One of the highlights of the recent Radiodays Europe conference in Amsterdam, attended by more than 1,500 public and private broadcasters from across much of Europe (see Part 1 of my report here) was an update on Norway’s current year-long, region-by-region shutdown of the FM band, designed to move listeners to DAB+ channels. RAIN News Publisher Kurt Hanson’s “Part 2” from the conference. Continue Reading
Kurt Hanson, RAIN Founder and CEO of AccuRadio, attended Radiodays Europe (RDE) this week in Amsterdam for RAIN, part of the media partnership between RAIN and RDE. This is Part 1 of his on-the-ground report. Continue Reading
At RAIN Summit West, April 17 in Las Vegas, RAIN founder Kurt Hanson delivered his annual State of the Industry address. As usual, 1960s-era Star Trek images tested the Trekker credentials of the audience. He also brought an Amazon Echo to the stage, making it (her?) a co-presenter. Continue Reading
AccuRadio has announced a new channel launched in honor of First Contact Day. Wait — you don’t know what First Contact Day is? Read on. Continue Reading
Internet radio’s landscape looks much different today than it did a week ago, due to numerous webcasters pulling the plug rather than paying the high rates of the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) recent decision for 2016-20 royalties for sound recordings. Kurt Hanson surveys the damage. Continue Reading
While Pandora, iHeartMedia, and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) are content with new CRB rates, the royalty ruling puts smaller streamers on shaky ground, we’ve heard from several sources. Click for comments by Rusty Hodge, Kurt Hanson, Brian McAndrews, and David Porter. Continue Reading
Online radio listening platform AccuRadio has crossed the line to profitability, a business journey sought by many music services and achieved by few. The company, founded by Kurt Hanson in 2000, was profiled in Crain’s Chicago Business. Continue Reading
by Kurt Hanson
Do high data costs inhibit listening to streaming audio through mobile devices? Kurt Hanson notes new plan prices from T-Mobile and does some math. The outcome? Mobile bandwidth is trending cheap. Continue Reading
With no fanfare or PR announcement behind it, leading online radio service Pandora has launched a major TV spot schedule in the past week or so. Click through to watch the ad. Kurt Hanson analyzes the tone and positioning of the campaign. Continue Reading
Morning drive team “Jeff & Jer” are departing the San Diego airwaves. Whatever the reason, says Kurt Hanson, stations should try hard to retain personality talent — a key strength of radio in its competition with satellite and Internet radio. Continue Reading
Stephen Colbert debuted as the new host of “The Late Show” on CBS last night. One of the highlights was seeing the return of live-copy testimonial advertising from the show’s host. It was hilarious, and effective. Kurt Hanson connects the creative tactic to podcasting and music streaming. Continue Reading
The Voltair controversy is a many-sided issue. When Randy Kabrich posted a piece of research that examined whether the audio processing technology increases ratings in Nielsen PPM markets, as Voltair claims to, Kurt Hanson was impressed — but suggests a different conclusion. Continue Reading