Public radio in Sweden has been instructed not to encourage listeners to go and find them on Facebook. It’s against the law.

The country’s Review Board has “convicted” the popular radio station P4 for suggesting to listeners that they “like” its morning show on Facebook. The regulator’s concerns centre on promotion of a commercial business (Facebook) by a public utility (Swedish Radio).

Swedish journalist Anders Mildner says this presents a dilemma for the broadcaster because P4 wants to take advantage of the Facebook platform which many of its listeners use.

According to this latest ruling (pdf), the law in Sweden appears to allow public radio stations to acknowledge their presence on Facebook but not actually encourage people to go there. Now there’s an interesting brief for a promo.

It’s not often you hear it said, but compared to Swedish standards, our attitude and practice in the UK  is considerably relaxed.

Radio stations here regularly connect with listeners on third-party sites, largely Facebook and Twitter but also YouTube, Flickr and others, and use that connection to enhance the on-air programming.

The BBC’s set of social media guidelines encourages its broadcasters to engage in open, transparent use of social media while protecting against “undue prominence” on air. For example, it does not permit third party URLs to be read out on the radio but presenters can mention the sites and the activity when it’s directly editorially relevant.

However this isn’t the only possible model and I hear a range of views on the matter from media colleagues. Some find a protective closed wall approach to their content rather appealing. Of course Rupert Murdoch has taken this line with his paywall approach to online newspapers.

At the opposite extreme others suggest media businesses of the future will be able to operate perfectly well solely through social media outlets run by third parties. They may not need websites of their own.

Personally, I prefer the proven ‘middle way’: create an engaging presence in the places your listeners and target listeners are likely to frequent. Then use it to entice them deeper into your content on your own website and radio station.

This model allows tone of voice to be adapted for each social media environment and ensures that any revenues generated around your best content will drop into your pocket and not that of Mr Zuckerburg.

And even in Sweden it would seem to be permitted, so long as nobody tries promoting it on air.

Photo: Sparkly subway map in Stockholm by James Cridland, on Flickr. Used under licence.

Comments

• Wednesday 8 September, 2010, Tweets that mention Where talking about Facebook on air is illegal | Earshot -- Topsy.com writes: [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Matt Deegan and Stephen Martin, Andrew Newman. Andrew Newman said: RT @matt: RT @smartin: quick lunchtime blog post: where talking about Facebook on air is illegal. http://bit.ly/9pnOkj [...]

If you like any one of the following:

• radio silliness
• tight production
• melodic electronica
• the BBC not taking itself seriously

then listen to David Hooper’s Disgusting Electronica from BBC Radio 1.

It’s here on the BBC iPlayer until Monday.

The music may be up to date but David’s reference points stretch back over seventy years of radio entertainment. For example, the conceit of Justin Bieber taking his first shave accompanied by the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra is pure Goons.

All this means you can accept it as a warped music programme for after-party chilling or a radio fan’s treasure chest. It works in clubwear or anorak.

The digital folk at BBC Radio 1 have recognised the novelty appeal by carefully chapterising the programme on the iPlayer so you can jump to the funnies, or the music.

That’s a lot of effort going into a decidedly off-peak programme but the chances are a big chunk of its audience will be listening on demand.

See what you think and, while you listen, I’ll get my my credit card. Must subscribe to “Radio 1 premium”. It’s only £9.99 a month as you’ll discover at chapter 10.

Comments

• Wednesday 1 September, 2010, Stephen Martin writes: Well David Hooper has been in touch to say that all editions of this programme are available for download at http://www.mixcloud.com/disgusting - and he's extended permission for us to use some of the show in the next Earshot Creative Review. That's the spirit, thanks David.

James Cridland and David Couch in typical showbusiness mood. Picture by Sally Walker.

You’ll learn a lot from this month’s Earshot Creative Review with David Couch and James Cridland. And you’ll hear a lot of radio ads.

Discover how Spotify is allowing advertisers to target audiences by postcode, what is the most important content to have on your radio station web site and what not to do with cameras in the studio. Hear ads from Cuervo, Kwik Fit, Transport for London and the Bentall Centre, plus an educational promo from Absolute Radio.

Play the audio here: Duration 42’17″

Download audio file (ecr_august10.mp3)

Download the mp3 (39.7M).

Subscribe via iTunes.

David Couch is Managing Director of Maple Street Studios and a former creative head at GCap and Global. You’ll hear him enthuse about some superb radio ads and discuss the freedom and new opportunities of product placement.

Radio futurologist James Cridland divulges tip after tip on radio’s multiplatform future. Be sure to take notes – James’s clients spend vast sums of money on his advice. You only have to pay attention.

And, as always, there’s tons of great audio including leading entrants to The Cow Moo Challenge and its ultimate winner. Thank goodness that’s over.

Credits

Thanks to London’s Somerset House for hosting our recording on their wonderful sunny terrace, thanks to radiobeds.co.uk for the music beds and thanks to Pascal Standaert from Belgium for the ident used towards the end of the podcast.

