RAIN News founding editor Kurt Hanson today received the inaugural “Radio’s Most Innovative” award from Jacobs Media, which plans to celebrate many honorees on a series of “Innovation Fridays.”
“Our first choice was a no-brainer,” said Fred Jacobs in introducing the awards program. “Kurt Hanson is synonymous with innovation in our industry.”
The award bestowal features an interview with Kurt, including his highly researched analysis and asssessment of different pizza types. [READ]
Kurt Hanson founded the Radio and Internet Newsletter (RAIN) in 1999, as a daily bulletin covering the then-new (and still emergent field today) of Internet radio. His innovations during that industry gestation period were not limited to observational writing. Kurt also founded AccuRadio, a pioneering online radio service that today serves about a million active monthly users with over 900 human-programmed music and comedy channels.
Beyond these accomplishments, Kurt Hanson is regarded as a preeminent expert in audio ratings measurement; earlier in his radio career he founded and operated Strategic Media Research, whose AccuRatings product competed with Arbitron.
Kurt co-founded the RAIN Summits series of industry conferences, with Jennifer Lane, currently CEO of RAIN Enterprises. Kurt highlights each Summit with a “State of the Industry” keynote address. (RAIN Summit Indy is September 9.)