Davie and Montague to keynote Radiodays Europe

BBC's director of Audio & Music Tim Davie and NRJ International's CEO Christophe Montague have been announced as keynote speakers at the new European radio conference Radiodays Europe.

Other confirmed names at the event are Jens-Uwe Meyer from Germany, U.S. internet radio expert Rockie Thomas and the British media futurist James Cridland.

"The theme of the opening keynotes is the future of radio. Radio is a beloved medium, available anywhere and anytime at a click of a button. But it is being increasingly challenged by TV, the web, iPods and changing media consumption. How can radio broadcasters embrace new technologies, innovate and create new attractive content and services combining the efficiency of broadcasting and the interactivity of the web?" says Rolf Brandrud, project manager for Radiodays Europe.

Radiodays Europe is a new annual pan-European radio conference with an aim to bring together professionals from both commercial and public radio. The event in Copenhagen on 18-19 March is supported by the European Broadcasting Union, AER (which represents European commercial radio) and World DMB Forum as well as a range of national broadcasters and organizations.

EBU warns against public service cuts

The European Broadcasting Union, which represents 125 public service broadcasters, warns against further cuts in funding of its member stations.

The EBU, which met in Geneva last week for its general assembly, points out Hungary, Lithuania, Kosovo and Poland as examples of countries where funding cuts are threatening public service broadcasting.

"Some governments are using today's financial cirisis as an excuse to reduce funding of public media to a level which threatens their independence and makes it impossible for them to carry out their mission" said EBU president Jean-Paul Phillipot of Belgian RTBF.

EBU's director general Jean Réveillon last week wrote to the president and prime minister of Lithuania with a demand that they reconsider a planned 19% cut in government funding of public broadcasting. In an another letter, Kosovo was urged to restore the licence fee.

During the meeting, Claudio Cappon was named as new vice-president of the EBU. He replaces Richard Sambrook, who recently announced he will resign from the BBC.

K-Earth makes it to number one in L.A.

For the first time ever, CBS Radio's classic hits station K-Earth has taken the lead on the competitive Los Angeles radio market. K-Earth moves up to 4.9% of listening, while Clear Channel's CHR KIIS-FM is down from 5.2% to 4.8%.

Clear Channel's news station KFI-AM remains flat at 3%, while CBS Radio's CHR Amp Radio now shares fourth place at 3.7%, thanks to a fall in listening for Clear Channel's AC outlet KOST-FM.

In New York, Clear Channel's AC station Lite FM (7.4%) increases its lead over CBS Radio's revived classic hits channel WCBS-FM (5.9%). CBS Radio's AM news outlet WCBS-AM is up sharply from 4.4 to 5.2%. Clear Channel's CHR Z100 is steady at 4.6%, while sister station Q104.3 (classic rock) is down to 4.5%.

On October 15, Univision's spanish-language La Kalle moved to a stronger frequency and introduced the new brand X96.3. This has resulted in a 3.7% marketshare, enough for a ninth place in New York City.

In Chicago, CBS Radio's news station WBBM-AM is still number one with a 6.3% share. Clear Channel's urban AC-formated V103 moves sharply up from 4.8% to 5.5% and a runner-up status in Chicago, surpassing Tribune's news outlet WGN-AM. Just as in Los Angeles and New York, classic hits is on the rise this year, with Bonneville's WDRV now at 4.6% of listening.

Out of the four major markets in the U.S., San Francisco is the one where news and talk stations have the most impact. In the November survey, CBS Radio's KCBS-AM has gained enough to share the number one spot with Citadel's rival news station KGO-AM. Both have a 6.2% share of the market. Inner CIty's urban AC station KBLX-FM is the new number three in San Francisco, increasing its share from 3.9% in October to 4.5% in November.

Bouchend'homme named NRJ station manager

Didier Bouchend'homme has been named new station manager at France's NRJ network, reports radio business website Radioactu.com.

Bouchend'homme is currently station manager at sister network Chérie FM, a position he is said to keep. At NRJ, he replaces Sandrine Tuil, who left NRJ in late November.

Bouchend'homme was music director at NRJ 1991-1995 and has since had the same position at music television channel MCM, Chérie FM and Europe 2.

Lachlan Murdoch buys Australian radio, bids for Billboard

British Daily Mail & General Trust has sold half of its Australian radio subsidy DMG Radio Australia to Lachlan Murdoch for a reported 110 million Australian dollars.

