I must admit that the whole thing lacks a bit of structure but basically the main ideas are:

- Slide 1: As the title suggests, this is a follow up to the radio manifesto published in collaboration between Cleverwood and Laid Back a couple of months ago with a focus on how mobile devices could help us re-think radio.

- Slide 2: As soon as the Laid Back project started on local radio stations in Brussels back in 2002, I realized that Internet would be the perfect place to promote our activities. In 2008, after experimenting around newsletters, websites, podcasts, blogs & social networks, we decided to launch our 24/7 online radio station on the radionomy platform. But a simple audio stream wasn’t enough and that’s why we decided to release the LDBK players in order to give our listeners a brand new radio experience.

- Slide 4 is a presentation of the four main features of the LDBK desktop player: easy access, additional info, viral interaction and pop up window announcing special content.

- Slide 5: More and more listeners tune in to online radio stations and the usage of mobile internet is also increasing. Mobile devices are the new walkmans. I don’t think, we should make too much distinction between streaming and downloading as dematerialization might make the music business shift from selling access to selling copies. If that happens, it could mean a new role for the next radio generation.

- Slide 6: Imagine you are listening to some music/radio on your mobile. When you enter your car, you decide to output the sound on your car loudspeaker. Then, back home, you could do the same on your kitchen, living room or bathroom audio system (see for instance the Sonos system). At each location switch, your mobile is involved and gives you more info about what’s playing and the ability to interact with the host of the show, the other listeners and your network.

- Silde 7: Let’s find new ways of packaging digital music. Basically I could be whatever coming with a code… (scan the QR code and you’ll see what I mean)

- Slide 8: Next to “selling” music, we should also allow listeners to play with it. More and more people (or brands) are using online services to present their music tastes through playlist or recommendations.

- Slide 9: While playlists lack editorial content, Radionomy just released a prototype called the smart player. Pick a music stream, select news providers, link it to your facebook account, you’ll end up with a mix of music interrupted by an automated voice reading those RSS feeds. It’s a good idea to allow listeners to configure their own stream, to break the linearity and make radio more “on-demand” but I would prefer the use of native audio RSS over the text to speech currently implemented.

- Slide 10: Now let’s bring the previous experiment one step further. What if we would have access to various audio RSS feeds and that we could cue them one after the other at will. Those feeds could be professionally produced or coming from our networks (think blip.fm or audioboo.fm). This way I could offer to my favorite doctor her dream car playlist: first the traffic news (make sense since you are about to figure out what way to go and this should interact with your gps system), then the weather forecast, international news and finally some music.

- Slide 11 is a list of recommendations for traditional radio stations to become strong brands in the online world.

Now it’s up to you : please challenge us, give us a call, ask questions, react on our various online presences where we started discussions about the radio (facebook, linkedin, radio20.be…).

Future Airwave in The Word magazine

Yesterday morning I had the nice surprise to find the USB issue of Belgian lifestyle magazine The Word in my mailbox. This special edition (subscribers only) entitled “Universal Stereo Boombox” features (among other nice content) a piece about Citywurl founder Billy Palmier, an interview with Stonesthrow‘s mastermind Peanut Butter Wolf … plus an article about LDBK radio and more specifically the work we did around our players.

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Article by Nicholas Lewis – Picture by Yassin Serghini
From left to right: Anthony Janssens (Datasmart), Geoffroy Delobel, Ali Nassiri (Central Design) & Julien Mourlon

What started in 2002 as a weekly radio show on a local radio station kept on evolving throughout the years. If I am still proud to produce shows for FM radio stations (thanks to FM Brussel and 057 radio for giving us this opportunity), I also decided in March 2008 to create an online radio station on the Radionomy platform as a way to expand the Laid Back project.

So far more than 20 deejays and numerous guests collaborate on LDBK and help us broadcast 24/7 the best in urban music from the last 40 years. But our goal with LDBK is more ambitious than being a jukebox. We want to make the best use of the new technologies in order to shape the future of radio.

In December 08, willing to balance my DIY experience with some “corporate” views, I collaborated with Cleverwood to organize a conference about the future of radio. Many meetings, brainstorming sessions and prototypes later, we released – together with Central and Datasmart – the first public version of the LDBK desktop player.

Next to the desktop player and it’s upcoming iPhone version, I also wanted to explain the theory behind our experiments. Hence this manifesto listing 11 recommandations on what could be done to offer a new radio experience to listeners.

Download the Radio Manifesto (pdf version)

Slideshow FR – Slideshow NL

Each point of this manifesto corresponds to a group of functionalities we might consider adding to our players. Let’s take #10 for instance: “Listening to the radio doesn’t require 100% of the listener’s attention. But once you catch their attention you’d better give them something nice.”

