Managing Convergence “ We must never forget it’s the content that matters most of all … All the technology in the world will have no impact if there is.

ManagingConvergence

“We must never forget it’s the content that matters most of all … All the technology in the world will have no impact if there is no quality content to be exploited”

Jenny Abramsky former Director of Audio & MusicBBC

ManagingConvergence

Julie HadwinMedia [email protected]

+44 (0) 20 8579 3792

Developing Skills

The UK Sector Skills Council for Creative Media • an independent UK–wide organisation owned and

managed by the creative media industries • jointly funded by industry and government • its role is to support its industries so they have the right

people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time in order that they remain economically and creatively competitive

Developing Skills

Skillset works with its industries by: • undertaking research and consultation with industry • establishing strategic consensus within and between its

various industry sectors • delivering solutions – promoting best practice, running

funding schemes and projects, offering business support and an impartial careers information service for new entrants and established industry professionals

Developing Skills

COMMERCIALRADIO

COMMUNITY &

VOLUNTARYRADIOPUBLICLY-FUNDED

RADIO

UK RADIO INDUSTRYSECTORS

Developing Skills

“ We’re in the audio entertainment and information business now … rather than pure radio”

Mark Story, Managing Director National Brands, Bauer Radio

Developing Skills

“…changes in listening habits, together with emerging new technologies have had a more rapid and profound impact on the radio industry than was foreseen just a few years ago”

“The Future of Radio” Ofcom 2007

Developing Skills

UK radio listening has remained strong for a decade:

• almost 90% of population tune in each week• 45 million adult listeners (15+) Q2 2008• growing number of stations and formats across

a range of platforms

Developing Skills

“Radio has always been portable but now it will be ubiquitous”

Andrew Harrison,

Chief Executive, Radio Centre, UK

Developing Skills

“The challenge for the BBC and commercial radio is to create compelling content – that’s the business we are in”

Trevor Dann, Director, Radio Academy, UK

Developing Skills

A radio workforce for the future

• breadth of knowledge and awareness about the radio industry and the wider multi-media environment and the forces driving change; general transferable work and life skills including a commitment to continuous learning; and a basic grasp of a number of industry skills to offer a multi-skilled approach

• depth of specialism and expertise in particular fields; an understanding of the enduring concepts; and a commitment to continually renewing the more transient specialist skills as technologies evolve

Developing Skills

A radio workforce for the future

• multi-skilled talent to deliver flexibility and adaptability• technical and creative specialists to break new

ground and deliver great content• hybrids - combining specialist skills with high level

conceptual knowledge - to recognise new possibilities and how to exploit them

Developing Skills

The management challenge

• fostering successful collaboration

• getting radio programme and online teams to understand and acknowledge what the other brings to the process of content creation

Developing Skills

To deliver industry skills development requires organisations which can:

• facilitate industry dialogue • establish strategic consensus and translate this into

action • encourage the sharing of good practice and partnership

between employers, while taking into account commercial sensitivities

• ensure that the views of industry help to shape government policy on skills development; and inform education and training provision and funding decisions

Exploiting Your Brand

RADIO

INTERACTIVE MEDIA

TELEVISIONNEWSPAPERS

MAGAZINES

CONVERGING MEDIA

Exploiting Your Brand

Understanding a radio station brand

• who are the target listeners – demographics of the audience and why, how, when and where they listen

• what do they expect from the station, what attracts them to it, what do they value about it – and what differentiates it from the competition

Exploiting Your Brand

“… far from being a threat, digital technology is increasing distribution and helping to redefine the role of radio in younger people’s lives”

UK’s Radio Advertising Bureau

Exploiting Your Brand

“On TV On Radio Online”

BBC English Regions

“Our ambition is a virtuous circle – create once publish often”

Mark Story, Bauer Radio

Safeguarding Quality

Technical quality• a balance between cost and audience

expectation• early limitations of a new platform may be

accepted by an audience because of the novelty value and sense of future possibilities

• over time audience expectations rise

Safeguarding Quality

Editorial quality• compromise at your peril as you jeopardise

your relationship with your audience• training in law, regulation and ethics not just for

journalists but all involved with content creation • radio a trusted friend or guide: undermined if

editorial quality is diminished as brand extends to other platforms

ManagingConvergence

Julie HadwinMedia Consultant

[email protected]+44 (0) 20 8579 3792

www.skillset.org

+44 (0) 20 7713 9800