DMG Radio Australia will be run as a joint-venture between Murdoch's Illyria, which is based in Australia, and Daily Mail & General Trust. Lachlan Murdoch will be chairman of the company.

DMG Radio Australia runs nine radio stations across the major metropolitan markets in Australia. CHR network Nova FM – the market leader in the under 40 age group – is active in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while AC outlet Vega FM is available in Sydney and Melbourne. DMG also runs talk station FiveAA in Adelaide and rock AC-formated Star 104.5 north of Sydney.

DMG's latest investment is two digital stations on the new digital DAB+ network: dance music outlet Nova Nation and "chill" station Koffee.

"DMG Radio Australia is a strong business with talented on and off air people. Together we will explore new growth opportunities in the exisiting business and also in relatade media" Lachlan Murdoch says in a press release.

Daily Mail & General Trust made its first entry into Australian radio in 1996. Within five years, the company had gained control of 59 regional stations. In 2000, DMG switched its strategy to concentrate on the major metropolitan markets.

Lachlan Murdoch sold half of his shares in News International earlier in November and is said to also consider a bid for Nielsen Business Media.

Nielsen Business Media is the publisher of music business magazine Billboard, as well as titles such as Hollywood Reporter, Ad Week, Media Week and Editor & Publisher. Nielsen also published Radio & Records until June, when the weekly was closed down.

According to media reports, Murdoch's bid for Nielsen Business Media is made with James Finkelstein (The Hill and Who's Who), Matthew Dull (previously at Wired) and George Green (previously at the Hearst group).

Britain gets industry-wide UK Radioplayer

The British radio industry has agreed on a common internet radio service.

UK Radioplayer will be introduced in early 2010 with the streams of more than 400 British radio stations from the BBC, commercial radio, student radio and community radio. The service will include archive material, an advanced search function and the option to save favorite station on pre-set buttons.

Radio stations will also have the option of adding material such as advertising, track listings, webcams and click-to-buy music services.

"This is a really exciting development and a result of focused, collaborative thinking within the radio industry. The aim of this service is to grow listening across the industry and help preserve radio's unique position" says Tim Davie, director of BBC Audio & Music.

VPRT wants to cut advertising on German public radio

Germany's commercial broadcasting organization VPRT wants to introduce stricter rules on advertising in public service radio. VPRT proposes a 20 minute a day limit and a total ban during radio's primetime – 6.00-10.00 am.

There is already a restriction of advertising in public service television, which isn't allowed to carry ads during TV's evening primetime.

The rules would cover the radio stations run by Germany's nine regional broadcasters – NDR, Radio Bremen, RBB, MDR, WDR, HR, SR, SWR and BR.

"Just as in television, advertising in public service radio limits our playing field and disrupts competition. Our proposal is a realistic step, which would also create a more just marketplace" says Hans-Deiter HIllmoth, chairman of VPRT's radio committe.

Clear Channel strengthens leads in NYC and LA

The Clear Channel-owned market leaders in New York City and Los Angeles gain in the October radio surveys from Arbitron.

Clear Channel's AC outlet 106.7 Lite FM increases its marketshare in NYC to 7.1%, widening the gap to CBS Radio's classic hits runner up WCBS-FM, which drops to 5.9%. Clear Channel also occupies the third and fourth spots with classic rock Q-104.3 at 4.9% and CHR service Z100 at 4.6%.

CBS Radio's WCBS-AM falls to 4.4%, but maintains its status as the number one talk radio. Sister channel 1010 WINS and competitor WABC have also seen their shares decrease.

In Los Angeles, Clear Channel's CHR KIIS-FM strengthens its lead to 5.2%, up from 4.8% in the September survey. Mirroring the NYC results, the CBS classic hits K-Earth 101 is in second place with a 4.7% share. Clear Channel's news station KFI sinks from 5% to 4.3% and AC sister KOST is flat at 4.1%. CBS Radio's new CHR Amp Radio goes from sixth to fifth place, despite dropping to a 3.7% share.

Capital back on top in London

Global Radio's 95.8 Capital FM has returned to the top spot in London, according to the latest audience survey from Rajar.