Next Month

Inside Glide – the story of the year’s biggest radio stunt so far direct from the people who pulled it off, and what’s going on at BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music? Christopher Reay shares his perspective from the production desk. Subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss it. There’ll be no cows.

If you’d like to comment on anything in the podcast or if you’d like us to include your audio just drop us a line to earshot@smartin.me

Any views expressed are those of the contributors and not of Maple Street Studios, the BBC or any of our associates, employers or clients. We acknowledge all rights held by the owners, creators and performers of the recorded works which are included solely for the purposes of education and review.

Comments

• Wednesday 1 September, 2010, The Earshot Creative Review - James Cridland writes: [...] Absolute, and am amazed at a rather brilliant ad featuring Brack Obama, you’re welcome to take a listen. (You’ll also find it on your PURE connected radio; just search for ‘Earshot’ in [...]
• Wednesday 1 September, 2010, Jonathan Marks writes: Great show as usual, although may I make a plea to return to the pub or the park for the upcoming editions. Somerset House sounds too distracting on headphones. May be the MP3 acts as a sort of Optimod.
• Friday 3 September, 2010, Stephen Martin writes: A plea to return to the pub, eh? Who am I to refuse?! It was rather hectic at Somerset House at the height of the school holidays. We're back there this month but it's much quieter now. Oh, and the thing that's acting like an Optimod is not the mp3 coding but, er, the Optimod. I'll turn it down a smidge.

Every now and then we see a production innovation that doesn’t just build on existing techniques but signals a move toward a totally different approach. So when three such examples all appear at once the direction of travel becomes startlingly clear.

Get ready for cloud-based production.

Here are the three clues that indicate it’s on its way. You may have seen others so do share them if you have.

1. Soundation

A fast, browser-based, online music creation and editing tool from PowerFX. Use the free supplied samples or buy from the “sound shop”. The “audio lockers” give you capacity to save and use your own sounds too.

2. Phantom Producer

Billed as the world’s first desktop radio imager, this tool lets “anyone in just seconds” disaggregate and repurpose imaging elements created by Jeff Thomas and Arden Hanley.

Once subscribed you gain access to a library of effects, voice talent and a browser-based assembly interface that promises to make imaging production both easy and fast.

3. Myna

Myna is a free online audio editor with social media sharing tools so you can work collaboratively on audio projects anywhere there’s a browser. It’s part of a suite of Flash-based creative production tools from Aviary. Look – they’re challenging Adobe’s dominance of the creative tools market… by using Flash!

Why not upload your station’s imaging elements to Myna? Then next time the PD calls you up when you’re shopping or on holiday, simply pop into the nearest internet café and your production hero status is intact.

None of these tools will fully replicate or replace your existing studio set-up (and of course the Flash-based tools like Myna won’t work on your iPad) but now seems a good time to think about cloud-based production and the opportunities it will open-up for you and your competitors.

A serene photo of Oxford since Glee photographs appear to be under strict copyright.

Mr Glazier, a teacher at my old school liked to embarrass us in front of our classmates. I guess it was character-forming.

One morning I crept in with a note from my Mum, having been off sick for a few days. Taking my seat in the classroom, Mr Glazier turned to the room and called, “Stephen!”. The class fell silent. “It’s clear from this note that your mother is a teacher. She can correctly spell diarrhoea!”.

Mr Glazier would also instruct “you have to know where you’re heading before you set out” which is as true in life as in the chemistry experiments he taught.

And so it is with the best promo campaigns. The real winners start succeeding even before they’re made. They’re not just creatively brilliant but built on a good strategy.

From the outside, Glide FM’s celebrated launch campaign in Oxford seems a good example of a promotion that knew very well where it was going. Its one purpose: make some noise.

Above all, its strategy was about awareness. Not repositioning or hours building or driving trial, just the singleminded pursuit of awareness.

Glide chose August for their launch when fun media stories are at their easiest to place (although what Glide achieved was remarkable) and a tactic that was calculated to be talkable, generating word-of-mouth among the likely target audience. After that everything else followed.

All the successful campaigns I’ve worked on have been driven by a singleminded strategy and the troubled ones often characterised by muddled thinking, too many stakeholders or uncertain objectives.

Here’s something I learned years after Mr Glazier’s lessons: if you ever find yourself producing creative work to a confused brief challenge that brief again and again until it’s truly focused and singleminded. It can mean some difficult conversations but invariably will be good for your creative, your listeners and your client’s results.

Forward promotion

I’m pleased to say that some of the brains behind the Glide FM launch, Ian, Sue and Sophie, will be telling their story in the September edition of the Earshot Creative Review. They might even explain to this somewhat off-target consumer what the Glee phenomenon is all about.

Comments

• Thursday 19 August, 2010, Tweets that mention The power of purpose | Earshot -- Topsy.com writes: [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JACK fm Oxfordshire , Greg Burke. Greg Burke said: Not that I'm biased but @smartin's blog piece today is one of the best ever written. Don't you think? http://bit.ly/earshotblog [...]