RadioTime and the First Free In-Car Web Radio

Earlier this month, RadioTime, a developer of technology for finding and listening to radio online, announced that the Mini cars by BMW will have an integrated RadioTime web service (via MINI Connected) that will allow drivers to tune to Internet radio via the car’s dashboard and steering wheel controls.

BMW will be the first car manufacturer in the world to offer this function in a regular production car.

“Sitting in a MINI networked through MINI Connected, the driver can tune to web radio stations airing anywhere in the world and regardless of his current location, depending on Internet connection and network coverage. The driver chooses his station the usual way through the car’s audio and infotainment system, making the controls convenient and safe while driving.”

“Drivers love radio because it’s free and requires no registration or setup, but accessing Internet radio used to require patching a smartphone into a car’s existing sound system, and fiddling with a smartphone’s controls,” said Bill Moore, CEO, RadioTime. “Now, instead of looking at your smartphone screen, you can use the dash display and MINI Joystick to tune to web radio. Radio has always been an integral part of our cars, and we’re opening up the world of music, news, talk, sports and entertainment that only web radio can offer.”

If you are a broadcaster, you can check to see if your radio station is included. Best of all, it’s free - no setup costs, restrictions, or subscription fees.

Radio 'Greener' in 2010 Thanks to Radio WorkFlow

Many radio organizations are committed to increasing productivity and doing away with the painful paper system has been a part of radio organizations for decades.

Radio WorkFlow’s software links your sales, creative, traffic and production departments with a paperless software system designed exclusively for the radio industry. It even gives radio stations the ability to remotely submit and update production orders and material instructions.

When computers were first introduced, a lot of companies began using less and less paper….while some companies were slow to adapt to changing times and continued to use the same amount of paper they had been using in the past.

Radio WorkFlow may take some time to catch on, but it is a beneficial software that carries paperless workflow from the ordering of the creative and the booking of the spot, right through to the creative writing, traffic, production and dubbing procedures…making it easier for station managers by automating many processes.

Radio WorkFlow’s biggest new feature is the inclusion of "Ad Bank" which acts like a commercial universe, where users can listen to and link ads to material instructions without the need to get up from their desk.

During the Winter Olympics, Virgin Radio Vancouver was also operating without paper and has committed to a "Greener" environment.

Premier Radio App for iPhone by Spark Radio

Spark Radio recently launched the only premier radio app for iPhone to feature graphics and social media tools while listening to music.

This new iPhone app allows listeners to enjoy more than 10,000 terrestrial and internet-only radio stations worldwide. Spark Radio projects that by April 2010 there will be more than 30,000 stations streaming.

Listeners can search for stations or programs by keyword, location, or station URL and can browse programming by genre or location. There is also a GPS component that allows listeners to find local stations in any city based on current GPS coordinates.

“We are excited to share the new Spark Radio listening experience with music lovers around the globe,” said Terry Anderson, President of Handcast Media Labs. “We have worked diligently to ensure Spark Radio provides the highest quality graphics, radio stations, social features and other functionality that users require in a mobile device today. In a world where media tastes are constantly changing, we are dedicated to offering the best entertainment options for everyone.”

Spark Radio is available for download from the iTunes App Store. To download the application, please visit: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spark-radio/id351471534?mt=8.

Streaming Radio Growth Charts

There are presently 69 million people listening to streaming radio in an average month. The following charts break down the listener by delivery method, format, location, and growth projections. One can easily see the tremendous growth in online listening reflected in every available metric.

Sources - Arbitron, Edison Media, Bridge Ratings

Another Reason to be Streaming Online: Squeezebox

Let’s look at some quick facts from Arbitron:

• The weekly online radio audience has again exploded in the last year, to about 42 million Americans aged 12+.
• One in five Americans aged 25- to 54-years-old listen to online radio on a weekly basis—an all-time high.

Since the growth of internet radio is huge, taking the step to stream online is a move you will not regret…

Here’s a cool new gadget that will allow you to listen to thousands of free internet radio stations, Pandora stations, and your personal music collection…all in one.

Squeezebox players connect to your home Wi-Fi network to bring the music in any part of your home, office, school, etc. Any station that has an online stream can be possibly heard on Squeezebox players.

There's been a lot of hand-held internet radio devices launched lately. Why? Because internet radio is continuing to expand, and listener numbers keep increasing!

SHOUTcast: You Don't Have to Lose Your Following

SHOUTcast is a very popular AOL-owned listening portal that has been around for over 12 years. It is free for anyone to publish to, and this week it is ranked 4,895 on Alexa.com, with over 6,000 sites linking in.