Capital FM lost its lead in London in 2005, following several decades as number one. Since then, the CHR station has been relaunched no less than five times with changes in programming, positioning and brand. Capital now has 5.6% of listening in London, which is slightly more than Bauer Radio's AC outlet Magic 105.4 (5.5%). In third place, Global Radio's Heart 106.2 has a marketshare of 4.7%.

Nationwide, the BBC widens its lead over commercial radio. The BBC now gets 55% of all radio listening, which is slightly up against last year, and all of the national public service channels except youth-targeted Radio 1 have increased their shares.

Hungary's biggest station loses frequencies

Hungary's market-leading radio station Sláger Rádio has lost its bid to renew its license. Its competitor Danubius Radio was also rejected, Media Network reports.

The government agency ORTT instead chose to give the two seven-year licenses to the FM1 consortium and to Advenio Zrt. The decision has prompted protest not only from the losing applicants, but also from the non-voting president of the ORTT board.

On its website, Sláger Rádio says that the company will sue ORTT, calling the agency's move a political decision and a blow to Hungary's democracy and press freeedom.

Sláger Rádio was launched in 1998 by US radio group Emmis and is the number one station in the country.

Swiss radio to use HD Radio

The rollout of the european digital radio system DAB+ continues in Switzerland, but there are also plans for the competing technology HD Radio.

A second DAB+ multiplex with eight commercial and four public stations was recently launched in Zürich and will eventually be heard across the German-speaking regions of Switzerland.

Local and regional commercial radio will also have the option to use digital FM technologies such as HD Radio, according to new rules to be introduced by the Swiss government. At an HD Radio conference in Lucerne, plans were announced for a September 2010 launch of HD Radio in Switzerland, with a final decision set to April.

Germany gets educational radio station

Deutschlandradio, Germany's federal public service broadcaster, is set to launch its third national channel on January 1.

DRadio Wissen is an educational channel, targeted mainly towards young adults. The station will be distributed via satellite, the Internet and cable networks.

Recently, the funding for Deutschlandradio's digital radio project was withdrawn. This means that DRadio Wissen won't have any terrestrial frequencies.

DRadio Wissen will be run on a €6.9 million annual budget.

Deutschlandradio also operates Deutschlandfunk and culture service Deutschlandradio Kultur, as well as the digital documentary and debate channel Dokumente und Debatten.

BBC drops Realaudio

Real Networks loses one of its major radio customers, as the BBC opts to phase out Real's streaming formats.

The BBC began using Real in 1996, but has since introduced Windows Media and Flash as alternative distribution methods. Following an evaluation with the BBC's public value tests, which includes the cost of the services, the company has reached the decision that Real should be phased out.

The BBC has already ended its Real streaming of local and regional radio stations. The national stations will follow suit on March 30 next year. However, BBC World Service is unaffected by the decision and will continue to stream with Real.

Russkoye Radio remains leader in Moscow

RMG's russian pop station Russkoye Radio still leads the competitive Moscow radio market, according to a new survey by TNS.

Russkoye Radio has a daily reach of 14.1%, up från 13.5% a year ago and 13.6% in the last survey. AC station Radio Shanson, which was number one a year ago, is back up to 13.1%. In third place, VKPM's AC/news outlet Avtoradio gains a full percentage point to reach 12.8%. Lagardère's hot AC Europa Plus, which remains the leader nationwide, and gold station Retro FM shares fourth place at 12.2%.

The best placed public service station is Radio Rossiy, with a steady daily reach of 9.1% and a number seven position. Sister station Mayak is Moscow's tenth biggest station, with 8.5%.

Europe gets a new radio conference

Just a week after the news that NAB has canceled its European Radio Conference in Athens, plans are announced for a brand new European radio event.

Radiodays Europe will be run as a partnership between the existing three national radio conferences in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Radiodays Europe invites the European radio industry, commercial as well as public service, to Copenhagen on March 18-19 next year.

NRJ loses Swiss station

NRJ Group has lost its appeal to keep its frequencies in the Zürich region of Switzerland.

NRJ has been present in the Zürich radio market since 2002, when the company bought Hitradio Z. NRJ's Zürich station is a partnership with media group Ringier SA, which owns 51% of the station.

Last year, the Swiss communications department awarded three Zürich frequencies for commercial radio to Radio 24, Radio Zürisee and Radio 1, while NRJ was left out. NRJ brought the decision to an appelate court, which has now decided against NRJ's appeal.