This pop up – implemented in th latest version of our player – appears when we have something more to offer to our listeners be it an exclusive article, a free track on download or an invitation to participate to a contest/game.

To test the latest version of the LDBK player or share your vision on the future of radio, leave us a comment or join me on the radio 2.0 network.

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Manifesto:
Layout – Diane d’Andrimont
French translation – Olivier Beaujean
Dutch transaltion – Jurgen Noel
Text – Julien Mourlon in collaboration with Fabian Tilmant

Players:
Programming – Anthony Janssens
User Interface Design – Ali Nassiri & Geoffroy Delobel (Central Design)
Concept – Julien Mourlon

Top picture:
“Retro Radio” by Francis Bourguoin

Media groups exploiting this 4th UMTS licence makes sense considering what happens in the belgian media landscape. Publishers took shares in TV and/or radio initiatives in order to compensate possible loss due to these former new media and other media groups consider publishing, editing, internet, audiovisual… as diversification tracks. So why not go mobile? Owning a mobile network allows first of all, and that’s why all MNO proposed MVNO deals to media groups, to secure cash from communication usage (SMS, Voice). This activity is a great basis, not only to turn mobile media unto an information channel: allowing users to access your content through their device (via SMS, MMS, WAP/Mobile Internet, applications…) but also to follow the Web 2.0 trend which turns an interactive information platform unto a real social network where content and people merge unto a virtual universe. Peer to peer conversations then include brands, people gather to create communities, share (user generated or not) content and thus stimulate mobile data usage.

Of course, looking much further, connectivity will become a commodity for which most people won’t even pay for anymore. Multiple-play offers, shared networks (eg FON), state autorities initiatives for providing free wireless internet in order to reduce digital divide or similar initiatives from private companies in order to bring more people to Internet and then generate more revenues from advertising (Google’s mobile strategy). All this will allow more people being more often, easier and connected at a more affordable price.

To conclude, it is obvious that traditional press, daily or weekly magazines, will need to get rid, at least partly of the printed support in order to provide more interactions, social gatherings around the brand and a balanced mix between brand-generated and user-generated content. And this will undoubtably go through mobile media. What’s important is the brand, not the device to connect to it.

What is specific to the Radio?

Listening to the radio doesn’t require 100% of attention; it can be a complement to another activity (driving, cooking, working, doing sport…).
Radio is maybe not local, but rather glocal and more based on communities. On the internet, communities are not local anymore. They are based on like-mindedness: “I might share more interests with somebody in New-Zealand than with my own neighbor”.

FM Radios are popular because they create an affective link with their listeners. But it is still possible to create such a link on an online platform, if not easier. Radios are brands and they will use all platforms available to increase their image. Radio becomes multimedia … more and more of these online platforms will work with audio, texts, pictures and videos.

Linear radio is part of adults’ daily activities. But what about people between 15 and 25 who are used to youtube, podcasts, ipods and mp3′s instead of FM radios and linear TV? How are we going to mix mass media and on demand content?

Is the Radio already 2.0?

Today, most radios have a website where listeners can find additional information about the programs. Most radios implemented podcasts and streaming in addition to their FM activity. They seem satisfied with the results but could reach a much wider audience on these new channels. We think there should be specific ways to present those podcasts or streams.
When the Radio becomes interactive and 2.0, announcers can reach their consumers who are one click away from buying.
Nevertheless, why do we have to open a web browser and go to a website to listen to an online radio? Where are the software and hardware making it easier to connect to online radios? And where can we find information related to the content/music being broadcasted?

What’s next, then?

Studies show that people intent to increase their consumption of only two media in the coming years: Radio and Internet, this is why we believe there is definitely a market for more radio, different radio.
It is clear that one day (sooner than we might think) it will be as easy to listen to an online radio as it is to listen to an FM radio. Everyone will be connected almost all the time in any situation, and the technologies in place will enable a fluent interactivity to reach the required user experience for a major take-up of online radio.
Blog changed to way we read news.
Youtube revolutionized Television.
Who is going to change the way we listen to music? Deezer/Last FM? Radionomy ? Another actor mixing both approaches?

During the next Trends Session on December 3rd, cleverwood invited a pannel of belgian key players in the radio sector to discuss the future of the traditionnal radio in light of the current digital evolution.

During this session, Cédric Godart (Pure FM) will moderate a discussion between Marc Vossen (general manager – Nostalgie), Laurent Finet (new media advisor – RTBF), Jean-Jacques Deleeuw (general manager – Bel RTL) and Yves Baudechon (co-founder – Radionomy) to debate around the opportunities and challenges that arise with the explosion of the new media.

If you are interested, feel free to register to this event, we’ll be happy to meet you there!

The Trends Sessions are part of our Dynamic Insourcing programme, you can also have a look at the previous trends sessions on Mobile Advertising.