All forms of broadcast.
Music rights organization BMI has entered a partnership with iBiquity, the developer of HD Radio. The two parties will launch a new program called the HD Radio Artist Spotlight, which is intended to help promote new artists and support established ones on tour. The spotlight’s launch will focus on five of BMI’s country music acts. Continue Reading
Things are looking pretty good for Sirius XM following its second-quarter earnings call. The company said revenue increased 10 percent, surpassing $1 billion. Net income for the period was $120 million, and the 2 cents per share earnings met the estimates set by Thomson Reuters analysts. Continue Reading
Guest columnist James Cridland looks at NPR One, a new mobile app from National Public Radio. while U.K.-based Cridland admires the app’s features, he wishes for something similar from the BBC, which would inject local content for British users. Continue Reading
A small but revealing study by Coleman Insights illuminates how consumers think of radio, how they listen to music in different locations, and how the NextRadio mobile broadcast app could be more effectively marketed. The key takeaway is that radio is conceived as an in-car medium, but not a mobile one. Continue Reading
“Wireless carriers are dragging their feet and won’t activate the FM chips that are in every smartphone.” That’s the blunt message in a website campaign mounted by NPR, American Public Media (APM), Educational Media Foundation (EMF), the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), and, of course, NextRadio. The campaign hopes to stir activism. Continue Reading
On September 9, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, RAIN Summit Indy will spotlight and break out an emerging topic: how local radio stations can expand their businesses beyond the single revenue stream of ad sales, via marketing and providing digital services to local businesses.
RAIN spoke with Gordon Borrell about the opportunity for radio to develop this new, high-potential business line. Continue Reading
According to a Zipcar study released earlier this year, Millennials — that generational segment born after 1980 or so who are adults now — think that having a smartphone is a lot more important than having a car. Meanwhile, only 16% of persons over 35 would rather do without their phone than their car, and 40% of that age group put the car at the top of things they would not want to do without.
This wide discrepancy in the need to own a car has the auto industry back on its heels. It’s a sea change that has implications for all kinds of other business segments as well – including radio. Guest columnist Jennifer Lane proposes an opportunity for radio to engage with Millennials. Continue Reading
by James Cridland
James Cridland, U.K.-based radio futurologist, delivered an opening-day speech at Radio Days Johannesburg. He examined the threats radio faces in the digital era, including shifting demographics, reduced time spent, and competition in the car. He also notes radio’s built-in advantages, but ends with a warning against complacency. Continue Reading
Remember when Internet radio leader Pandora bought a radio station last June? The idea was to get more favorable music licensing terms, but the deal was blocked by ASCAP and remained unclosed pending FCC approval. Now, that small station in South Dakota is in the news again, as Pandora files a petition with the FCC to declare Pandora’s eligibility to acquire the terrestrial broadcaster. Broadcast law attorney David Oxenford, who is involved in the case, explains everything. Continue Reading
Inside Radio noted (paywall link here) that a group of Nebraska radio stations has donated $5,000 to the Red Cross for disaster relief after storms ripped through parts of the state. This sort of radio activism on behalf of local communities ties into traditional radio values of locality and community service. More particularly it resonates with recent arguments, in press releases and government hearings, against applying music-licensing performance royalties to broadcast radio. 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
One of the key differentiators of streaming music and online radio is relatively low “spot load” — the amount of commercial time in a hour — compared to broadcast radio. A terrestrial station in Seattle is creating broadcast buzz today with an announcement that it will dramatically reduce its commercial load, approaching the level of Internet radio. It’s called “The 2 Minute Promise.” Continue Reading