NRJ also has a French-language service in the Geneva region.

Radio 100 FM in financial problems

Denmark's leading commercial radio station Radio 100 FM has gone into bankruptcy protection.

Radio 100 FM's Dutch owner John De Mol has decided that he will no longer continue to finance the operation, which has cost him more than 300 million Danish crowns ($ 60 million) since the launch in 2003. Station manager Jim Receveur has failed to a find a new investor, but still hopes to keep Radio 100 FM on-air.

In November, Radio 100 FM is due to pay its annual fee of 22.5 million crowns ($ 4.4 million). If this doesn't happen, the station will lose its main frequencies. One option would then be for Radio 100 FM to instead use its supplemental local frequencies.

Europe 1 goes back to its full service roots

France's Lagardère-owned Europe 1 is returning to its full service roots, with a new schedule that includes entertainment, music and variety shows.

In 1997, Europe 1 switched to an talk/news format with an emphasis on news, sports and listener contacts. The move back to the original full service format puts Europe 1 in direct competition with RTL Group's market-leading RTL and public service outlet France Inter.

Several of the station's stars from the past have been brought back to participate in the chat show Le débat des grandes voix. The music chart Le Top 50 also makes a comeback and a new culture show – Studio Europe 1 – has been given a daily evening slot.

"Full service radio doesn't need to be bland and boring. I'm convinced that the winning format for Europe 1 is to return to the station's roots" says Europe 1's managing director Alexandre Bompard to the Paris daily Libération.

Alexandre Bompard has stated that he expects to turn Europe 1 into a profitable operation during 2009. He also wants to increase off-air business, so that it reaches 15-20% of Europe 1's total sales.

Europe 1 was launched in 1955, as a competitor to the then Luxembourg based RTL. The station was bought by the Lagardère group in 1986.

Fires threaten Los Angeles radio

The current fires in Los Angeles are now very close to Mount Wilson, the site of most of the city's FM transmitters.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles Times reported that officials believe that ”aggressive water and gel drops from aircraft helped prevent the mountain from taking a direct hit from the flames.”

As a precaution, CBS Radio has moved its FM stations to KROQ’s site in the Verdugo hills above Burbank.

Don Thomson leaves Global Radio

Don Thomson is stepping down as COO of Global Radio, the leading commercial radio company in the U.K.

Don Thomson has 24 years of experience in the commercial radio industry and was previously the commercial and operating officer at Chrysalis Radio, which was bought by Global Radio in 2007. The following year, Thomson was involved in Global's take-over of GCap.

"Don has made a great contribution to Global Radio and we thank him for all his hard work. Whilst we regret his decision, we fully understand his position and wish him every success in the future" comments Global's CEO Stephen Mirron in statement.

Global Radio isn't expected to name a new COO.

Capital FM revival in London

Global Radio's 95.8 Capital FM is the main winner in the latest Rajar survey of radio listening in London.

The CHR station Capital FM surges from a 4.7% share of listening in Q1 to 6.2% in Q2, putting it within striking distance of Bauer Radio's AC outlet Magic 105.4, which increases to 6.5% and returns to the position of the largest commercial station. Meanwhile, Global Radio's AC station Heart 106.2 FM falls from 5.9% to 5.1%.

The Rajar survey also sees a rise in the listening to Bauer Radio's rhytmic CHR Kiss 100 FM, which is up to 5%. Global's gold station, Gold London, increases its share by half – from 1.2% to 1.8%. There are also good news for Global's news/talk service LBC, which is slightly up quarter-on-quarter, but has grown from 2.7% to 4.6% year-on-year.

BBC's national talk, news and culture outlet BBC Radio 4 maintains the overall lead in London, although the share drops from 16.7% to 14.2%. The other four national BBC stations are also down in the survey.

RTL Radio appoints Baldelli

RTL Group has found a new director for its French radio stations.

Christopher Baldelli's new title is chairman of RTL Radio's executive board. He replaces Axel Duroux, who was named new director of TV channel TF1 in June. Since 2006, Baldelli has directed the thematic channels of RTL's TV company M6. Before that he was at RTL's main competitor Lagardère and in the 90's he was a public official with a focus on media regulation.

RTL is France's and Europe's biggest commercial radio company and runs full service RTL Radio, rock-oriented RTL 2 and CHR/dance outlet Fun Radio, as well as digital sports station RTL L'Equipe.

