On Monday Apple announced its much anticipated music service, called, appropriately enough, Apple Music. It essentially integrates Beats Music, which the company acquired last year, more closely with iTunes and iTunes Radio, and adds more celebrity-curated stations and playlists. Apple Music doesn’t become available until June 30, so nobody has taken it for a spin […]
As I promised in my last post about [soon to be] fully Pandora owned radio station KXMZ-FM in Rapid City, South Dakota, I’d try to get more details from KXMZ deejay Mike Swafford about how “Hits 102.7” is working with the streaming service to connect with the Rapid City audience. On Friday, Swafford sent me a summary […]
In depth: How Pandora helps its South Dakota radio station build local audience As we reported some weeks ago, the Federal Communications Commission recently cleared a crucial barrier to Pandora purchasing KXMZ-FM in Rapid City, South Dakota (“Hits 102.7”). KXMZ is a “contemporary hits” station (Adele, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, etc). The Commission waived its […]
A reporter emailed me the other day and asked me for a comment on Spotify’s announcement that it is going to add podcasts to its lineup of audio offerings. What does this mean, she queried? What is the significance? Suddenly I began to wonder whether anyone will want to listen to podcasts on Spotify. So […]
I have a soft spot in my heart for Art Bell. As a former overnight DJ and grad student who kept relatively nocturnal hours for a good portion of the 90s, I admired Bell’s unique ability to engage guests and callers in topics that ranged from scientifically plausible (the theory that there have been multiple […]
There is already a pile of lawsuits challenging the FCC’s Open Internet Order waiting for attention from appeals courts. On Wednesday all of the major telecom and cable industry groups made a volley to jumpstart this process. The U.S. Telecom Association, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the CTIA, AT&T, the American Cable Association, CenturyLink […]
I received some constructive feedback on my post arguing that internet radio should retire MP3 streaming. Twitter user Mark Mollineaux pointed out that browser-compatibility is a consideration: @RadioSurvivor MP3 has by far the best cross-browser compatibility. I'd prefer an open standard like ogg, but many browser's won't play it– — Mark Mollineaux (@bufordsharkley) May 11, […]
I have been listening to computer-based digital music for nearly two decades now. This includes streaming internet radio as well as music files like MP3s. It’s amazing to recall my first efforts to play then-new MP2 and MP3 format files I downloaded, very slowly, over my 56kbps dial-up connection, around 1996 or ’97. In fact, […]
At the top of this week’s digital radio news is an analog broadcast station. In a deal that took nearly two years to complete, on Monday the FCC removed the first barrier to Pandora buying Rapid City, SD FM station, KXMZ. The Commission granted a waiver of foreign ownership rules which otherwise prohibit a company […]
I spend a lot of time rummaging around SoundCloud. Some of this energy goes into following the service’s engagingly sporadic use by community radio stations. WFMU in New Jersey, for example, has a SoundCloud page titled WFMU Marathon. “Share an MP3 only (for size & compatibility) telling us what you love about WFMU,” the account requests. […]
