ESPN Audio has started a new section called ESPN Perspectives, leveraging the growing podcast category while extending its iconic sports brand with longer-form focus on in-depth audio journalism. The new line of shows launches on the one-year anniversary of the Boston marathon terrorist attack. Continue Reading
The 2014 edition of Jacobs Media’s annual techsurvey10 is out (slides here), revealing sharp increases in digital devices, social platforms, and mediums among core radio listeners. Use of digital services and devices grew across the board from the previous year. Interesting results specific to Pandora. Continue Reading
Last week at RAIN Summit West, the lens focused on podcasting for a panel called “The Podcast Phenomenon: Capturing Listeners with Compelling Content.” Click through for full audio. The discussion ranged from creative excellence to the challenges of audience measurement. Continue Reading
Bryan Moffett is VP, Digital Strategy & Sponsorship Operations at National Public Media (NPM). We spoke with him in a pre-RAIN Summit phone conversation about NPR’s approach to its audiences via archived content, and the potential of its recently-announced launch partnership with XAPPmedia for voice-activated mobile ads. Continue Reading
Stitcher updated its iPhone app, and is promoting the main added feature: a new Front Page that furnishes a personalized feed, or playlist, of the user’s favorite stations. The new iPhone Front Page is designed to get the user listening to preferred shows faster. Continue Reading
RAIN Summit West, now in its 13th year with a full-day agenda of panels and presentations, will include a focust on the varied and dynamic field of podcasting. Podcasting is a key topic in online audio. Along with heightened interest in podcasting come new definitions of what a podcast is, and the potential of its marketplace. Continue Reading
iTunes Radio took its first step away from music today, by adding a customized NPR news station to its presets. Not a specific local station, the new offering is simply called “NPR,” and contains no discrete tracks, voting up/down, or other interactive features that exist with songs. Continue Reading
This guest column is from Anthony Gherghetta, Creative Director at The App Studio in Melbourne, Australia. “Broadcast radio is at a pivot point where it needs to slightly change direction or risk being left behind. In two or three years the ship will have sailed. Revolutions need revolutionaries and radio needs them now.” Continue Reading
Founded in September, 2008, Mixcloud (“Making Radio Better”) is a music-sharing service that solicits user-DJ uploads and pays the royalties to rights-holders to keep it legal. More than a podcast platform, listening in Mixcloud is rewarding and satisfying. The company hopes to differentiate from SoundCloud and on-demand services. Continue Reading
Spotify announced a new programming tactic it calls a “radio show,” starring singer/songwriter Billy Bragg. A monthly production, the first episode will appear tomorrow, February 11. The program’s hook is a “talking playlist.” Continue Reading
In a collaborative open letter, Paul Haaga (acting President and CEO of NPR) and Jon McTaggart (CEO of American Public Media Group) call for all smartphones to contain activated FM chips, citing radio’s role in emergencies. We agree with the emergency angle, but also regard FM as a desirable mobile feature in all respects. Continue Reading
As hordes of Americans spend their Sunday evenings with Downton Abbey and Sherlock, it’s worth noting that the Senate’s new spending budget, passed last week, includes continued funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). That money goes to public radio and TV. Continue Reading