Observation, commentary, analysis, and reminiscence by Kurt Hanson, Founding Editor of RAIN.
RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson rhapsodizes about the iPhone 6’s ability to consolidate multiple mobile tools into a single device. His admonition to radio executives on both sides of the digital fence: Take note, and prepare for an even more consumer-friendly mobile future. Continue Reading
Online radio is not just a North American phenomenon — it’s a global one. Reflecting the global nature of online radio, we are about to host our third annual RAIN Summit Europe, on Tuesday, November 4th. After successful events in Berlin in 2012 and Brussels in 2013, this year we’re coming to London … and here is why you should join us! Continue Reading
In the world of Internet-delivered radio, at least three significant categories of devices were wiped out by the success of the smartphone and its somewhat bigger brother, the tablet. RAIN Founding Editor Kurt Hanson ties those trends from Internet radio tech to the re-emergence of the Nook e-reader. Continue Reading
RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson is reporting from Tokyo, where he is surveying the tech, culture, and audio landscapes. This is his fourth report. iPhones are popular in Tokyo, but there is a peculiar exception. Continue Reading
RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson reports from Tokyo, where he surveyed the tech, culture, and audio landscapes. This is his third illustrated report — including beer gardens, one-price menus, and their business implications. Continue Reading
RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson just returned from a trip to Tokyo, where he surveyed the tech, culture, and audio landscapes. This is his second illustrated report. Continue Reading
Over the past 14 years, RAIN has reported to you from around the world — including publishing a week’s worth of early RAIN issues from an Internet-enabled café in Copenhagen, reporting on a popular new trend among young people in Prague called “texting” (way back in 2002), and producing an early cellphone-only version of RAIN in Tokyo, and more.
Now, founding editor Kurt Hanson sends a bulletin and photos from Tokyo, where he is observing the tech and online music scenes. Continue Reading
One of the hottest trends in the transportation field nowadays is that of “car sharing,” a/k/a short-term, neighborhood-distributed car rentals, a la Zipcar. In this narrative, which is both hilarious and horrendous, founding editor Kurt Hanson describes the stunning failed experience of trying a newly-developed car-sharing service offered by legacy car-rental company Hertz. Spinning off a new business line separate from a firm’s core competency isn’t as easy as it might seem — and Kurt Hanson extends that point to the Internet radio industry. Continue Reading
In a move that’s been rumored for several weeks now, Google announced yesterday that they’re buying the personalizable multichannel webcaster Songza. The purchase seems like an odd one for Google, given its historical preference for algorithmically-created products. The problem, however, is that music is difficult to program on a purely algorithmic basis: An intense Seals & Crofts song, for example, may sound acoustically similar to a mellow Led Zeppelin song, but an experienced music programmer (i.e., a human being) would be able to discern that they’re culturally very dissimilar.
RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson explores why the Songza acquisition might be a smart investment for Google. Continue Reading
Founding Editor Kurt Hanson runs some original calculations on the recently-released Share of Ear survey from Edison Research.
“How big is radio in the U.S. today? Truthfully, we don’t really know!” Kurt identifies three key findings about radio share. Continue Reading
In the days of broadcast ownership caps, a radio broadcaster could own only seven AMs and seven FMs — across the entire U.S. It was an exciting and intense time to be in radio: If you could own only fourteen radio stations in the entire U.S., you cared very much about all fourteen of them.
Imagine if someone had offered you the opportunity to own a broadcast signal with complete national coverage! RAIN founding editor Kurt Hanson does imagine that, and contemplates looking at gift horses in the mouth. Continue Reading
When McDonald’s saw that there was a market for a high-end burrito chain, they didn’t try to extend the “McDonald’s” brand into that product category. Instead, the McDonald’s organization created (or acquired) a new brand name, Chipotle. Kurt Hanson compares that strategy to radio’s brand extension efforts in digital. Continue Reading