[Stooky Bill]

Rayo once it fully integrates the different platforms and Premium which can only be heard on the station apps currently should hopefully bring them more on a level with Global Player, which is easily the best commercial radio streaming app on the market currently.

Global Player is basically trying to emulate BBC Sounds down to the catch-up of radio shows and podcasts

I'm not sure if Rayo has been delayed or was just announced too early, but yes it will hopefully make things better. 

Problem they have compared with Global is that Global has 7 brands, all nice and neat. Looking at the list of stations in Planet Radio, there's loads and it's a right mess. Some are the same station just with a different brand - Free Radio and Hits Radio, a lot are just playlists rather than stations and some stations have multiple varients. All the versions of Absolute could fill a seperate platform themselves there's so many now. Definately needs a tidy, and a bit of a purge. 

That said I do like the way that they do split genres with the same programmes on Absolute, that's something I don't think Global have done 

Global Player is excellent, but like Sounds lacks a few functions I'm used to on other players - the ability to create a playlist of programmes or podcasts for example. The main annoyance with Global Player is that it isn't compatible with Android Auto, or presumably the Apple equivalent. That's where I'd use it the most

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Do you want know about your commute before you leave? Ask Alexa or set her up to automatically give you a traffic update while you're getting ready. No Alexa? No problem... your smartphone learns when you usually get into your car and will have a pop up notification if traffic is worse than normal.

'check before you travel, go to radiostationwebsite.co.uk'

[Kim Wexler’s Ponytail]

Of course it can. It's the same across TV and it's happening in all comparable countries. We are inherently lazy and crave convenience. Why would we plan our day around the times a show is on TV? Why would we put up with three songs we don't like to hear one we do? 

On top of that, technology has made the previous USPs of local news on radio obsolete. 

Ask any parent in their thirties if they'd ever considered listening to the radio to find out if the kids' school is closed due to snow. Of course they haven't. Schools send e-mails and texts with one mouse click. Ask anyone random person in the car park of a motorway service station if they pay attention to traffic bulletins. Of course they don't in the majority because their Google Maps, Apple Maps or Tom Tom have live traffic conditions that no radio traffic service can compete with. Not only that, they also automatically show the best option to re-route.

Severe weather? The Met Office app, AccuWeather or even the iPhone weather app are your friend. The instant a warning is issued it pops up on your phone. Do you want it more fancy? Alexa reads out the warning for you within in minutes of it being issued.

Do you want know about your commute before you leave? Ask Alexa or set her up to automatically give you a traffic update while you're getting ready. No Alexa? No problem... your smartphone learns when you usually get into your car and will have a pop up notification if traffic is worse than normal.

Blimey. Yes, local radio was only about school closure announcements and travel and weather bullitens. That was it. There was absolutely no value in the schedules full of regional voices who could relate to the communities they were broadcasting to better than any London based national dj/radio station could. But hey, you're right. What's the true value of something really worth? Who am I to stand in the way of advertisers making everything better. It's the people, and only the people, they're thinking of after all.

[gav]

I'm not sure if Rayo has been delayed or was just announced too early, but yes it will hopefully make things better. 

It exists now: hellorayo.co.uk 

Rayo | Radio & Music App - Download Now
Say hello to Rayo! Discover your favourite radio stations and podcasts all in on…
  Source: hellorayo.co.uk

[Adsales]

Blimey. Yes, local radio was only about school closure announcements and travel and weather bullitens. That was it. There was absolutely no value in the schedules full of regional voices who could relate to the communities they were broadcasting to better than any London based national dj/radio station could. But hey, you're right. What's the true value of something really worth? Who am I to stand in the way of advertisers making everything better. It's the people, and only the people, they're thinking of after all.

You are still projecting your opinion onto what you believe the public as a whole feels. Your opinion is absolutely valid but it doesn't reflect how people feel about radio. 

Research upon research shows that music that appeals is the top reason to switch on the radio for the large majority. The younger the audience the bigger the gap to next reason, which by the way is not "regional voices" in any age group. In fact, "less talk" is in the top 5 for most age groups. 

Make matters worse, if you ask why radio remains the top choice while in the car the top answer (across all age groups) is "ease of use". If you solely ask those who have easy access to a streaming service such as Spotify, Amazon or Apple (i.e. built in) then radio goes from number 1 to number 2, swapping with the streaming services.

[James2001]

 In fact, "less talk" is in the top 5 for most age groups. 

