My Streaming Radio Declaration of Principles

Radioinsight’s Lance Venta is correct that Audacy’s decision to stream its stations on iHeart Radio brings with it an obligation to be fair in terms of station search not just to that group of stations but to all broadcasters. One stop shopping is the thing that has eluded streaming apps for a decade — however many TV platforms there might be, Xfinity allows me to search them all at once. But having more radio streams in a single platform is far from the final fix. 

In this year’s unveiling of Edison Research’s Infinite Dial, Radioland’s James Cridland characterized streaming radio as a product with a limited audience, as opposed to DSPs. The numbers don’t lie. And yet, radio is a product that controls a third of audio usage and still has undeniable reach. It is inherently mass-appeal, still. If streaming radio has indeed become something only for the most devoted, it is because we’ve allowed that to happen.

In July, I’m revisiting the things I believe about the state of radio. Last week, it was the state of the business overall. This week, some thoughts about streaming:

A reasonable listener experience is table stakes; after 25 years, we are still struggling with that. There is no hot app which has ever become so despite a significant level of klugey-ness. There is no other platform that any ROR readers engage with enthusiastically from which they would accept streaming radio’s frustrations, especially in terms of spotload and stopset substitution.

A reasonable spotload is the thing that makes any radio app a viable competitor, particularly if broadcasters are positioning themselves as an alternative to subscribing to SiriusXM or DSPs — “free” by itself, while clearly attractive, has not been enough. If we are in any way contemplating a future with a premium level, similar to Bauer Radio in the UK, only “commercial-free” will make that possible.

Curation is what’s missing. While better and fairer search is important, it is also an issue that radio apps are still mostly for people who already know what they want to listen to. When I discover a new station, it is often because I was curious about the one whose name I inadvertently mistyped. To get more usage, or replace a subscription, we are going to have to do a better job of organizing 100,000+ stations into something with the relative ease and elegance of the SiriusXM dial.

There should be one-stop shopping; there should not be only one app. Wanting to have all my favorite stations in one place doesn’t mean I only want one choice to stream radio. Ideally, iHeart, Audacy, TuneIn, Apple Music (often overlooked for its robust station choices), and others should all offer as many stations as possible, but offer differing POVs since not every potential radio user will be satisfied by any single one of them.

Rival apps don’t always have sufficiently differing POVs. Because the big guys are the big guys, even third-party apps tend to look like “me-too” versions of iHeart. The big broadcasters own a lot of great brands and a lot of the great brands. But there are a lot of great stations — including many of the unique offerings that have the potential to drive usage — that are outside their purview. It’s not just the placement of Alt rivals KROQ vs. KYSR Los Angeles that matters now, it’s turning a potential alt listener on to CFEX (X92.9) Calgary or BBC Radio 6Music.

As with radio in general, promoting on our own air is not enough. We have five years of device-promo saturation to prove it. Perhaps we need to start with former listeners or informing new ones that there’s a streaming music service that also features companionship, entertainment, and free money. We also need to consider the “trading for digital dimes” aspect of promoting to existing listeners if all it does is fragment their existing listening, silo them in a single station’s app, or provide a gateway to non-radio apps.

We also need to consider the monotony of those on-air messages. I’ve heard a lot of “download our app.” I’ve never heard anybody actually say, “If you listen to music on your phone now, we’re there too.” Perhaps we need to state the message more explicitly than “ … and take us anywhere” and more in terms that sound like recommendations from a friend.

Android Auto was game-changing for me, and not everybody is there. Audacy never made it to Android Auto before the iHeart deal, although its stations were available to me on TuneIn. Radiopup’s Townsquare stations still aren’t available unless I make the choice to switch back to Apple Car Play, and at this moment, Android Auto is free to me, while other data usage in the car is not.

The silver bullet for radio streaming may be something we’re not considering or offering. One path to a rebound in radio listening is by being found in a new location, particularly by finding real estate on a hot new app that is not necessarily a radio aggregator. The chances of being welcome on that app are much greater if we are the ones developing it.

After many years of stasis, there are some good things happening for streaming. I was encouraged by iHeart’s addition of push-buttons to its app, bringing some of the simplicity of the (old) dashboard that radio needs. I’m also happy to have the Radioplayer International app made available in America. But as long as radio-app awareness far outstrips usage, the job isn’t done.

We need cooperation, not just compliance. I’m glad that Audacy is available on iHeart Radio and that iHeart stations returned a while ago to Tune-In. Whether that’s “giving up” or “getting together” depends on what broadcasters decide to do with it. One of the best things that could happen from having most of the dial available in one place again is to promote the benefits of radio as a whole. Another would be a greater spirit of industry cooperation that transcends this one area.