Pandora has hired a new head of country programming. Jennifer Danielson joins Pandora after almost 10 years with CMT, where she was most recently the director of music strategy. She will oversee programming for country music, which Pandora says draws more than 30 million unique listeners to the service every month. Continue Reading
Laura Walker is stepping down from her post as the president and CEO of New York Public Radio. Her departure marks the end of 23 years at the helm of the public radio operation. Walker guided New York Public Radio from its roots as a city-owned station to an independent nonprofit composed of eight radio stations and many other media properties. Continue Reading
Podtrac has published its ranker of the top podcasts for November 2018, which includes the company’s recently adopted verification labels. Fourteen of the top twenty shows of November are taking advantage of Podtrac’s verified platform. Continue Reading
Cadence13 has partnered with television channel TNT to produce a companion podcast for one of its upcoming programs. Root of Evil is an eight-part podcast about the Hodel family and their connection to the Black Dahlia murder. Yvette Gentile and Rasha Pecoraro, the daughters of Fauna Hodel, host the podcast. Continue Reading
Amplifi Media CEO Steve Goldstein gives some attention and respect to time-shifted audio. He argues that the broader industry should do the same; here’s why. Continue Reading
Tidal introduced a new personalized playlist to its feature set. The streaming service’s My Mix blends algorithm-generated recommendations with insights from its human-curated playlists to create listening recommendations based on an individual’s tastes. Continue Reading
Apple paid up a chunk of change and fended off a challenge in European courts in order to acquire Shazam. Now that the audio-identification app is officially under Apple’s umbrella, the first changes are happening under the new leadership. Continue Reading
Blubrry announced that it is the first podcast-hosting service provider to receive certification of its podcast statistics by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab. National Public Radio is the other podcasting outfit to receive certification under the IAB guidelines. Continue Reading
Amazon has shared some year-end milestones for the Alexa skills behind its smart speakers. The company said that there are now more than 70,000 Alexa skills worldwide, growing from the 50,000 announced in September 2018. Amazon also shared a list of what it dubbed the top 25 Alexa skills of 2018. Continue Reading
Commercial Radio Australia and GfK have released their Share of Audio 2018 report, covering insights into different types of audio consumption. The report shares data from audio diaries of Australian listeners, with statistics for radio, podcasts, and streaming audio. The streaming figures include the free and paid tiers for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, and more. Continue Reading
Vick Bain is departing her position as the CEO of The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, also known as BASCA. Bain steps down after 13 years with the industry group. Continue Reading
James Cridland’s Future of Radio is a column by the Australia-based radio futurologist. THIS WEEK: James contributes some predictions about radio in 2019. Also he has the story of Vista Radio’s charity drive in Canada along with other items from the radio/audio industry. Continue Reading