There are many Internet broadcasters that have built up a following in SHOUTcast and do not want to lose that; however, in many cases, they would like to use a branded player with streaming features.

A station can use custom branded players, and still publish to SHOUTcast and not lose their ranking and following.

It’s very simple to do; most playlist and internet broadcast software programs allow multi-casting (SAM, PlayList, Icecast, SimpleCast and others have similar easy-to-use interfaces and allow you to encode in simultaneous multiple bit-rates in multiple formats).

In this example using SAM, one stream is in WVA9 at 22kb/s publishing to one point, and the other stream is being encoded in MP3PRO at 24kb/s . . .both at the same time, and both pointing to separate publishing points.

SHOUTcast allows the ability to add text and link to a website or player right from the directory window as shown below. The customer can still benefit from traffic going to their website or using their branded player, and at the same time, their listeners can find them in the SHOUTcast directory.

When a listener clicks on the “TUNE IN!” button as shown below, they are prompted the first time to select either the SHOUTcast Mini-Player or to use their own default player that their desktop is set for.

Belkin TuneCast Auto LIVE

A neat, new tool for local station searching, Belkin’s TuneCast is a small iPhone interface that can:

• Quickly find the best FM station with the help of your iPhone GPS system and location-based user feedback. 
• ClearScan LIVE iPhone App conveniently recommends the best FM frequencies based on your GPS coordinates.
• Control your FM transmission easily from your iPhone screen. 

It uses an FM transmitter to translate the iPhone signal onto local radios. Used with the ClearScan LIVE iPhone App, you can find the best FM stations using your iPhone GPS system.

“Quickly find the best FM station with the help of your iPhone GPS system and location-based user feedback. ClearScan Live iPhone App conveniently recommends the best FM frequencies based on your GPS coordinates. Control your FM transmission easily from your iPhone screen.”

“Internet Radio Stations Are the New Wave"

Last week The New York Times posted an interesting news article, “Internet Radio Stations Are the New Wave,” about how internet radio stations are becoming more and more popular among listeners.

“Unlike standard broadcast radio, Internet radio stations can be heard virtually anywhere (copyright restrictions aside), as long as you have a device that can go on the Web; that can be a PC, a smartphone or a stand-alone receiver.

An Internet radio station may have started out life as a traditional local broadcast outlet, and then management decided that it would be great to let people hear it everywhere. Or an Internet radio station may be nothing more than one person in a basement uploading music or talk to the Web, hoping that someone out there will listen.

Literally thousands of genres of Internet radio exist, from oldies, classical and religious to ultraradical talk, from the right and left. The first trick is finding them, and the next is playing them. Fortunately, with a little information, both tasks are rather easy.”

Click here to read the entire article.

“miRoamer Platinum” Expected to Launch in Early 2010

The original miRoamer is an online portal where users can access the world's largest and most diverse selection of Internet radio content…all for free. miRoamer offers you the ability to wirelessly access all of the same Internet Radio content via portable hardware devices, cell phones, in your car, and wherever else the Internet eventually becomes available. Organize once, and listen from anywhere.

The improved miRoamer Platinum is expected to launch in early 2010. All stations are professionally arranged and fully-customizable, offering a tailored OEM and distributor solution with the upcoming launch of miRoamer Platinum.

"miRoamer Platinum will be the foundation of customized Internet digital media across all regions, cultures and genres of the world," said George Parthimos, Founder and CEO, Mi Media, and creator of the world's first portable Internet media player. "The basis of this acquisition underwrites the rapid evolvement of Internet media delivery and once again Mi Media Holdings is the first to find the pathway to connect the market to the most exciting technology changes of the next decade. We are now in an outstanding position to pursue merger and acquisition opportunities which align to our overall business model and add value to the miRoamer business. The Stripe acquisition furthers our push to become the global industry standard for Internet content management by enabling us to offer complete radio station customization through our end-to-end global Internet radio platform, miRoamer."

Future of Radio in 2010

Internet radio continues to attract more unique listeners.

In 2007, Bridge Ratings conducted a study on which primary daily “devices” were most commonly used: Terrestrial Radio, Internet Radio, HD Radio, Satellite Radio, Cell Phone, MP3 Player.

Comparing it to 2009, terrestrial radio dropped 9% while internet radio increased 6%.

More people are listening to radio via the internet than terrestrial. If you take a look at cell phone usage, you can see that cell phone usage increased 6% in 2 years. This increase in cell phone usage correlates with an increase in online radio streaming.

There are several free radio apps available for download to iPhones, Blackberries, and other smartphones. This allows for internet radio streaming via cell phones.