Pawel Soltys, CEO at Radio 357, runs an online only radio station and podcast network. Despite being available for free, they make money from the small percentage of listeners who give an amount of money each month. They were able to set themselves up through crowdfunding and within a year of launching they had 45,000 supporters who give money each month. This is possible by being different and making a difference that their audience genuine cares about.
Coralie Piton, from children’s radio station La Chouette Radio & Merlin knows it is important to preserve reading and listening for children in a world full of screens. Even when children consume audio it is through a parents smart phone so Radio France and Bayard created La Chouette Radio to create a physical radio for 3-12 year olds. With the radio children could listen to everything from a yoga class, to podcasts about space to fairytales.
Marlies Hartendorf, Executive Producer at Qmusic asks ‘What if your fans only follow you on social media?’
“When it comes to making unique content, radio and social media are equal to each other” says Marlies. They tailor their content to each social platform. They also film constantly in the studio – even between songs, this allows them to post on social media the same day. Each week a youtube highlights video goes out with content that was never on the radio and is exclusively for socials.
In the words of Marlies – “Choose your content wisely – you are building a brand. If it doesn’t don’t post it”. Perhaps you have fans that only follow you on social media – that’s okay!
