Archive for September 30, 2009
Tools Stations Can Use to Engage Listeners Online
At RAIN Summit East in Philadelphia this week I got an overview of two nice applications that broadcasters can use to make their streaming offerings more creative and engaging.
Jelli is both an Internet radio station and a tool that broadcasters can use to create their own unique programming. It works like this: listeners can go on the site and choose the songs or artists they want to hear. The playlist is controlled by these requests. The fun starts when lots of people want to hear the same songs, which drives the song up the playlist and puts it on the air faster, or when listeners don’t want to hear a song, which does the opposite. If enough people don’t like a song that is playing, they can actually blow it up mid song, complete with sound effects. The program uses crowd sourcing technology to track listener influence. CBSRadio is using it in San Francisco, airing a three hour Jelli show on Sunday nights on … The guy who presented said it’s available on an exclusive by market basis.
Listener Driven Radio is another application that stations can plug in to get their listeners more involved in the station. It features tools that enable listeners to select songs, deselect songs and generally influence what gets played on the station. Using similar technology, it ties in directly to a radio station’s automation system, feeding real-time commands into the automation system based on the latest crowd-input. Listeners can interact via a website or mobile platform.
Both of these platforms are great ways for stations to engage with listeners and make their products more interactive and relevant.
