Radio’s secret weapon – collaboration 

Radiocentre’s Head of Marketing spoke at Radiodays Europe in Lisbon this week, to an audience of European audio professionals. 

I had the absolute pleasure of being asked to speak at this year’s Radiodays Europe conference. It was an inspiring weekend, full of fantastic sessions from radio and podcast lovers. It was so nice to be back at a real life event, speaking to passionate audio professionals from across Europe (if you’ve missed this, come and join us at Tuning In).  The event was another reminder of the power of collaborative thinking, which formed the basis for my session. 

At Radiocentre we know we represent an industry of phenomenally talented people which is why we try, when possible, to pull the audio sector together – because collaboration is radio’s secret weapon.

Two examples of this are the Young Audio Awards and the Mental Health Minute, both formed the basis of my Radiodays presentation. 

For the past four years The Mental Health Minute has united the radio airwaves during Mental Health Awareness Week. Every radio station played the same minute of audio at the exact same time, reaching 20 million people with an important message to continue the conversation about our mental health. Beyond broadcasting just the minute of audio, stations such as Absolute and LBC open a dialogue with their millions of listeners about this very important topic. The Mental Health Minute is a big project and it’s always a (stressful) joy to get to be a part of it. Through its huge reach live on air, the massive social media impact it generates and the hundreds of column inches written following the broadcast, it sparks a national conversation on an issue that’s often not talked about enough. But this only happens because as an industry we collaborate. 

Equally, the Young Audio Awards, the awards for under 18s with a passion for radio and podcasts, is supported across UK audio, with stations like KISS giving up airtime, talent and resource to promote the initiative. The sector works together to inspire and develop the next generation of audio lovers, to ensure the future talent pool is talented, engaged and diverse – and ready to continue delivering a fantastic radio product. 

The Young Audio Awards and Mental Health Minute are just two of many big ideas that came through the power of collaboration. There are very few other mediums bold and brave enough to work together like this, and it’s something that should be celebrated. Radio is full of phenomenally talented people, so when we pull together we are pretty unstoppable.