Does it feel to anyone else that other companies besides Clear Channel are being shortchanged by having their stations on iHeart Radio? I think Cumulus would be the getting the worst of this since they demand exclusivity to iHeart Radio, but it seems like every station has this problem to some extent. What I've noticed is that the app will display song and artist data, website content, and whatever else for CC stations, but all you have is basic functionality for Cumulus stations or stations not owned by CC. What does everyone feel about this?
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iHeart Radio, does it feel like others are getting shortchanged?
- Thread starter bobdavcav
- Start date
If meta data is not being passed to iHeart this would be more on Cumulus not Clear Channel.. I am guessing Cumulus has not wrote (or purchased) software to get the meta data from their systems to iHeart's API.
I just pulled up EMF's "Air1" in iHeart app on my iPhone and it's displaying artist - title data / album art.
If that's the case, then why is iHeart using a special API for their data, not the standard one? I know Cumulus streams have data in them, they always have. It displays on websites and the official Cumulus streams. Greater Media and Cox are on both iHeart and TuneIn, with TuneIn displaying data just fine.
I've been noticing that IHeart is promoting non-CC stations pretty heavily on their app (i.e. WLS-FM is the top station under Oldies). And it seems as if the non-com stations listed on IHeart are also listed on TuneIn.
As for the artist info data, I would imagine that is on the station owner's end (always thought it weird that The Independent doesn't list artist and title names).
As for the artist info data, I would imagine that is on the station owner's end (always thought it weird that The Independent doesn't list artist and title names).
I think it has to do with which station, regardless of owner, gets the most listeners. I haven't been able to check this out lately, but one thing that used to annoy me about the iHeart Radio website when it first launched was the "You may also like" feature. The scan feature in the app still sort of annoys me for the same reason. It seems to be driving people to the most popular stations, rather than the stations that actually sound similar to the one you're listening to. As for data, why is iHeart requiring something special? Greater Media's stations are listed on TuneIn with full data. That data doesn't show up on iHeart.
There must have been some changes on their website player because all of the Clear Channel stations (including the Premiums) have choppy audio if played on Google Chrome. The Cumulus stations and all of the others sound fine. They do show the data but the links to artist, song, etc are not enabled; only for Clear Channel
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iheart
No non-CC station should be on iHeart - They are only inviting CC to promote to their listeners and move them to a CC station. Go into a non CC station on iHeart and look at the suggested similar stations - All iHeart owned.
No non-CC station should be on iHeart - They are only inviting CC to promote to their listeners and move them to a CC station. Go into a non CC station on iHeart and look at the suggested similar stations - All iHeart owned.
Not only that, but they seem to drive everyone to the big markets with no regard to how similar they actually sound. For example, WWHT will probably redirect to KIIS, KYLD, WHYI, then possibly KUBE when KKRZ sounds pretty similar to WWHT.
Why do stations go with iHeartRadio and TuneIn and ditch their streams that can be picked up in iTunes? As a listener, that's an inconvenience.
I'm not sure what the criteria they use to list stations in iTunes is, but they sure don't seem to have as many stations as either of the mobile platforms. If a station is using Stream the World, their stream is very easy to find. I'm not sure why other providers aren't so universal.
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They have also ditched the streams of the Qantum stations they just acquired now. Cape Cod, The Pee Dee and The Grand Strand, Auburn, and Brunswick areas haven't been in iHeartRadio apart from that news station in Cape Cod. And yes, they have updated sites for Pee Dee and Auburn areas. They haven't done it to Brunswick, GA, Cape Cod, MA, and the Grand Strand.
The iTunes stream are MP3 streams. The iHeartRadio and Tune-In players use a different type of stream that is incompatible with iTunes, plus the stations have discontinued their iTunes streams.
CC has strict meta data guidelines for streams to work properly in the iHeart app.
I know because I setup K-LOVE and Air1.
CC is in the process of switching all of their stations from Icecast to HLS delivery. This could be to blame for the change in quality you've experienced.
Above all, participating stations for iHeartMedia contests & other promotions Like their awards shows) is limited to iHeartMedia O&O's. When was the last time you heard a contest on WLS-FM or 94.9 KCMO (Both Cumulus stations) where the Grand Prize was for tickets to the iHeartRadio Music Awards ??
Cheers & 73
Cheers & 73
I'm not sure that's a big deal at least to me. I don't mind iHeart Radio stations giving away trips to their own events, but the minute they start forcing me as and operator to be giving away trips to their events on my stations not run by them is the minute I'm pulling my streams from their platform.
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