The first Radiodays Asia conference is being held at the Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 300 radio and audio delegates, 60+ speakers, 150 companies attending, 40+ sessions over two days starting today “The new age of audio is here, radio is alive…a very exciting time for radio as it adapts to the ever changing media landscape… Radio has the power to unite us – to give us more understanding of the world and people around us”
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 27 August 2019: Today in Kuala Lumpur a new conference for Asia opened. 300 radio and audio professionals from Asia and the rest of the world are gathering to listen to presentations on all topics affecting radio and audio today and in the future.
Radiodays Asia – The NEW Radio & Audio Conference in Asia!
Radiodays Asia is a NEW conference for Asia from the team who produces Radiodays Europe, the world’s largest and leading conference for radio and audio, now in its 11th year, with next year’s edition being held in Lisbon, Portugal 2020.
The Drums of Asia Opens the conference
The conference was opened with music from Drums of Asia a performance of music from Malaysia and across the region. The fusion drum concept comes from the multi ethnic Malaysian society. In history drums have always had a healing nature and that rhythm is part and parcel of our daily lives. A conversation of drums brought different music forms and cultures together for a perfect opening to a multicultural conference focusing on radio, music and audio.
Popular Malaysian Radio Personalities Host the 1st Radiodays Asia 2019
Popular radio personalities from Malaysia, Ezra Zaid (Head of Digital & New Media, BFM 89.9, Malaysia) and Lee Chwi Lynn (Presenter and Editorial Lead & Evening, BFM, 89.9, are hosting the conference for the two days, bringing their knowledge of local radio and local radio issues while ensuring a fast paced and exciting two days Malaysia). Joining Ezra and Lee to welcome the delegates to Radiodays Asia was International trainer, publisher of the industry journals radioinfo and AsiaRadioToday, and co-founder of this conference, Steve Ahern (Managing Director, AMT, Australia.
“The milestones in human history were achieved because people dreamed of a future goal and worked to achieve it…This is an exciting time for our industry. The new age of audio is here; radio is alive with dreams and opportunities. Let’s reach out and grab them!” said Steve Ahern, Managing Director, AMT, Australia.
The Founder of Radiodays Europe & Radiodays Asia invited the radio industry to join together worldwide to ensure the future of radio.
“Radiodays Asia is here today at the invitation of organisations in the Asia-Pacific,…there has already been a number of years of collaboration between originations in the Asia-Pacific and Radiodays Europe…Now we are joining hands to create this NEW professional event, as a meeting point for radio in Asia and other parts of the world. I am convinced we can learn from each other. We can inspire each other. We can develop our content and business to give our listeners even better radio and audio in the future.
One of radio’s strengths is that it is local. In your local language, connecting with your audiences needs and everyday life. But the challenges and rapid changes in how people listen, how they use media, how they find their music and information, are global. The trends are global, the technical platforms and innovations are spreading globally. And some of the new big players reshaping the audio business are global giants like Apple, Google, Spotify and Amazon.” said Anders Held, Founder of Radiodays Europe and Radiodays Asia, Sweden.
Welcome from the Asian Partner Associations
Radiodays Asia has worked with local partners to ensure that the success of this event host partners include AIBD and CRM.
Philomena Gnanapragasam, Director, AIBD, Malaysia said, “Radiodays Europe has always been providing great platforms to interact with media industry leaders from all around the world. They have been a valuable partner of AIBD and it gives us great pleasure to collaborate with them here in Kuala Lumpur for Radio Days Asia. We hope that all the attending participants would find Radio days Asia a great opportunity to explore the opportunities arising in this Fourth industrial revolution for radio industry.”
Senior figures from India and Australia gave the Opening Keynotes
The opening keynotes included ‘Good morning India!’ Abraham Thomas (CEO, Bigfm, India) and ‘Radio: Alive with ideas’ Joan Warner (CEO, Commercial Radio Australia).
“This is a very exciting time for Radio as it adapts to the ever changing media landscape. Radio continues to be the second most accessed media in India reaching 65% of the population paving the way for hyper-local content reaching corners of the country where other media don’t reach.
