Radio - the new TV
Hats off to Channel 4 for its foray into the radio market. Whilst much is always made of new television channels, the Digital Dividend Review and the digital switchover in 2012, it is nice to see more risks being taken in what has traditionally been seen as the less sexy area of broadcasting. PRs know only too well that TV coverage is hard won and radio coverage, particularly regionally, is regarded as easier, less interesting and even less desirable. Of course it’s true that numbers of viewers as opposed to listeners do bear out the ‘TV makes better publicity’ argument. Yet convergence is well on the way to becoming a reality for more and more households (no doubt the main reason for Channel 4’s expansion into radio) and the digital revolution means that targeting specific audiences should become a more sophisticated exercise. Put simply, publicity, or rather, debate around the issues of the day that would normally feature on the Today Programme won’t necessarily be of interest to ITV News audiences or be packaged in the same way.
Some will say that the Today Programme could never conceivably have any competition from Channel 4. Radio 4 listeners do tend to regard themselves as a somewhat exclusive club, priding themselves on the fact that they would never listen to anything else. Even presenters of the Today Programme announce that listeners can text, email and view podcasts in the most sneering terms. Listeners of a certain generation will surely identify with this and scoff at more modern means of communication than the wireless. But opinion formers are getting younger and are completely in tune (sorry for the pun) with converging technologies. The 40-somethings who grew up with Channel 4 from its infancy, watched their TV news coverage will be keen to give Channel 4 radio a chance. And PRs and their clients would be wise to regard radio as a serious target – it is arguably the most flexible and intimate media capable of building a relationship with listeners that TV could never pull off.