 RAIN 7/23: Streams' "Now Playing" window an opportunity for listener engagement, says Ross ·Jul 23, 10:59 AM ROSS: PROVIDE REAL-TIME EXTRA CONTENT IN STREAM’S “NOW PLAYING” WINDOWThe “Now Playing” window for radio streams almost always contains some sort of metadata or label for the music currently on-air. But Sean Ross has noticed that in between tracks, things can get messy, with some stations inadvertently showing internal jock notes. “While I personally enjoy knowing that I’m hearing ‘slow to fast jingle 7’ between the songs, it’s a little like spotting the boom hanging down at the top of a movie frame,” Ross writes at The Infinite Dial (here). “And I just know that one day I’m going to see some jock note like, ‘Only take female contest winners’ make it to the Web.”
Radio stations should not only fix this problem, Ross writes, they should take advantage of the opportunity presented by their stream’s “Now Playing” window — especially if it helps keep listeners’ eyes on a stream’s site, where they’ll be exposed to ads. “Why not provide extra real-time content? Song and contest teasers? More facts about the music? An apology for the lame PSA now playing on the Webstream?” He holds up KRXY (Roxy 94.5) in Olympia, WA as a good example. They display the correct answer and info about the winner in the “Now Playing” window during a contest. “If a station has somebody (likely the jock) making sure the correct winner name gets posted on the Web, what else could stations do in real time with the media player?” WEBCASTS INVADING BROADCAST RADIO’S LAST FORTRESS: THE CAR, SAYS PIZZITraditionally, writes Skip Pizzi at Radio World, radio had three realms of influence: the home, the workplace and the car. Then along came Internet radio, which “chipped away” at radio’s listenership at work and in the home as broadband and Wi-Fi access developed. “The last step in this process is the extension of this portability into the car, which has already begun,” Pizzi writes (here). While the process of including Internet radio receivers into in-dash car stereos may be slow, there are ways — using iPhones and other mobile devices — to stream webcasts into your car today.
“Thus the Internet radio invasion is now nearly complete, with no broadcast venue spared from its presence. Internet radio now goes wherever broadcast radio goes…If you believe the Internet destroyed the newspaper business model, you’ve got to wonder if this isn’t starting to look pretty similar for radio.” This shouldn’t be the death of traditional radio though, Pizzi argues. In fact, “it could actually be just the wake-up call radio needs.” GHOSTLY DISCOVERY iPHONE APP PLAYS RADIO TO THE TUNE OF YOUR “MUSICAL MOOD”Ghostly Discovery, a new free iPhone app from indie music record label Ghostly International, creates personalized radio streams based on a user’s “musical mood.” Moods are represented by colors (yellow is energetic, for example) and by slide-bars where users dictate if they want the music to be organic or digital, fast or slow. The music is pulled from Ghostly International and Spectral Sound’s catalogs. For more, check out Flavorwire’s coverage here.
FLYCAST RAISES $2.1M IN FUNDINGMobile Internet radio company FlyCast has raised $2.1 million in new funding, according to a filing with the SEC. FlyCast just recently released an updated version of their Blackberry application (RAIN coverage here). For more on the story, check out PaidContent’s coverage here.STUDY PREDICTS 21M DAILY NET RADIO LISTENERS IN GERMANY BY 2013A new study from Berlin strategy consultant Goldmedia and BLM, the Bavarian regulatory authority for commercial broadcasting, has found that 7.5 million people listened to Internet radio daily in Germany by the end of 2008. The study predicts that by 2013, 21 million Germans will tune into Internet radio daily. The average listening time for Germans in 2008 was 73 minutes. For more, check out FirmenPresse’s coverage here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
Station web sites should also SEO (search engine optimize) now playing information to get into the results of search engine traffic around the artists and songs that they play.
— Brian Parsons · Jul 23, 12:40 PM · #
One covert use of the “Now Playing” text is for streamripping. It lets your recorder know when to break the recording up into individual tracks, and name those tracks. Before mobile Internet radio was reliable, I used to streamrip my favorite Internet radio stations and then carry the individual songs around on my iPod.
— Josh Lehan · Jul 25, 03:23 PM · #
News stations should make a lot better use of their “Now Playing” text area. Easily available automated text tidbits, such as traffic incidents and current weather for various cities in the region, is a no-brainer to put up in this text area. Would be good for HD Radio in the car as well!
— Josh Lehan · Jul 25, 03:28 PM · #