The radio has often been given for dead, but neither television nor the Internet have managed to overcome it. Will it still hold up this time around, when podcasting and telecommuting are a major game-changer? As World Radio Day approaches this Sunday, the question arises, but few are really worried about its future. Light on a media that has seen others and refuses to go on air.
The Center for Media Studies reports that 70% of listeners tuned into the radio in transport before the cataclysm of March 2020. Without these herds of people who gather in traffic jams to go to work, the pandemic would therefore have may have dealt the final blow to traditional radio, but it did not, at least for the talk stations.
98.5 FM, the most listened to station in Montreal, certainly lost almost 150,000 listeners between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2020, but the figures are not necessarily catastrophic. Not only did the latest survey show at the end of 2021 that the numbers were tending to gradually return to pre-pandemic levels, but the latest Numeris data also confirms that listeners have tended to listen to the radio longer since the start of the health crisis. .
“In all the crises we have experienced in Quebec over the past fifty years, such as the ice storm, there has always been a need for talk radio. In a context of misinformation linked to the pandemic, the radio is still perceived as a credible source of information, “says Caroline Paquet, president of Cogeco Media, owner of 98.5, among others.
Radio-Canada also prides itself on having succeeded in disproving the predictions, which did not give much for radio in the era of teleworking. La Première Chaîne even experienced a 7% increase in its audience between fall 2019 and fall 2021. Proof, according to the state-owned company, that listeners have not lost interest in radio during the pandemic, but that they have only adapted their listening habits accordingly. While they received the FM band in their car, people today consume live radio on their cellphones.
“Podcasting and traditional radio are cousins, but they each meet a different, complementary need. There will always be a place for live broadcasts. The radio allows a great proximity that we do not find elsewhere, “says Caroline Jamet, director of radio at Radio-Canada.
Is podcasting the future?
Alongside its regular programming and the segments of its shows offered as catch-up, the Société Radio-Canada is offering more and more original podcasts. The subjects treated are often shifted, and the editing, omnipresent.
This formula, which sometimes resembles television more than conventional radio, has been booming for several years. Bell Media also does podcasts with its iHeartRadio application, as does Quebecor with QUB radio.
“Increasingly, advertisers are interested in the precision that digital can offer. With audio products, [ils] have much more precision in knowing who we hit. So it is sure that it is called to grow. Audience surveys for traditional radio will have to [le] take [en] account and adjust their methods to try to offer as much precision”, adds the general manager of QUB radio, Jean-Nicolas Gagné.
Podcasting is experiencing such growth that one has to wonder if it is just a fad, or at least if we will not one day reach a saturation point.
Podcast co-host Without filterone of the most popular in Quebec, PH Cantin is convinced that podcasting still has good years ahead of it, but he recognizes that this medium may be called upon to evolve.
“During the pandemic, a lot of comedians started their own podcast, which allowed them to have an income. But the market in Quebec may not be big enough to support so many podcasts. The formula where there is a star who talks about her for an hour is perhaps running out of steam. The future is much more in the more niche podcast, which is not necessarily aimed at a large audience, ”analyzes the owner of Studio SF, which several personalities rent to record their podcast.
PH Cantin also thinks that there is still a place for FM radio, alongside the podcast. But he is still of the opinion that commercial radio should be inspired by it if it wants to survive. “Right now, when you turn on the radio, you have a one in two chance of coming across an ad. Perhaps it would be better to distribute the advertising blocks, even if it meant shortening them. Because young people who listen to podcasts are not used to so many advertisements, and it is a serious irritant,” he adds.
What’s more, listening platforms, such as Spotify, allow us to listen to the music of our choice without commercial breaks. Is this the end of commercial music radio?
Less popular, music radio
Private music radio stations have recorded much more pronounced declines in audience in recent months than talk radio.
Audiences for CKOI and Rythme FM fell by approximately 11% and 23% respectively, between fall 2019 and fall 2021. Rouge FM and Énergie experienced a decline in market share during the last season. Bell Media, which owns these two stations, declined our interview request.
“Music radio stations must no longer content themselves with playing a playlist. We need concerts, exclusive interviews with the artists… We need added value compared to the platforms of streaming “, argues Henri Assogba, professor of communication at Laval University.
Proof of this is the resounding success of ICI Musique since the start of the pandemic. In two years, Radio-Canada’s music radio has increased its audience by 64%.
Like what, no, the radio has not said its last word.