THE FUTURE OF AUDIO TECHNOLOGY

According to the 2019 Australian survey, The Infinite Dial, media consumption of audio is continuing to grow. Both music streaming and podcast listening have seen substantial year-on-year growth. The growth of these platforms has heralded the apparent decline of radio in the media, yet results show something different. As technology becomes further advanced, personalised and on demand, radio audio listening is positioned to tackle changes in consumer media consumption.

“Audio listening has always adapted to the times, and that’s one of its main benefits,” says James Cridland, radio futurologist

Cridland has been within the audio industry for more than three decades, and in his time has seen many different adaptions of audio listening as technologies advance. Yet Cridland says one of the best draw cards media such as radio has for maintaining a place in audiences’ lives is the pure habit of listening that is ingrained in our culture.

“Radio has got something going for it that nothing else does; the habit of tuning in. We’ve certainly seen that when we’ve tried to launch new ideas, that the habit is something that makes change quite slow.”

Cridland sees radio’s longevity surviving through habitual listening and he notes the importance that technology will have on the way it is produced and consumed.

“Now that technology surrounding radio is advancing, things such as the connected home, voice activation, and the connected car make it easier to access radio, not bypass it as an option.”