Have You Heard The News Today?

There’s a lot going on with streaming audio talk platforms that’s intriguing. I don’t mean podcasts, although there is certainly a growing demand and interest in that form of on-demand streaming talk programming.

Swell is a smartphone app that allows you to hear interesting content and like or dislike it, personalizing your content as you listen. It’s similar, but different from Stitcher, which gives you the opportunity to design your listening experience by selecting programs, but it doesn’t go beyond that to suggest more content based on your interactive likes and dislikes.  NPR’s mobile app offers a nice way to listen to their own programming, while Tunein gives you a chance to pick your programs and listen to them archived or live. swell

Meanwhile, Spoken Layer is a new startup that offers publishers the option of converting their articles to professionally read audio. Scalable narration and content distribution, as they describe it on their site. The platform enables publishers to turn any text into spoken audio in just minutes, enabling audio delivery of their content. In fact, while Spoken Layer does have partnerships already with several well-known publishers, including The Atlantic, National Journal, Engadget and TechCrunch, any journalist can use the platform to create an audio offering of their piece, or record it themselves.

spoken layerI like to listen to talk programming, particularly in the car, so I’m pleased to investigate options that help me get more of what I find interesting. Talk programming can be highly engaging and entertaining, making it a good format for advertisers. News/talk is a “lean forward” format – listeners are generally tuned in and listening actively, as opposed to music formats, which listeners listen to in the background. Years ago, I sold ads on a news/talk station in Hartford, and was often amazed at the response that an advertiser would get from a live read done by the morning drive personality.

Jason Calacanis, a very smart digital media entrepreneur, has just launched a new site called Inside, which offers readers a curated news feed that emphasizes excellent journalism on topics that the reader can choose. While it doesn’t offer an audio platform, it’s interesting to note that Calacanis is an investor in Swell also. Calacanis, whose career highlights include founding Weblogs, Inc., a network of professional blogs that included Engadget and Autoblog which he sold to AOL, will be the keynote speaker at RAIN Summit West on April 6th during NAB Show Week. He’ll deliver his annual State of Media speech there, and I expect it to be one of the most interesting speeches we’ve ever hosted at a RAIN Summit event.

The world of news/talk audio programming is changing, impacted by online offerings that enable a seemingly limitless listening experience. Choice is the name of the game, and consumers are in the drivers seat.

Jennifer Lane