LISTENING TO people talk and play music sounds like an unlikely recipe for multimedia success in the age of apps, downloads and video on demand, but radio is stubbornly reinventing itself in the digital age and winning whole new audiences.

In the UK, the BBC has had spectacular success with the podcast service it launched in 2007, downloadable versions of radio shows that have reached much bigger global audiences than they would in the confines of their airtime slots. Since the launch, niche programming such as Kermode Mayo’s Film Reviews and Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time have been downloaded 24 million and 20 million times respectively.

RTÉ say its download numbers have been “very encouraging” but won’t quote figures that it says are commercially sensitive. “In the traditional days of FM and longwave, a programme went out and that was your only chance to hear it. Now, people are using all the platforms available to them, including podcasts,” said Dave Timpson, platforms co-ordinator at RTÉ Radio.

While news and current affairs dominate the on-air ratings, Timpson said that the “longer tail” of podcasts gives other content a chance to find a bigger audience. Documentaries are a case in point and very popular, with “catch-up” services such as the RTÉ Documentary On One app, which gives unlimited access to more than 400 programmes.

Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp Group, which owns Today FM, Newstalk and 98FM, is more candid about numbers. It claims Gift Grub, the comedy slot on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show on Today FM is the station’s number-one podcast, with each episode getting between 50,000 and 100,000 downloads. Other popular content will typically get 30,000 downloads.

With music stations Spin and Phantom in the same stable, the company uses social media to build listenership among a younger audience. Aidan McCullen, head of digital in Communicorp, claims that Spin has the most popular Facebook site in Ireland, with 152,000 active users. He said it’s all part of a rich ecosystem of social media that is central to the company’s strategy.

“Radio went from being a monologue to a dialogue with the listener,” he said, “now we see it is as a ‘trialogue’ where the radio station is in the background facilitating conversations between the audience. That’s very available through social media services like Facebook and Twitter.”

In addition to online media players, RTÉ and Communicorp offer mobile access to content with apps available for Apple (iOS) and Android operating systems. Both broadcasters said that Apple downloads far outnumber Android, an 80-20 split in the case of RTÉ.

To date, RTÉ has been reluctant to support other platforms, including the Windows Phone operating system, which has been slow to take off in Ireland. “We’ve looked at Symbian and BlackBerry as well,” said Timpson, “and we do get requests, but unfortunately, you can’t do them all and you have to go with critical mass.”

Running 40 stations across eight European countries, Communicorp has a broad vista to identify emerging trends and build services around what it believes listeners want. Based on research at Today FM, for example, they’re cutting down broadcast shows into digestible chunks for 40-minute commutes.

“Data shows that there is spike of traffic at around 6.30am on apps, then a rise in the number of people using the media player on the website when they get to work,” explained McCullen. “It’s the same at lunchtime and before the evening commute, when apps spike again. We’ll continue to adapt our platforms to reflect these trends.”

An unlikely boom area is video with live streaming available for a growing number of radio programmes. Communicorp has made a substantial investment in what it calls “radio you can see”.

“The danger is that it can end up looking like security camera footage, so we bought a system with voice-activated microphones that automatically cuts between people who are speaking,” said McCullen. “We’re an audio company in an increasingly visual world so we’re adapting our content with that in mind.”

Presenter Ray Foley uses video extensively and gets 180,000 streams a month for his Today FM lunchtime show, according to McCullen, who says there is much more to come in this area. “We spend a lot of time analysing data and it became apparent that a lot of people were coming to our websites to read the profiles of the DJs. By letting them see the shows, we’re just giving them what they want.” Viewing figures inevitably spike if a show features a celebrity, particularly if the guest has tweeted their fan base.

Timpson describes RTÉ’s digital radio strategy as looking for “platform agnosticity” by enabling content to be streamed over the web, podcast, or broadcast traditionally over analogue and digital radio. “We’re reaching out to whole sections of new audiences that weren’t there before,” he said.

These other platforms have helped extend the reach of RTÉ’s six digital stations, with the rollout of DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) having stalled after covering Dublin, Cork and Limerick – 53 per cent of the population. “We won’t go further with digital terrestrial rollout until we see some engagement from the commercial sector,” said Timpson.

Aidan McCullen admits that right now the main focus for Communicorp is serving up content via apps to mobile devices. Although it was involved in the early DAB trials with RTÉ, it has not launched a digital station.

“We are waiting for clarification from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland on the licensing process for DAB. We understand they will be looking at it when the analogue TV switch off is complete,” McCullen said.

Despite the slow progress, Dave Timpson has no doubt that digital is the future. “Over the next 30 years, digital free-to-air services are going to be very important because there isn’t the amount of bandwidth to support the growing listenership,” he said. “Everyone talks about the future of radio being on the internet, but that’s just not true.”

Timpson points out that some mobile listeners are using bandwidth to stream their services and effectively paying for a free national broadcasting service. He expects platforms to converge, with mobile applications that use hybrid chips to receive transmissions from digital as well as FM stations and the web.

“We’re a few months away from having an app that will identify a free-to-air audio source while simultaneously accessing the metadata – the pictures and information about the programme – from the web. That’s a much more efficient way to service mass audiences,” Timpson said.

Ready, get set, go: tuning in to the internet without a computer

FURTHERING THE radio revival are smart and stylish portables that receive a combination of digital, internet and FM services. Be warned that some are more user-friendly than others when it comes to connecting to the web. Most have built-in wi-fi and let you search and store stations from the device, or pre-select them from a web site directory.

Bandwidth constraints with many of these directories mean that some services stream at a very low bitrate, reducing the dynamic range – not great for music but fine for talk radio. The good news is that you get access to a world of radio – literally – without having to turn on a computer.

LOGITECH SQUEEZE- BOX RADIO, €155

With a soft speaker cover and slightly angled design, this Logitech Squeezebox model assumes a more typical look for an internet radio. One nice feature is a colour 2.4-inch LCD that displays any graphics that comes with your choice of station.

PURE EVOKE FLOW, €125

A wonderfully retro design enhanced by a minimal yellow-on-black display. Two dial knobs and three “touch” buttons offer easy access to all the functionality. A classic pull-up aerial reminds you that it can go FM if it has to.

ROBERTS STREAM 205, €124

Another retro-looking portable with a curvy design that keeps all the controls topside, above two speakers that pump out warm and friendly sound.

A good selection of controls – including buttons for five presets – make light work of navigating the different ways of tuning in.

Q2, €108

An internet-only radio that you have to connect to a computer to find a wi-fi connection before choosing four pre-set stations. The gimmick is that it comes in a variety of bright colours and it's button free – you tip and tilt to control everything in what's little more than a tiny speaker box. - IAN CAMPBELL