#CRAConf 2016 in Melbourne

Joan Warner and Adam Lang have opened the National Radio Conference in Melbourne.

Adam Lang began his opening remarks by paying tribute to Rebecca Wilson, who passed away overnight, then talked about his passion for radio.
 
“We all share the same passion for radio,” said Lang.
 
“Radio thrives on… we have the courage to innovate, sometimes to fail, but many times to win.

“Radio now is so different from radio of our childhood. What will radio be like for our grandchildren?
 
“But what hasn’t changed is that radio continues to play a unique role in the lives of Australians… We are attracting more audience than ever.
 
“Commercial Radio audiences have grown from 9.8 to 10.3 million, we are reinvigorating regional radio with 20 new sureys this year, revenue has grown by 6%.”

Lang said Radio “is not only holding its own but thriving.”

He commended all in the industry, “it’s a great credit to those in this room and all in the industry,” he said.
 

 

Joan Warner previewed the day’s program and, of course, invited delegates to attend the radioinfo drinks session at the end of the today.

Warner said media is evolving and radio is a big part of that.
 
“There will be a ground breaking study revealed today and a new marketing campaign will be launched.

“Listening habits are evolving, and while live terrestrial analog radio is the main platform DAB+ and streaming are both increasing.”
 
The Radio App, announced today, to be launched in about 8 weeks, will be another way of making radio access seamless for listeners. “It is a great joint initiative between ourselves and public service broadcasters,” she said. Radio’s partnership with the LG digital radio smart phone has also been a success, pushing the DAB+ phone to the company’s top selling phone model..

“We also supported the LG DAB+ phone and are pleased to report that this is LG’s top selling smart phone in Australia. It is more evidence that people want free to air radio in their smart devices.”

The third session of the conference was a presentation by Marketing Professor Mark Ritson, who debunked the myths of ‘digitla media’ numbers, which are “bullshit” according to ritson’s straight talking presentation. See some of the presentation below, and our other report on his presentation here.







Follow our twitter feed through the day for ongoing updates.


 

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