SXSW gets started on Friday, and Radio Survivor will attend. I’ll fly in to Austin from San Francisco early next week and catch many of the event’s music days. Here are some of the key radio focused presentations.
Thursday, March 19:
Redefining Radio for the Digital Age: “How will radio listeners experience music in 5 years?” this panel will ask. “What is radio in the digital age? Is it time for a ‘new’ definition of radio?” Among the conversants: David Porter, CEO and Founder of 8tracks, Owen Grover of iHeartRadio, Deborah Newman of MusicStrat, and Paul Brenner of NextRadio.
The Marriage of Radio and Online Listening: “Hear how listeners and artists are benefiting from the unity of traditional radio and music streaming services.” Panelists will include representatives from Quartz, Cumulus, Glasnote Entertainment Group, and Rdio.
Gear Up, Lean Back: Linear Radio Becomes Dynamic: “With so much talk about ‘radio style services’ entering the market, what experience sets the standard?” Reps from the BCC, Tunein, iHeartMedia, Guvera, and 7digital will discuss the challenge.
How to Win on Streaming Services: Advice from staffers at Republic Records, Spotify, and Digital Sin.
Friday, March 20:
How to Crack UK Radio: “BBC radio heavyweights Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens reveal how to get a foot in the door at UK radio.”
Public Radio, Public Relations, and Music: “National radio and online radio programs have a unique set of needs to create their programming and its important for publicists and managers pitching them to understand those needs. You’ll hear from some of the most influential producers in public radio’s music coverage.” Talkers will include presenters from NPR Morning Edition, NPR Music, and Dmitri Vietze of StoryAmp.
In Store Radio: 200 million people hear in-store radio every day. The complexities of this “captive-audience” medium will be discussed by reps from various in-store playlist companies, and . . . Chipotle!
Curating the Stream: In the streaming environment “curation is becoming more critical as users encounter a firehose of content.” Wizards on this panel will include reps from UMB, Rdio, SVP Music Group, and Borman.
Earlier discussions and events will include the Thrilling Adventure Hour (Saturday, March 14), which will stage “in the style of old time radio featuring actors from TV, movies and animation.” The show is also an “Eisner-nominated graphic novel, a comic series from Image and a hit podcast on the Nerdist Network.” A panel titled “NPR and PBS: Public Media, Reaching New Publics” will run on Sunday, March 15. “Hear from representatives from PBS and NPR,” the description says, “who’ll cover what’s working, and what’s not when reaching out to younger and more diverse audiences for public media.” Presenters will include staff from PBS Digital Studios and NPR’s Code Switch.
Also of interest: “Fast, Fair & Open: The FCC’s Broadband Future” on Monday, March 16. Federal Communications Commission counsel Gigi Sohn will talk about the agency’s net neutrality decision and its implications; “The Art of the Interview” (Friday, March 20) will focus on media conversation preparation; and “The Evolution of Audio in the 21st Century” will present on Friday, March 13.
Got something going on at SXSW that you want Radio Survivor to know about? Send me an email.