Which rules out Radios 1 and 2 and their endless waffle, then 😋

[Kim Wexler’s Ponytail]

You are still projecting your opinion onto what you believe the public as a whole feels. Your opinion is absolutely valid but it doesn't reflect how people feel about radio. 

Research upon research shows that music that appeals is the top reason to switch on the radio for the large majority. The younger the audience the bigger the gap to next reason, which by the way is not "regional voices" in any age group. In fact, "less talk" is in the top 5 for most age groups. 

But compared  to when? What was that figure when radio was regional? That figure only indicates people want less of what’s on offer now which, you’re right, is pretty damning isn’t it? Maybe if there was more variety on offer that was relevant to them people wouldn’t want less talk. Again, it’s self inflicting damage . You radically change something to be like something else to survive because of a trend. People don’t like the new thing and leave. You then point to the thing and say “see!? The prediction was right! It’s what people wanted!” Now everything is the same with no point of difference.

[Adsales]

Which rules out Radios 1 and 2 and their endless waffle, then 😋

Radio 1 has lost 4 million listeners between 2011 and today. 

Radio 2's target audience is very different 

Either way, neither Radio 1 nor Radio are local commercial stations, apparently requiring "regional voices" and copious amounts of un-interesting local content ("Hey, boot fair on Saturday at XXX!"). Both are and always have been national stations which are high-profile presenter-led.

[London Lite]

The biggest sell for me for radio stations has been the content rather than the locality.

We have a third tier community radio sector and SSDAB which has allowed small scale local broadcasters another chance at playing the local card with AC music.

However in the 90s The Radio Authority licenced a load of FM sallie commercial stations which never worked and bar a dozen or so stations, they're all part of now part of quasi-national stations, while the BBC are reducing hours on their local radio network.

[Adsales]

But compared  to when? What was that figure when radio was regional? That figure only indicates people want less of what’s on offer now which, you’re right, is pretty damning isn’t it? Maybe if there was more variety on offer that was relevant to them people wouldn’t want less talk. Again, it’s self inflicting damage . You radically change something to be like something else to survive because of a trend. People don’t like the new thing and leave. You then point to the thing and say “see!? The prediction was right! It’s what people wanted!” Now everything is the same with no point of difference.

You're forgetting/ignoring a number of things here:

1. The same shift in listener behaviour can be seen in countries with local radio still available.
2. Technology such as streaming, smart speakers/assistants, satnavs would still be available had the nationalisation of local radio not happened and therefore the convenience factor would still apply.
3. Local stations (with very, very few exceptions) were never profitable. Many would be gone by now.

Just look at TV. Nothing like the radio nationalisation has take place, yet the shift in viewer behaviour towards streaming is even more pronounced than with radio.

We, the consumers, are the drivers of change. Businesses adapt in order to make profits. In fact, it's not just commercials - public broadcasters are doing the same, regardless of funding model and whether there's a risk to it.

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The biggest sell for me for radio stations has been the content rather than the locality. 

We have a third tier community radio sector and SSDAB which has allowed small scale local broadcasters another chance at playing the local card with AC music.

However in the 90s The Radio Authority licenced a load of FM sallie commercial stations which never worked and bar a dozen or so stations, they're all part of now part of quasi-national stations, while the BBC are reducing hours on their local radio network.

Same.

We have a local commercial station, which to give credit where credit is due, sounds great during the important times of the day.

We have Heart which previously was a legacy station.

We have a community FM station.

The local station sounds no different to Heart because they have dropped all the stuff that no one wants to hear to. There's no difference whether I hear local news dropped in from Leicester Square on Heart or the local news from two towns over on the local station. Same for weather or traffic. The only reason why I prefer the local station is that I can't stand Amanda Holden. To be honest though, I would usually turn to Capital or a random playlist on my Apple Music.

The community station sounds like local radio did yesteryear and is unlistenable. Whenever I tune in for a few minutes it has callers who are 60 order older.

[London Lite]

Using the local with a national spine analogy that Adsales has done in his previous post, tv viewers still cherish regional news, but they tend to watch the 6/6.30pm bulletins which are still doing well as appointment to view.

Transferring that loyality to radio is much harder. When Global took LBC's rolling news station national, they kept three local elements, travel, weather and commercials, otherwise London news stories are squeezed in with national news broadcast across the UK.

Global, Bauer and now the BBC are doing this. A France Bleu format where it's local or regional where it needs to be with a national spine.

Don't get me wrong, I still consume local information, but it comes from online sources rather than radio.