With the sounds of drums echoing through the conference room, Radiodays Asia 2019 has this morning started in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia with a performance from local group “Drums of Asia” and a warm welcome from popular local radio presenters Ezra Raid and Lee Chwi Lynn from BFM 89.9.
This two-day event has been billed as the newest radio and audio focussed event to come to Asia, where radio and audio professionals will come together to discuss the future of radio and audio that will benefit both listeners and businesses in our region.
Radiodays Asia is a NEW conference for Asia from the team who produces Radiodays Europe, the world´s largest and leading conference for radio and audio development, now in its 11th year and will be held in Lisbon, Portugal 2020. Radiodays Asia will feature 40 sessions talking all things radio, and will bring together 60 speakers from across Asia-Pacific and Europe, and 300 delegates from over 150 radio companies.
Editor of AsiaRadioToday, international trainer, and Co-founder of Radiodays Asia, Steve Ahern, began by speaking about the history of radio, and the need to constantly improve as we look ahead to the future.
“Just over 100 years ago Marconi invented radio. Soon after, humans began thinking of what else could be done with that invention.” Ahern went onto say “this conference is about the future. It will encourage you to dream big by learning new things, connecting the dots and understanding the changes swirling around us. This is an exciting time for our industry. The new age of audio is here; radio is alive with dreams and opportunities. Let’s reach out and grab them!”
In his opening address, founder of Radiodays Asia and Radiodays Europe, Anders Held, says there was a call out from organisations in the Asia-Pacific for a conference like this that focusses on radio and audio.
“I am convinced we can learn from each other. We can inspire each other. We can develop our content and business to give our listeners even better radio and audio in the future”.
Held went on to say that “one of radio’s strengths is that it is local. In your local language, connecting with your audiences needs and everyday life. But the challenges and rapid changes…are global.”
Speaking at this morning’s opening, Director of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, Ms Philomena Gnanapragasam, says Radiodays Europe has provided a great platform for leaders in the media industry to interact.
“They have been a valuable partner of AIBD and it gives us great pleasure to collaborate with them here in Kuala Lumpur for Radiodays Asia. We hope that all the attending participants would find Radiodays Asia a great opportunity to explore the opportunities arising in this fourth industrial revolution for (the) radio industry”.
The opening keynotes included ‘Good morning India!’ Abraham Thomas (CEO, Bigfm, India) and ‘Radio: Alive with ideas’ Joan Warner (CEO, Commercial Radio Australia).
“This is a very exciting time for Radio as it adapts to the ever changing media landscape. Radio continues to be the second most accessed media in India reaching 65% of the population paving the way for hyper-local content reaching corners of the country where other media don’t reach. Radio is also considered the most credible and trusted source of information over other media. The growth in digital has in fact, opened up numerous opportunities for audio entertainment. On the one hand, Radio stations are amplifying their reach and visibility using digital platforms while digital platforms are using radio to tap into audiences. Radio Content is also getting on to digital platforms via podcasts etc,” said Abraham Thomas.
“In one day, a listener can wake up to breakfast radio, listen in the car using DAB+, follow a radio show page on Facebook, listen on-demand to a radio podcast, use a mobile app or listen on a smart speaker such as an Amazon Echo using voice technology. To make all this happen, radio has forged new partnerships with global giants and utilised our deep content expertise to create new customer experiences. Radio is very much alive with ideas. We should all feel proud of the ground-breaking work that’s being done in these new areas to make sure radio is easily available wherever our listeners need us to be,” said Joan Warner (CEO, Commercial Radio Australia).
Radio Futurologist James Cridland finished the opening session by discussing the rise of artificial intelligence, big data and programmatic advertising.
“Radio has the power to unite us – to give us more understanding of the world and people around us. Radio can have many positive effects on mental health, social inclusion, and understanding of our fellow human beings. Remember the power that we all have. The power of radio.”