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TuneIn Tune Out For Entercom: Radio.com Gets Exclusive

TheBigA said:
Funny...Tom Taylor is quoting this post in his newsletter, and wondering if perhaps Cumulus is "warming up to TuneIn?"
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I noticed that, too. I also noticed, at some point this afternoon, my local Cumulus stations disappeared from the local listings on the website, though I could still find them, including updated logos, with a search. Guessing someone at Cumulus or TuneIn also read Tom's newsletter. This evening, I was listening to a station I don’t normally listen to via TuneIn, and a Cumulus station showed up in my similar stations list complete with artist and song display. I clicked it, and it worked perfectly on my iPhone. Obviously, I'm not enough in the know to be able to tell you if that was a fluke or a precursor of things to come. It seems odd to me that Cumulus logos on iHeart haven’t been updated in months while TuneIn shows recent changes (search WLS and look at 94.7's logo). I suppose stranger things have happened, but I can’t imagine TuneIn adding Cumulus logos without getting them from the company. Why update logos for stations you're not allowed to carry when you have partners already needing your help? Maybe there’s another logical explanation, but I don’t have it.

No actual interviews with anyone at Cumulus to substantiate it, other than to say they're still streaming on iHeart.
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I've poked a few of my friends at Cumulus, and they’re not saying much. The most common response has been that they don’t know. Another one said he believed the deal with iHeart was up for renewal in the next month but didn’t know anything else. I tend to think they’re being sincere. During my brief time at Cumulus, streaming was a local option. I seem to remember it was taken up to the corporate level more than 10 years ago. Switching partner apps should be easy if that’s still the case and what it’s intending to do. It wouldn’t need to give the local stations any notice.
 
Kent said:
I've poked a few of my friends at Cumulus, and they’re not saying much. The most common response has been that they don’t know.
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The one thing that would surprise me would be if they started their own platform to compete against iHeart and Entercom.
 
I'd be surprised by that, too. We know what happened the last time Cumulus tried to start its own platform! Plus, Cumulus would probably have to bulk up it’s IT staff to pull that off.
 
boombox4 said:
Point taken. But not everyone wants to load up a device with stuff that they don't use.
Then again, you may be right. With new phones, maybe people don't care.
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I'll be the first to tell you I hate, and I mean HATE, single station apps. Most don’t provide anything but a tuner for each station, and they clutter my devices too much. Plus, I listen to streaming a lot at work, and I get a much better experience with iHeart and TuneIn. If I use those apps in the car, the last station I listen to shows up on the home screens when I navigate to their websites. The continuity is nice, and I get similar results when I get into the car.

I've been told about 80% of smartphone listening occurs via single station apps, but I suspect most people don’t have as fickle of a music taste as I do. They probably want to listen to their favorite station or two favorite stations while working out or going for a run and don’t care much beyond that.
 
Agree with Kent on Single Station Apps. I can see the value for a truly independent station IF, and only if, they are going to leverage it to offer exclusives, promotion add ons and other value added content for listeners who download it. Such features justify the space and performance the app consumes. Most likely small and mid market stations, WCSM in St. Mary's, OH being an example, would be good candidates for a single station or small cluster app. Otherwise, being part of a platform is the way to go.
 
I'm betting that although "radio.com" is now just an app for Entercom stations (as Kent said, "single station apps,") I'm sure they have bigger plans. I'm thinking iHeart's app when it was in its early stages. All the Entercom stations (at least in my market) are now identifying as "a radio dot com station" in their legal IDs -- just like iHeart, too
 
Before Entercom removed their stations from TUNE-IN these are the stations I listened to on the app sorted by owner.

Entercom

Hot 93.7 - Hip-Hop (Local)
104.3 Jams - Classic Hip-hop (Chicago)

Full Power Radio
Kool 96.1/990 - Oldies (Local)
Bomba-FM Spanish CHR (Local)

Gois Media
La Mega 101.7 (910) - Spanish CHR (Local)

Costa Eagle Media
Big 105.3 (1570) - Oldies (Boston)

You may ask why I listen to local stations on Tune-In. The only radio I have is my Walkman and it eats batteries. I can listen on my phone while it's charging. (My Mom has her own radio in the kitchen).

The iHeart Apps is built into the Smart TV my Mom has, but it does't have a head phone jack. I only listen to one iHeart owned station and that's Real 106.1 the classic hip-hop station out of Philly and truthfully Entercom's 104.3 Jams is a better Classic Hip-Hop station than Real 106.1 because Real from time to time will play a current song.

TownSquare is another one that makes you download a station's app. KICKS 105.5 out of Danbury is a better Country station than our local iHeart owned Country 92.5, but I'm not going to download a one station app.
 