Germany: "A black day for radio"

The launch of digital radio in Germany has been put on hold, following a decision to withhold funding.

On Wednesday, the federal KEF commission said it won't provide funding for the digital radio project which was planned for later this year. The two German public broadcasters ARD and Deutschlandradio had earlier been promised 42 million euros for the period 2009-2012.

According to KEF, the broadcasters haven't been able to satisfy the criteria that were set up for the project to be realized. The commission also points to the fact that commercial radio has withdrawn its support.

Deutschlandradio's director Willi Steul says it's a "black day for radio" and fears that frequencies that have been allocated for digital radio will now be used for other purposes.

Germany has opted for DAB+ as its standard for digital radio. The system is an updated version of the European DAB standard and was recently introduced in Australia, Switzerland and Malta. It is currently being tested in Italy, the Czech Republic and Sweden, among other countries.

Radio fares better than TV and print in ad downturn

Radio is doing better than television, newspapers and magazines on the global advertising market, according to a new report from research company Nielsen.

While the worldwide ad expenditure across television, newspapers, magazines and radio dropped 7.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009, radio lost just 2.5 percent. In North America radio ad sales fell 8.2 percent, but this was offset by a slight 0.1 percent loss in Europe and a 1.4 percent increase in the Asia Pacific region.

Magazines was the traditional medium that fared the worst, with a decline of 17.4 percent, while newspapers were down 9.1 percent. Television advertising fell 4.7 percent.

US online stations get royalty deal

Webcasters in the United States have secured a new deal with record labels, ending a two-year battle about royalties for online streaming.

Larger sites such as Pandora and AOL Radio will pay either 25 percent of their revenue or a fee for each song played, whichever is the biggest. The fee will increase from .08 US cent per song in 2006 to .14 cent in 2015. Smaller sites with a revenue below 1.25 million dollars will pay 12-14 percent.

In March 2007, the federal Copyright Royalty Board decided that webcasters should pay 0.19 cent a song. According to webcasters, these rates could have forced them out of business.

In the US, FM and AM broadcasters don't pay royalties, but a deal for online simulcasts was reached in February.

NRJ expands to Canada

The French hit radio brand NRJ is set to make its first appearance in North America, following a brand partnership deal between NRJ Group and Canada's Astral Media Radio.

Astral Media Radio already runs ten Énergie stations in French-speaking Quebec as well as the Énergie 2 service on Sirius Satellite Radio across North America. On August 24, these will be renamed NRJ and adopt NRJ's panther logotype. Astral will keep the ownership of the stations, but will cooperate with NRJ Group regarding brand issues, promotions and interviews.

NRJ is the most widely spread hit radio brand in Europe, with stations in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Bulgaria, the Ukraine, Russia and the Lebanon as well as in the French dependencies Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Tahiti, Mayotte, Réunion and New Caledonia.

UK to close down FM in 2017

The U.K. will start to close down its analog FM and AM broadcasts in 2017, according to an article in Saturday's Financial Times. In 2020 all radio in the U.K. will be digital, if the plans are realized.

The proposal is included in the government's Digital Britain white paper, which is presented to the parliament on Tuesday. FT's sources say that the British analog close-down has been accelerated by the French decision that all radios sold in France must be digital by 2013.

NRJ Group in Google link-up

France's NRJ Group, one of the major radio owners in Europe, is setting up an ad-sales cooperation with Google AdWords.

NRJ will sell Google search ads to its 10,000 local advertisers in France, Radioactu.com reports. NRJ expects that the deal will also increase sales at NRJ's local radio stations.

”The Internet medium, which is the best friend of radio, will have a strong growth on the local level, where NRJ is historically very present. This deal with Google lets us offer a complete AdWords package to local advertisers, which will reinforce our position as the leader when it comes to localised Internet” NRJ's CEO Jean-Paul Baudecroix says to Radioactu.com.

Disappointing result for Now FM

92.3 Now FM, CBS Radio's new CHR station in New York City, hasn't made the same immediate impact as its Los Angeles sister station Amp Radio.

In the first full-month results since its March 9 launch, Now FM only manages to get a 1.5% marketshare. That is only marginally better than its predecessor 92.3 K-Rock and means that Now FM is the 23rd biggest radio station in NYC.

