I'm writing this in London, where the doors are (as I type) just about to open for Next Radio, the radio conference that I run here with my friend Matt Deegan. It's a positive radio conference with an uplifting feel.

Go to a radio conference in the U.S. or Canada, and there won't be very many smiling faces. There's a general feeling in the U.S. and Canada that radio is declining. But in other countries, the vibe about radio is different.

The U.K. commercial radio industry has grown, over the past year, by 5.2%. It's now a U.S. like $887 million market.

Australian commercial radio has grown too - over the past year, metro stations growing 3.8% to a U.S. $573 million market (and there's more from the regions, too).

So, Chris Evans, the current presenter on AC/BBC Radio 2's breakfast show - the largest breakfast show in Europe, by cume - has announced that he's leaving the station later this year. He's off to Virgin Radio, where he's going to do the breakfast show. Side note: it's ...

"If you could own a radio station, what would you call it?" posted a man named Nick in a radio discussion board on Facebook the other day. Now, this Facebook group is mostly comprised of people complaining about how words are being pronounced in radio news bulletins, ...

Last week, a small fluffy bundle arrived in our house. We now have a small puppy - she's lovely, thank you - and the effect on my radio listening has been interesting. Next to the sofa was a jumble of wires - something to charge an iPad, some USB-C connectors to charge ...

"Object-based media" sounds very techie. But as I stumbled across a BBC Research & Development web page last week highlighting where they've got with it, I am reminded how powerful the idea is (and how much it could play a part in the future of radio). So, what is ...

I'm six foot four, something that I'm acutely aware of in two situations: first, whenever I'm on an economy airline flight, and second, whenever I'm on a subway train in Asia. Those useful straps from the ceiling - normally out of my way in the US and Europe, are all ...

I spent last week at Podcast Movement in Philadelphia - a conference with 2,300 delegates that dwarfed any radio conference that I'd previously been to. This was a well-run conference: running on time throughout, with multiple panels that delegates could go ...

There were two stories last week that especially made me think. First, this off-the-cuff tweet from a radio station in Scotland, having a day of "going retro" by... playing CDs. I shared this in a Facebook group, and it wasn't long before the comments descended into ...

James Purnell, the ultimate boss of BBC Radio, blogged late last week that 'we need an industry chart for UK podcasts.' He's understands that the iTunes chart isn't a chart at all, which is gratifying: that it's a trending list, "which is great for audiences but ...

I was in the sunny German city of Nuremberg last week, as the guest of the Lokalrundfunktage. The state media regulator for Bavaria helps run a big, impressive conference with a surprising amount of people there. The most impressive thing to me was that I was speaking ...