You could get a Wireless set of TV ears that can connect via Bluetooth at Harbor Freight cheap. Similarly, you should be able to find a reasonably priced clock radio at CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreens.
 
Kent said:
I'll be the first to tell you I hate, and I mean HATE, single station apps. Most don’t provide anything but a tuner for each station, and they clutter my devices too much. Plus, I listen to streaming a lot at work, and I get a much better experience with iHeart and TuneIn. If I use those apps in the car, the last station I listen to shows up on the home screens when I navigate to their websites. The continuity is nice, and I get similar results when I get into the car.

I've been told about 80% of smartphone listening occurs via single station apps, but I suspect most people don’t have as fickle of a music taste as I do. They probably want to listen to their favorite station or two favorite stations while working out or going for a run and don’t care much beyond that.
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I can see where single station apps work for the station: extra advertising revenue.

Never underestimate the ability of businesses to try to maximize every bit of internet time spent by the listener.
 
Wimmmex said:
Memory has gotten cheaper and cheaper over the last 20 years. Pretty soon you'll have unlimited memory...so it won't matter...but you can still make some kind of statement if you want. Your access to stations, (even those you use "now and then") will not be limited to memory.
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I've given your answer some thought, and although you have a point, there is no such thing as 'unlimited memory'. As you may have also done, I've worked with computers since the 8088's and C-64s back in the late 1980's, both at work and at home as a writer, and there has never been such a thing as 'unlimited memory' in a computer device.

People, software developers, and websites all find a way to fill it to the maximum, whether with advertisements, bloatware, or other unnecessary (and necessary) operations to keep the device running well. As more and more people use smartphones for everything, including word processing; all forms of visual and audio entertainment; and various business uses -- including business uses for which smartphones are not used now -- the need for more and more memory will only expand. As it has since the PC was introduced in 1977 or whenever that was.

Users always have to make choices concerning the types of apps they use, and how they are using their storage on their devices. Eventually, it fills up. No matter how much there is. Although IHeart and Radio.com are presently just radio delivery platforms, as the industry progresses I can see where they may expand to other uses for their platforms as well. Sony used to just make radios. Now they are a movie company.
 
Wimmmex said:
You must know it's a figure of speech. Unlimited, meaning more that you could ever need.
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Sure it's a figure of speech, but even with IPhones people run out of memory today. A Google search on IPhone memory reveals that even with it's present version of "unlimited memory" there are limits to how much they can load onto their phone. They don't have 'more than they could ever need' right now, and I doubt that will change in the future. As I mentioned before, it really hasn't changed since the 80's.

We'll just have to agree to disagree here. Have a great day.
 
Well, you heard it here first! ;-)

Of course, as I said before, I can’t claim any special knowledge. I just happened upon my local Cumulus stations showing up in my local listings on TuneIn. That certainly wasn’t the first time a streaming partner inadvertently gave away a big change.

What will be curious now is what happens with the relationship with iHeart. Given that the last Cumulus updates occurred months ago, I'm guessing Cumulus will be leaving iHeart in the next few weeks. Stranger things, though, have definitely happened. That radio operators always talk to each other has never been a secret.
 
Kent said:
What will be curious now is what happens with the relationship with iHeart.
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I imagine it's status quo. If there was something costly or unfair in the deal, they could have canceled it during the bankruptcy. But since it wasn't canceled then, I imagine it will continue. Unless they have their own platform, it benefits them to be on as many platforms as they can. And it looks as though they won't be building their own platform any time soon.
 
Someone mentioned Townsquare a few posts back. Here's what I don't get about them, why have they been promoting single station apps for about a year while keeping Radio Pup open and not reopening TuneIn? I have the big three, and use radio.com the least, hardly ever use it in fact. There are only about four Entercom stations I like, and the only CBS stations I ever liked were KSCF when it was Modern AC and WLTE in its later years as Lite. Both are now gone. I really should update my favorites throughout my apps, but hardly ever just listen to stations anymore, I'm usually doing other things while listening on my computer these days. When I'm listening on my phone it's usually podcasts or locally stored music.
 
Townsquare likely sells ads on it's individual station apps which would explain the promotion of them. They keep Radio Pup open likely because there is minimal variable cost for doing so and they've already invested in the platform.

I think Radio.com is fine, but my biggest gripe with it is the poor search function. Basically you'd better know the exact call letters. No way to search by a host or show name. For a program like 'America's Greatest Hits' one must find the times the show airs somewhere else and then search for the station on the app. On Tune In you can search for the name of the program.
 
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