A broadcasting conference in Moscow has heard examples of successful media business strategies and discussed issues facing broadcasters in Russia.

The four day Media Together Festival discussed a range of current trends in Russian radio, led by big name local identities and several international speakers.

At a time when media is coming under increasingly tight scrutiny from authorities, self censorship and the ethics of good journalism was an important topic on the agenda.

Also discussed was how to achieve quality audio. It’s not just about lots of plugins and compressors, it’s about listening to what sounds good, recommended one of Russia’s top freelance audio producers.
 
International broadcast trainer Steve Ahern outlined some of the business strategies that are bringing success to radio companies around the world.

“Nobody knows exactly what will work, so be prepared to try everything and then evaluate success, don't be afraid to fail…

“Try fast, fail fast, learn fast,” he told delegates.

Ahern discussed production teams, giving examples of successful teams such as the KIIS 106.5 breakfast show in Australia, where producers work at multiple levels during the show to ensure that content is going online while the show is in progress, and responding to the audience at all touch points, through traditional talkback and text messaging, but also on a range of social media platforms.

He also explained the Southern Cross Austereo philosophy for podcasts, where there are dual strategies, one to provide catch up content, but the other to emulate Netflix in developing new stand alone content that does not necessarily come from the company's main radio shows.

Discussing a range of successful podcasts, Ahern spoke about Hamish and Andy as an example of successful entertainment content, and the investigative podcast series Bowraville as an example of the success of serious content.

Russia is also preparing to introduce digital radio (see related report), a topic which was also discussed at the conference.

Currently in Russia, the social media platform Telegram is under pressure from the government to reveal the identities and private data of its users.

Telegram has so far resisted attempts to hand over user data and a campaign is underway to support the social media platform in its decision to keep user details private.

The campaign asked supporters to fly paper planes at 7pm to show their support and to post videos of the action on social media.

That time fell during the awards ceremony, so, a paper plane was flown as delegates snapped pictures of its flight and posted them on the internet.

On the last day of the four day conference, prizes for the best radio entertainers and reporters were awarded. Winners accepting their trophies are shown below.