime of being a radio DJ, at least in training, in your spare time, while not getting paid for it.
Of course, the pay bit is a moot point; it wasn’t done for a for-profit organisation, and, of course, they’d take just about anyone. Many of our beloved radio presenters from the last few decades started their careers that way (the other option was pirate radio, usually done from international waters off the coast, in the North Sea, at the mercy of the elements).
Why the trip down memory lane I hear you tut, well this: radio is the oft forgotten media that still plays a massive part in people’s lives, and it remains a mainstay of people on journeys in cars, lorries, mini-buses and, if you’re really lucky, on coaches too (though the requirement to hold a music license often stops that idea before it begins), and, as such, can present a massive opportunity for audiences.
Which brings us to the point, Both GB News Radio (using a simulcast of the television channel) and TalkTV (via TalkRadio) are growing in popularity. While their audience numbers may not be astronomical, they are also important, because when it comes to audience building, single platform is not a big winner for advertisers, and in both cases the figures are around 350,000 uniques a month each.
In the right-leaning news and current affairs space, the worrying thing is (to those of us who worry about accuracy and honesty) that these services are growing in popularity. Worse still, from our perspective GB News Radio is the fastest growing talk radio service currently.
Growth on one platform can help encourage growth on another, so, we’re going to have to counter it by coming up with a plan to launch a radio service too. More details just after our live launch.
Which brings us to the denouement: don’t underestimate a multi-platform approach, because the numbers can be very useful to getting your message across in media.
