Tuesday’s launch of Apple’s Beats 1 has been dissected by virtually everyone in or around radio or technology around the world in the past 48 hours and that may have been its greatest gift to radio.

When was the last time a radio station launch was such a big story? Launches in one local market never get this much attention. They made radio cool. It will subside over the coming days, but in the current news cycle a radio station is getting attention for what it is (or isn’t) doing. And that helps all of radio, if they’re willing to capitalize on it.

Now’s the time to get the word out of what content your station features. Highlight your hosts and specialty shows. If Apple can make their station be so important for everyone to critique it, then why can’t every local radio station? Ride their wave of publicity. Show why your station deserves the attention being given to Beats 1.

Other Beats 1 Thoughts

The target audience of the station might be too niched. There were technical issues. People weren’t expecting shows to be repeated so those in other time zones around the world could hear them. But those issues could be fixed. What doesn’t need to be fixed is that the station has something that has been missing since Howard Stern’s heyday. A feeling that anything can happen at any time and you don’t know what you’ll hear next. Grantland agrees in their review.

Can the Beats 1 style be duplicated by others? iHeartRadio has the on-air talent and celebrity star-power to potentially launch a global CHR. Could Cumulus’ Nash do the same for Country?

Links From Others

Media.info’s James Cridland was not that impressed. However many of the gripes he and others have made are based on having to upgrade their device’s software before being able to access the stream. Being based in Britain, the Beats 1 format is more common there as it is based on BBC Radio 1.

Dash Radio Founder/CEO DJ Skee tells VentureBeat.com that Beats 1 helps continue radio’s move to digital and bringing more risk taking and diversity to the content.