Android Car Radio

I love gadgets. Especially ones connected with radio.

So when the Programme Director of client station Kronehit, based in Vienna, told me he had a new car radio, I was keen to check it out.

And when he told me it was the latest Android 'in car' radio he'd imported from China, I thought ... this, I gotta see.

Do Stunts Still Work?

Do stunts still work?

In a mediascape where there is more content than ever before, all vying for some of our headspace, does the good old fashioned 'radio station stunt' still cut through?

Here’s one from the station I work with in Austria, Kronehit.

In April, they decided to hold a “Naked Wedding”. The concept - 2 people get married with no clothes on. Simple really! Quite a few stations have done this worldwide, and if you’re one of them, you’ll know how successful it can be. But in conservative, Catholic Austria... doing something like this takes quite some balls... so to speak.

Here’s a short highlights package of how it looked on the day. Caution: there may be some nudity. Mind you, I guess the clue’s in the title...



In any diary based or CATI system of methodology as they have in Austria, it’s difficult to measure the cut through for these type of events. Do the audience register what you’re doing? Do the wider public notice your radio station stunt?

Google trends is a nice way of seeing what people are searching for at any one time.

If you take Kronehit’s biggest competitor, Ö3 (from the Austrian Public Service Broadcaster) they have more weekly audience and also are consistently a more ‘searched for’ term on Google in Austria. Except in one particular week...

As you can see, for the first time ever, Kronehit (the blue line) overtook Ö3 (the red line) in terms of search, which is a great moment for the station. It shows that stunts, if executed and PR’d correctly, can still cut through to a much wider audience than just a station P1’s.

If you're attending the 'Local Rundfunktage' in Germany at the start of July, you must go and see Kronehit PD, Rüdiger Landgraf's presentation on 'Radio and Social Media', where he'll talk more about the stations' strategy to connect with its youth audience.

In terms of Kronehit growing its awareness and building its image as a station for a fun, young Austrian... another step up the ladder has been completed, and the 'stunt' played its part well.

Enjoy The Silence

Here's a nice bit of fun, entertaining and topical video content from client station Kronehit in Austria, and their Morning Show.

What can make a Vuvuzela quieter?

Buzz Off!

I’ve just visited client station KRONEHIT based in Vienna, who are just celebrating audience figures (from their measurement system in Austria called ‘Radio Test’) that put them well over the ½ Million listeners mark. Well done to all the hardworking team there. One of the fun initiatives that I heard about while I was there, is a fantastic idea that I had to share with you.

In summer, as we know, there are a lot of insects about... especially mosquitoes, which if you are near any water, can be particularly bad. So KRONEHIT are offering listeners a 'Mosquito Free Summer'! How? Well... with a little bit of technical trickery!

They are embedding a silent tone of 14,850 Hertz in the signal, which imitates the buzzing of female mosquitoes. Therefore other female mosquitoes who hear this tone, are apparently repelled by the sound, and don’t come near it! Brilliant!

Therefore, the message is simple. If you’re outdoors, get KRONEHIT playing on the radio and you’ll enjoy your first summer without mosquitoes!! Genius!

Now, there’s a lot of debate as to whether high frequencies actually repel mosquitoes or not.... but that’s not the point. The initiative is quirky enough for people to try and it and stands out as something really interesting when you hear it.

When I was told about this, I didn’t know if it was some sort of whacky radio stunt or not... but they are actually doing it for real, with a real frequency generator on the transmission chain. And I’m sure they’ll be lots of listeners who say how brilliantly it works too.

It’s an example of a fun idea that’s very different, and creates standout for a station in a highly competitive market. It’s ideas like this one that have no doubt helped the station grow every book for the last 2 ½ years.

Well – that and playing the most music!

If you have any doubt as to how it works, here’s a handy video from the morning show producer to explain all...