Streaming Media - October 2008 - (Page 68)

says. “By offering high-bitrate streams in multiple formats, stations can ensure that they are highly accessible.” Mauney believes that “the most important thing is to make the sound good.” Historically, simulcasters have struggled with cluttery stop sets and clunky transitions. Because they aren’t allowed to use the same commercials they use on-air, stations pad the breaks with fill songs, morning show promos, and PSAs. But these days it’s vital to opt for filling those stop sets with quality ad inventory instead. “We work hard to make sure it’s clean and that we don’t play station promos or PSAs over and over during the on-air commercial breaks,” Mauney says. Helping their clients adapt are Liquid Compass’ TrafficMyAds tool, which handles in-stream ad inventory, and Abacast’s Ad Injection 2.0 tool, which permits the webcast of easily switchable streams from over-the-air content to online-only content “in a heartbeat,” according to King. These tools have helped stations such as Abacast client KPLU “maintain a strong, solid infrastructure for our streams so we don’t have down times,” says Craig Coovert, KPLU’s web director. Not only does KPLU simulcast its on-air programming, the station also streams a totally automated 24-hour jazz program called jazz24. In a testament to the importance of innovative programming, jazz24 was named the No. 1 jazz web stream worldwide last fall by Webcast Metrics. Kennedy agrees that jazz24 is an example of damn good content. “Reminiscent of the Clinton presidential campaign, we have a saying around here: ‘It’s the playlist, stupid,’” he says. “That’s really what people experience, and the degree to which those playlists meet the tastes of listeners is enormously important. I think the great thing about broadband connectivity is that it enables a provider to meet the full range of tastes that characterize this great and vast country, which listens to everything from obscure traditional jazz to 16th century Renaissance motets to Christian hip-hop to heavy metal.” “Certainly anyone who understands how people listen to radio understands how important mobility is,” Kennedy says, pointing to stats that say roughly 80% of all listening takes place away from the laptop or desktop. “People aren’t going to change their basic habits about where they listen to radio, and so, obviously, getting internet radio into the car, into the living room, into the kitchen, into a form that can be experienced when walking, jogging, commuting, etc., is absolutely crucial. It’s the difference between being able to address 10 to 20% of the market to being able to address 100% of the market.” Ward couldn’t agree more. “Our recent developments have, for the most part, had one goal in mind, which is to bring the Last.fm experience to you wherever you are, not just on the computer,” he says. “Our iPhone app and the Logitech integration are just the start, and they’ve proven hugely successful. Eventually, we want you to be able to access all the music in the world at the click of a button, whether you’re at home, on the move, driving your car, everywhere.” “I see that within the next two to five years,” says Lewis. To that end, even over-the-air simulcasters are already thinking about mobile. “We’re currently testing iPhone streams, available at wbt.com/iphone and 1079thelink.com/iphone, and hope to offer streaming to other phones in the near future,” Mauney says. “We’re just getting started, so it’s too early to tell the effect on listenership, but I believe this is going to be huge in the future.” the future of internet radio Further on Up the Road First comes web, then comes mobile, then comes … what? Since the early 1900s, radio has come a long way. Streaming is clearly the next era in radio’s evolution, but it won’t be the last, nor should it be. To borrow a phrase from the ’90s pop song “Satellite” by the Dave Matthews Band, “Everything good needs replacing.” For terrestrial and satellite radio, the question of transitioning to digitalonly is, “How soon?” Today, nearly 1,750 out of roughly 13,000 over-the-air stations broadcast digitally in the U.S. Analysts have speculated that the last terrestrial radio transmitter will be turned off by 2020 at the latest in the U.S. and by 2015 in the U.K. Kennedy gives satellite delivery about the same amount of time. “I think, going forward, five or ten years out, I don’t know anyone who thinks that kind of satellite delivery really makes a lot of sense,” he says. “I mean, putting satellites in the sky to deliver radio in a world in which there’s ubiquitous broadband conductivity really doesn’t make sense.” Stoddard agrees, saying, “I think you’ll see them just using their brand and moving into the internet radio space like they already have done. They might have to change their motto a little bit and have some sort of a blended subscription advertising model.” All in all, the players are pretty sanguine about the future of radio streamed over the internet. Kennedy acknowledges the myriad listening tastes and habits of radio listeners, and he believes that digital delivery won’t cause these to go away. Livin’ in the Future While education, promotion, and programming are all vital to internet radio’s survival, there is one last driver that has proven especially important for pure plays, perhaps because of their already stream-savvy audience. If the battleground for radio is the internet, the next frontier is the mobile space (read: how easily internet radio stations can be accessed from geek-friendly devices such as the iPhone). Before the Pandora iPhone application stole headlines on July 11, Kennedy said that “Pandora has spread overwhelmingly because of just one thing: Pandora listeners telling other people. That has fueled all of our growth, which has now taken us to over 14 million registered users.” But they’ve had to do some recalculating since then. For the first few days after the application’s launch, it was reported that Pandora got a new iPhone listener every 2 seconds. Mobile music apps are indeed among the fastest growing mobile services, and companies should rush to satisfy listener hunger, Kennedy says. 68 STREAMING MEDIA October/November 2008 http://www.Last.fm http://www.wbt.com/iphone http://www.1079thelink.com/iphone

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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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