April 2020 – Page 2 – Radio Reporter

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020

A song of hope on 183 European radio stations

Disk jockey, Sander Hoogendoorn — Sander Hoogendoorn
Received by Wunderbaum Management

March 20th, 2020 will be remembered as the day European radio stations showed united solidarity during the coronavirus pandemic. At 8.45 a.m. 183 European radio stations, including RAI and the BBC, played the English group ,Gerry & The Pacemakers’ version of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, an iconic, moving song considered a hymn to humanity. The song became even more popular after the Liverpool FC fans adopted it as the team’s official anthem (see here) after qualifying for the finals of Champions League in 2019).

The initiative was the idea of Sander Hoogendoorn, a disk jockey working for the Dutch pop music public channel, NPO 3FM, who wanted to bring all the radio stations in the Netherlands together. In the end the initiative went beyond their national borders (find a list of stations that participated here).

Three questions RadioReporter asked Sander Hoogendoorn

*Sander Hoogendoorn*
*Received by* Wunderbaum Management

RR: Did you expect this success?

SH: No, I didn’t. The plan was to play this song with all the breakfast shows in the Netherlands. When they tagged along I was happy but then radio stations from Belgium started joining in. Then we started to make some phone calls to see if other European radio stations would like to join us. And they did!

RR: How long did it take you to arrange it?

SH: On Tuesday we started to talk to our listeners about the idea. In the same show I called some friends at other radio stations, asking them to join on Friday at 08.45. They were really happy to help. During the week more and more stations joined in, the last ones even on Friday morning. I think that all around the world more than 190 radio stations played the song!

RR: Which song would you choose to celebrate the victory over the pandemic?

SH: Queen – We Are The Champions

15.000 Italian transmitters connected

Three hours later, at 11.00 a.m., radio stations all over the peninsula united to show solidarity and bring everyone together by playing the Italian National Anthem and three very well known Italian songs: Azzurro (Adriano Celentano), La canzone del sole (Lucio Battisti) and Nel blu dipinto di blu (Domenico Modugno). The population was asked to tune in and wave the national flag. The radio stations involved included 19 private networks (Maria, Radicale and Mater only for the anthem) and more than 600 radio stations, members of Aeranti-Corallo and Confindustria Radio TV, all connected to more than 15,000 transmitters (there are 9.123 national network transmitters alone. Source: FMList and FMScan).

April 2, 2020April 2, 2020

Public service broadcasters closed by virus

Website RTVE in Spain, Article about the connection of Radio Exterior and Radio Nacional — Website of RTVE from Spain
Source

Some international broadcasters have been downsizing. Radio schedules have been cancelled on Radio Exterior de Espana, an international service on short wave, that since March 16th, 2020, has been repeating bulletins on coronavirus transmitted by Radio Nacional de Espana (a national broadcaster on medium wave and FM).

Website of RAE and Radio Nacional in Argentina — Website of Radio Nacional from Argentina
Source

There is an identical situation in Argentina with RAE (Radiodifusion Argentina al Exterior), which is broadcasting programmes transmitted by Radio Nacional.

Streets of Delhi in India — Streets of New Delhi, India
Source

Drastic cuts in India. Since March 22nd, 2020, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reduced the national radio broadcasters down to Vividh Bharati (a propaganda radio station set up in 1957 to combat Radio Ceylon) transmitting from Mumbai, to All India Radio in New Delhi with news coverage, and to regional stations that cover local news. All entertainment, music and sport has been cancelled. Digital transmissions on medium wave have been converted back to analogue to enable reception on common commercial radio receivers.

Ireland: Commercial stations are in crisis

trust radio and choose radio, a campaign launched by independent broadcasters in Ireland — #trustradiochooseradio, a campaign launched by independent broadcasters in Ireland
Source

From Galway, our correspondent John Walsh, from Flirt FM: The radio sector in Ireland is also struggling to deal with the COVID-19 crisis both in terms of staying on air and because of the financial implications of collapsed advertising revenue. In a special edition of the programme Wireless on Flirt FM, a community station in Galway, representatives of community and commercial stations explained the challenges in ensuring continuity of service and speculated about the future of the radio sector. Independent Broadcasters of Ireland which represent commercial stations have warned of the collapse of the radio industry.
Note: Ireland is in lockdown from March 24th to April 19th, 2020. You can listen to the transmission of March 23rd, 2020 by clicking here.

Italy: Radio stations and TV broadcasters seeking finance

*Lawyer Marco Rossignoli, Coordinator Aeranti-Corallo*
*Used by permission*

Letter attached to Press Release from Confindustria
Source

We have already spoken about the problem caused by falling advertising revenue in a previous article, but with the passing of time the problem is worsening. Franco Siddi, the President of Confindustria Radio Television (the association that represents all the major categories of the radio and television broadcasting industry) has written an open letter to the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

The Association Aeranti-Corallo, that represents 439 local radio and television stations, has requested 130 million euro: 80 million to double the annual government funding (from 80 to 90 million euro in 2019, to be distributed on the basis of a list of 903 broadcasters: 137 commercial radio stations 274 local community TV stations, 172 commercial radio stations, and 320 local community radio stations) and another 50 million as a 50% tax credit in order to cover the costs of studio rent, transmitters and electricity (for the months from March to June 2020). We must keep in mind that an expected funding of 40 million euro was cancelled at the last moment by the decree Cura Italia on March 16th, 2020.

April 1, 2020April 1, 2020

Radio and Coronavirus

Website of dimensione suono Roma, stamoseneacasa, let us stay at home — Website of dimensione suono Roma
Source

How are radio stations reacting to the state of emergency? We checked this in Italy, the first country the pandemic spread to in Europe. On March 16, five days after the government issued a decree advising the population to restrict their movements, we visited all the active websites of the 1,094 radio stations transmitting on FM, the 273 on Dab and the 12 on medium wave on the FMLIST and FMSCAN. A hundred or so sites gave wide coverage to the exceptional circumstances of the situation. Among the networks and the superstations (those covering multiple regions), only Dimensione Suono Roma gave good coverage to the Government’s message. Their home page contains the hashtag #stamoseneacasa ( in Roman dialect advising everyone to stay at home).

More active local radio stations

Website of Radio C1 in Italy — Website of Radio C1
Source

Diverse approaches by local and community radio stations: Radio C1 in Pescara sends a message of hope, Radio Punto Nuovo in Naples interviews a radio presenter from Radio Zona Rossa, the Radio Codogna programme on air since February 23. They broadcast two daily news programmes covering the spread of the virus in the town, which following the Chinese approach, was one of the first to be locked down. Radio Nuova Macerata focuses on useful information such as free grocery delivery services which are beneficial for the elderly so they are not obliged to leave their homes and risk contagion.

The sacred and the profane in Puglia

There is no shortage of curiosities: Radio Montecalvo, a broadcasting station in Foggia announces a prayer to Padre Pio for protection against the coronavirus. On the contrary, Radio Made in Italy in Bari draws particular attention to their special offer regarding the red light portal Porno Hub, giving free access to the premium services in order to ….. lighten quarantine.

Luckily someone thinks about children

Website of SWR Aktuell, a German broadcasting company
Source

Website of NDR, a German broadcasting company
Source

With the school closures and parents having to control their hyperactive smaller children, Radio Millennium has come up with a highly appreciated idea for children by broadcasting fairy tales, recorded by the theatre company Teatro del Cerchio in Parma. However focusing on children is not an Italian prerogative. In Germany, for example, the regional radio stations NDR and SWR have increased their numbers of educational programmes for the young.