Streaming Media - October 2008 - (Page 67)

to Last.fm when you get to your desk. Listener loyalty and localism are huge for terrestrial stations. “Since our morning show, Bob & Sheri, is syndicated nationwide and is very popular, we’ll get a lot of email from listeners if their local radio station drops the show,” says Mauney. “We always point them to our stream, and a large part of the audience on WLNK comes from all over the country due to the popularity of Bob & Sheri.” King can see this shift taking place from his clients’ analytics. “Most of our internet-only broadcasters have seen a decline since terrestrial radio has come back online in a big way,” he says. “Some of our internet-only broadcasters were having four, five, six, ten thousand simultaneous during the midday, and they’re down to, like, two or three thousand now because those people have literally gone back to terrestrial radio online instead.” Lewis concurs, but he warns that terrestrial stations need to remain relevant to listeners and their communities. “The terrestrial broadcasting industry is faced with an evolving environment where their listening audience is inevitably shifting to a digital medium,” he says. “If they are going to keep up, they need to build a more compelling story as to why their listeners need to remain loyal to local radio.” And localism is radio’s raison d’être, King believes. “Local personalities who know local places, talk about local things, with local weather and local sports, that part will continue to drive people to radio,” he says. “As long as local radio exists, I think it’s going to dominate that space because it is tied to geographic areas that you care about.” Ma echoes King’s sentiment, saying, “It gives people something to hold onto. Something that they grew up with or just feel really comfortable with,” which is why ex-pats, travelers, or college students often will listen to their hometown stations’ streams. One of Liquid Compass’ clients that is doing a great job of keeping ties with local listeners, Lewis points out, is Indie 103.1 out of Los Angeles (www.indie1031.com). “Their listeners are actually rewarded for their online listening through a new Indie Activist Club, which they launched earlier this summer,” he says. “Listeners can also send in music requests directly from their media player, which makes the listening experience all that more personal.” Indie 103.1 is über-accessible to boot, Lewis points out. “They are making themselves as accessible as they possibly can, offering listeners the ability to access their stream via Silverlight, Windows Media, and MP3,” he says. Where the Bands Are If you stream it, they will come. But will they stay? That depends on a couple of things: namely, kick-ass content and stream quality. “Listeners are now expecting an uninterrupted, CD-like quality and the ability to access it anywhere they want,” Lewis WWW.STREAMINGMEDIA.COM 67 http://www.Last.fm http://www.indie1031.com http://www.digital-rapids.com http://www.digital-rapids.com http://WWW.STREAMINGMEDIA.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Streaming Media - October 2008

Streaming Media - October 2008 Table of Contents Standard Time Technology and Business Trends by the Numbers Encoding for Screencams Meeting the Enterprise Video Distribution Challenge Pulling Back the Curtain on Level 3 The 2008 Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Award Winners The Ultimate Guide to Creating Online Video Content That Works, Part 1 Brave New Platforms Video From the Democratic National Convention—Both Official and Unofficial—Made Clear That It’s No Longer Politics as Usual Creative Suite Turns 4 The Future of Internet Radio Decoding the Truth About Hi-Def Video Production Educating the Next Generation of Online Media Makers ViewCast Niagara GoStream SURF The Past and Future of Online Video: I’m Not Dead Yet!

Streaming Media - October 2008

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