Now FM's main competitor, Clear Channel's Z100, is up slightly to 4.9% and maintains its runner-up position on the market, with Clear Channel's AC station still at number one with 5.9%.

CBS Radio gets some good news from its other stations in New York City. Oldies station WCBS-AM increases to 4.8% and keeps its number three spot, news outlet WCBS-AM rises to 4.1 and sports channel WFAN AM surges from 2.1 to 3.4%. Another winner is Clear Channel's classic rock station Q104.3, which is now in fourth place with a 4.3% share.

December launch for digital radio in France

Paris, Nice and Marseille will be the first three regions in France to get digital radio, media authority CSA announced this week.

When digital radio is launched in December, Parisians will get access to a total of 63 digital stations including 8 public service channels. Seven brand new services have been awarded licenses: Radio Mandarin d'Europe (Chinese), R2O (children), Crooner Fréquence Numerique, Jazz Radio, Antinea Radio (Berber), LCI Radio (news) and RTL L'Équipe (sports).

France has opted for T-DMB Audio as its standard for digital radio. T-DMB Audio is part of the European digital radio family Eureka 147 which also includes DAB (used in the U.K., Denmark and Norway) and DAB+ (the choice of Germany, Italy and Australia).

Amp Radio winner in L.A, talk dominates in Chicago and S.F.

CBS Radio's new CHR station 97.1 Amp Radio has made a clear impact on the Los Angeles market. Since its launch in February, when it replaced 97.1 FM Talk, the frequency's share of listening hours has almost doubled to 3.7%.

Amp Radio's main rival, Clear Channel's KIIS FM, has lost some listeners but is still the L.A. leader with 4.9% of the listening. The runner-up position on the market is shared by Clear Channel's talk outlet KFI-AM and CBS Radio's oldies station K-Earth 101 with 4.5% each. Clear Channel occupies the number four and five slots with soft rock KOST and hot AC 104.3 My FM.

In both Chicago and San Francisco, talk stations dominate according to the latest Arbitron ratings. CBS Radio's WBBM and Tribune's WGN both have 5.3% of listening in Chicago, while Citadel's WLS falls to 4.8%. Similarly, in San Francisco, CBS Radio's KCBS and Citadel's KGO are both at 5.4%, with public service channel KQED at 5%.

The figures for the New York City market has been postponed to next Wednesday, due to a data entry problem.

New podcast from the Radio Academy

The Radio Academy, a British organisation, has launched its first weekly podcast.

Radio Talk features guests from the radio industry and is available at the Radio Academy's website (www.radioacademy.org). In the first show, Radio Talk included a discussion with former GCap boss David Mansfield on how radio can survive the financial downturn. Other guests were David Ackerman from the UK's largest independet radio production company Somethin' Else and Matt Wells from Media Guardian's podcast Media Talk.

Finland's commercial radio thrives in downturn

Finlands' commercial radio business continues to grow, despite the overall downturn in advertising spending.

In 2008, radio had a record year in Finland. Ad sales were up 7.4% and commercial radio outperformed the general 1.7% increase in the ad market. This trend was even stronger in the first quarter of 2009. Radio gained another 5.3%, while the total advertising market collapsed.

Germany makes another attempt at digital radio

The 16 German states have agreed on a plan to establish digital radio.

Germany has opted for the DAB+ system, a more economical and modern version of the digital radio technology used in the U.K., Denmark and Norway. DAB+ is alrady on-air in Switzerland and is also the choice of Australia.

There will be a countrywide German multiplex with up to 15 stations. A third of the multiplex will be used by national public broadcaster Deutschlandradio, with the rest going to commercial radio stations. This is the first time ever that German commercial radio gets national licenses.

In addition to the national multiplex, each state will have two or three multiplexes for regional and local radio. In total, there will be space for 30-40 services throughout Germany.

Radio ad market up 0.4%

The international radio advertising market grew 0.4% in 2008, according to Nielsen's report Global Adview Pulse.

Radio lost some marketshare during last year, as the total ad market was up 1.5%. Advertising revenue was up 7.7% in East Asia, while sales in the U.S. and Europe fell 2.5%. Spain had the worst development, with a market that fell 14.1%. China stayed healthy with an increase of 17.1%.