Radio is also considered the most credible and trusted source of information over other media. The growth in digital has in fact, opened up numerous opportunities for audio entertainment. On the one hand, Radio stations are amplifying their reach and visibility using digital platforms, while digital platforms are using radio to tap into audiences. Radio Content is also getting on to digital platforms via podcasts etc.” said Abraham Thomas, CEO, BigFM, India.
“In one day, a listener can wake up to breakfast radio, listen in the car using DAB+, follow a radio show page on Facebook, listen on-demand to a radio podcast, use a mobile app or listen on a smart speaker such as an Amazon Echo using voice technology. To make all this happen, radio has forged new partnerships with global giants and utilised our deep content expertise to create new customer experiences. Radio is very much alive with ideas. We should all feel proud of the ground-breaking work that’s being done in these new areas to make sure radio is easily available wherever our listeners need us to be.” said Joan Warner (CEO, Commercial Radio Australia).
Technology and disruption: How the world will be listening in the future?
James Cridland (Radio Futurologist, Australia) rounded off the opening session with a presentation on artificial intelligence, big data, self-driving cars, 5G, programmatic advertising.
“Radio has the power to unite us – to give us more understanding of the world and people around us. Radio can have many positive effects on mental health, social inclusion, and understanding of our fellow human beings. Remember the power that we all have. The power of radio.” said James Cridland, Radio Futurologist, Australia.
Radiodays Asia 2019 – Meet the World of Radio & Audio
Radiodays Asia runs for two days, 27-28 August at the Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which over 60+ speakers covering a large number of topics relevant and important to the radio and audio industries. Topics include: Fake news and truth in the media, the rise of podcasting, moneytising radio, brand extension, the importance of both talk and music radio, a look at the future of radio and where technology is influencing radio and the future of radio in the car. Some of the sessions and speakers are listed below:
Innovation for public engagement and trust
Haida Baba Zain (Manager, Traxx FM, RTM, Malaysia), Archana Kapoor (Radio Mewat & Radio Festival India, India), Mark Cummins (Content Manager, SBS Audio & Languages, Australia), Kristian Porter (Public Media Alliance, UK)
Hunny – on stage, on air, on-line
Hunny Madu (Rapper, Musician, Radio DJ, FlyFM Malaysia), Kartini Arifin (Journalist, Radio PD, Malaysia)
West meets East across the radio world
Mike Kasem (VJ, Radio Host, Actor, Gold 905FM, Mediacorp, Singapore), Vernetta Lopez (Host, Gold905FM, Singapore)
From Bollywood to Podcasting: My Indian Life and WorklifeIndia
Medhavi Arora (Producer, BBC World Service, India), Amelia Butterly (Senior producer, BBC World Service, UK)
Stars on stage: Behind the scenes of breakfast show successes
Ean Nasrun (Radio Host, Hitz Morning Crew, Malaysia), Maddy Barber (Radio Host, KISS 92, Singapore), Kemal Bunder (Radio Host, GEN FM, Indonesia)
Duty, Identity, Credibility: Fake news and the ordinary citizen Lucile Stengel (Senior Audience Researcher, BBC, UK), Sapna Solanki (Senior Audience Researcher, BBC, UK)
The full programme for Radiodays Asia is available here.
You can follow Radiodays Asia on the website at www.radiodaysasia.com with blogs of each session and on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram using #RDAsia19 where delegates will be commenting live from the conference on the speakers and sessions.
Host Partners, Launch Partners, Commercial Partners & Supporting Partners
Radiodays Asia is being held in collaboration with partners in the Asia-Pacific; Host Partner: AIBD, Commercial Radio Malaysia (CRM), Radiodays Europe (RDE). Launch Partners: Triton Digital, RCS and Wedel Software. In addition we have a large number of commercial partners sponsoring and or exhibiting at the event and supported by influential companies and organisations in the region.
Radiodays Asia is also supported by organizations in the region; Commercial Radio Australia, Public Media Alliance, Private Radio Association of Indonesia, Radio Festival India, Podnews, MyCEB Malaysia and many more. This makes Radiodays Asia a true meeting point for the radio and audio industry, public and private, in the Asia-Pacific.
