I’m fortunate to work in a space that thrives on testing, tweaking, breaking, building, amending, actioning, conceptualising and creating.
No two days at a specialist agency are the same, and the skill set of the creative collective of dedicated specialists at MediaHeads 360 is challenged daily.
We’re a business built on constant change and innovation, and we continually look at trends shaping the way that brands and consumers can connect efficiently and effectively.
Eighteen months ago, LLM was an abbreviation for an academic qualification; now, it is also the daily reference for the large language models powering Consumer AI.
I’ve always championed the concept of change or be changed, and AI is creating new perspectives, opportunities and efficiencies.
The few AI tools I’ve engaged with that are targeted for use in the radio and audio industry are game changers that adds exceptional layers of opportunity.
Tools to thrive on
Community radio thrives due to their local nature and entrenched position as a key member of society. Yet community radio has long suffered a lack of audience data and insights.
Products and solutions to solve this gap are costly, as they rely on expensive inputs to build data sets.
Now, with free AI tools available, community radio stations can source their own data and insights.
WhatsApp is a common form of communication in the community radio ecosystem that further builds local networks and conversation. Using free versions of tools like Google Sheets and Chat GPT, radio stations can get extra insight into data, trends, conversations, news and community issues.
By exporting the thousands of chats in WhatsApp as a .txt file, converting this into a data sheet in Google and importing into Chat GPT, smaller resourced stations can start gaining insight into their audience.
With meaningful prompts and an understanding of the information they are looking for, stations can start using data that was not viably available to them before.
I recently spoke to a rural station that found their “super users” by analysing their WhatsApp and SMS data.
Based on interaction and commentary on content (using a Chat GPT prompt), the station then created a closed chat group with these audience members to gain further insights. The process has unlocked audience data that had previously been unavailable to them, based on cost.
Messaging beyond the medium
Thanks to messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, a beautiful layer of the audience’s voice quickly and easily becomes a valuable addition to programming.
Previously, producers were answering phone calls, recording callers, editing recorded conversations, then broadcasting. Now, there’s the voice note, allowing for more voices and opinions on the air, and quicker too.
Yet the sheer volume means many more voice notes are never heard or acknowledged. Using automated transcription tools, producers can scan through summarised text copy of voices notes.
These notes can be grouped by sentiment, location, language or any preselected filter. Producers can then, with the help of AI, extract the most relevant, diverse, funny, meaningful or poignant voice notes – without listening to hundreds of recordings.
This process can also add value to client competitions by helping stations process data quicker and more efficiently.
A process of enhancement
Automated AI processes also allow us to clean and enhance voice notes without having to import, load, open, edit, save, save as, export and transfer. Audio can be enhanced, background noise removed, and the essence of a message captured by deleting repetition or unnecessary silence.
These audio pieces can seamlessly be received, analysed, edited, enhanced, spliced together and delivered to the on-air playout system.
Coupled to this, a written note to the DJ can give them an “in and out” to the audio segment to give context to the voice note.
In this process of receiving, converting, analysing and making data (recordings and text messages) more valuable, stations can react to the needs of the audience more succinctly.
Content opportunities can be identified and unique possibilities for brands to collaborate can be unlocked. And this is only when considering AI and studio messaging.
Radio has always embraced technology as a partner to improving our audiences’ listening experience. AI is no different.
Every aspect of the broadcast value chain has AI opportunity: copy, voice overs, audio processing, music scheduling, data management, news gathering and verification, jingle creation and recording – all these aspects can benefit positively if we harness the opportunity and create the right prompt!
Candy Dempers has loved all things media for 23 years. A sales and marketing specialist, her first love was radio and bringing brands and platforms together. Her specialist field has expanded into television and digital media where she heads up the team at MediaHeads360. As a specialist agency, her task is to ensure brands captivate consumers through amplified messaging and activated ideas.