Procter & Gamble was the biggest overall advertiser, followed by General Motors, Unilever, Ford, Toyota, L'Oreal, Verizon, AT&T, Johnson & Johnson and Volkswagen.

Global Radio Expands Heart Network

The UK's Global Radio group on Monday expanded its Heart network into another 12 markets in the western parts of England.

Heart replaces local stations in Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire, Reading, Oxford, Plymouth, South Hams, North Devon, Exeter, Torbay, Somerset and Gloucester. The move means the disappearence of the local brands GWR, Gemini FM, Orchard FM, Lantern FM, South Hams Radio, Fox FM, Severn Sound and 2-Ten FM.

This is the second phase of the Heart roll-out in Britain. In January, nine stations in Anglia entered the network. In total, there are now 24 outlets for Heart, including the stations in London, West Midlands and East Midlands.

French Commercial Radio Launches "I Love Radio" Campaign

France's major commercial radio companies have joined forces to create a new industry organisation.

Bureau de la Radio (the Radio Bureau) has been set up to strengthen the radio medium and lobby politicians. One of its first tasks will be to argue for a liberalization of France's media ownership law, which sets a 150 million limit to a radio company's combined technical reach.

During the past weekend, Bureau de la Radio premiered its first advertising campaign. In "J'aime la radio" ("I love radio"), French personalities explain why they love the radio medium. The campaign runs on the 12 radio networks owned by the founders - RTL, Lagardère, NRJ and Next Radio TV. The four companies have a 90% share of the commercial radio market in France.

Michel Cacouault, formerly of RTL's sales company IP France, has been chosen to lead Bureau de la Radio.

Digital radio compulsory in French cars

The French government has introduced a new law, making it compulsory to include a digital radio set in all cars sold from September 1, 2013. A year earlier, all other radios must be able to handle digital radio.

France has opted for DMB as its standard for digital radio. DMB was originally designed for mobile television and is part of the European Eureka 147 family, which also includes DAB and DAB+. While the U.K, Denmark and Norway have already established DAB, the more efficient DAB+ version is the choice of countries such as Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Australia.

In April, it will be announced which companies will get the first French digital licenses. In June, the government is set to put forward a more detailed plan for the further expansion of digital radio in France.

SBS Radio loses Oslo frequency

After 25 years on-air, SBS Radio's Radio 1 has lost its frequency in the Norwegian capital Oslo. Radio 1 will continue in Bergen and Stavanger, although it will have to share airtime with other stations. SBS Radio's rhythmic CHR The Voice will also be forced to shut down in Oslo.

One of the winners in the bidding for Norway's local commercial radio frequencies is Svein Larsen, the founder and former managing director of P4 - now Norway's largest commercial radio company. Larsen's new venture Radio Metro has secured frequencies in Oslo as well as in two other important metropolitan areas. NRJ Group's CHR station NRJ and P4 were also successful in several major markets.

Public service station takes the lead in Berlin

RBB's broad-based public radio station Radio Eins is the new market leader in Berlin. Radio Eins goes from number four to number one in the German capital and increases its marketshare from 8 to 11%. The previous leader, RTL Group's 104.6 RTL, falls to 10.4%.

RBB's "city radio" Radio Berlin 88,8 also gains listeners and now shares the number two spot with 104.6 RTL. RBB's Radio Brandenburg and commercial oldies outlet Berliner Rundfunk both have a 9.1% marketshare.

Downturn for British commercial radio

The commercial radio industry in the UK was hit by a 14.5% year-on-year fall in sales during the fourth quarter of last year, according to new statistics from Radio Advertising Bureau.

The figure is the worst quarterly result so far this decade. National sales was down as much as 21.2%, while local sales dropped 9.8%.

CBS introduces hit station in New York City

For the first time in almost three decades, two youth-oriented CHR stations are going head-to-head in New York City, the largest US radio market.

92.3 Now FM was introduced by CBS Radio on March 11, replacing rock-formated K-Rock (WXRK) which had just 1.5% of listening hours in January. The move follows CBS Radio's February 20 launch of Amp Radio in Los Angeles. Now FM has a more rhythmic format than its L.A. counterpart, making it a competitor not only to Clear Channel's straight CHR Z100, but also to Clear Channel's urban Power 105 (WWPR) and rhythmic AC KTU (WKTU) as well as Emmis' rhythmic Hot 97 (WQHT).