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Bye-bye Mark Simone

W

wadio

I love the Mark Simone show. It's great radio especially when Joe Bartlett is part of it and I've been listening since Simone moved to WOR. I catch the show online because of severe interference problems with WOR-AM.

But about a week ago WOR disabled the link I used for streaming so now the only way I can access the show is on the iHeart website or iHeart app. No more TuneIn, Streema, or any other alternate source that I can find.

As others have mentioned, the iHeart Android app is a mess. It requires log-in and acceptance of tracking, and it doesn't completely exit - it will sometimes start playing for no reason - that's wonderful in a meeting!

The website is equally intrusive. It takes forever to load tracking links from Facebook, Twitter and about a dozen others. Many times it hangs during the process. Reloading the URL sometimes gets it streaming, sometimes not.

So the bottom line is - and solely because of this issue - I've started listening to Chris Plante on WMAL instead. And you know what? He's very entertaining.

I realize that this is purely anecdotal, and Simone is the only program I listened to on WOR anyway so I'm sure WOR/iHeart won't miss me, but I don't see how this serves them well.

A major advantage of terrestrial radio is simplicity. Turn it on, hit a preset, and there's your content. Want to try something new? Use the tuner to find new content.

Streaming should be just as simple, and it is for stations that allow their content to be streamed on platforms along with the competition. That way, listeners can choose a platform they like and find their favorite programs including those from iHeart.

Listeners don't care, for example, whether Mark Simone is on iHeart or Cumulus or whatever. They want to hit the button and have the program start instantly - no pre-roll ads and no waiting for links and video content to load. After all, this is RADIO, or the streaming equivalent. It shouldn't be more complicated than that.
 
wadio said:
I

Streaming should be just as simple, and it is for stations that allow their content to be streamed on platforms along with the competition. That way, listeners can choose a platform they like and find their favorite programs including those from iHeart.
Click to expand...

The problem with out of town streaming is there's no revenue. It's all expense. You want to stream from Apple or Pandora? You have to join their platform, start a membership, maybe even give a credit card number or at least an email address. And this is how content companies are going, especially on TV. Other companies are doing the same thing. No, it's not terrestrial radio. It's an entirely different world.
 
TheBigA said:
The problem with out of town streaming is there's no revenue. It's all expense. You want to stream from Apple or Pandora? You have to join their platform, start a membership, maybe even give a credit card number or at least an email address. And this is how content companies are going, especially on TV. Other companies are doing the same thing. No, it's not terrestrial radio. It's an entirely different world.
Click to expand...

I know that's how they look at it but that's wrong, IMO. No, it's not RADIO but it is AUDIO, and that should be the focus. Otherwise it's just like the rest of the internet. Focus on ears and impressions, not clicks. Be part of platforms that insert local ads and give you a cut. Don't lock down your content and drive people away to content that IS out of town!
 
wadio said:
I love the Mark Simone show. It's great radio especially when Joe Bartlett is part of it and I've been listening since Simone moved to WOR. I catch the show online because of severe interference problems with WOR-AM.

But about a week ago WOR disabled the link I used for streaming so now the only way I can access the show is on the iHeart website or iHeart app. No more TuneIn, Streema, or any other alternate source that I can find.

As others have mentioned, the iHeart Android app is a mess. It requires log-in and acceptance of tracking, and it doesn't completely exit - it will sometimes start playing for no reason - that's wonderful in a meeting!

The website is equally intrusive. It takes forever to load tracking links from Facebook, Twitter and about a dozen others. Many times it hangs during the process. Reloading the URL sometimes gets it streaming, sometimes not.

So the bottom line is - and solely because of this issue - I've started listening to Chris Plante on WMAL instead. And you know what? He's very entertaining.

I realize that this is purely anecdotal, and Simone is the only program I listened to on WOR anyway so I'm sure WOR/iHeart won't miss me, but I don't see how this serves them well.

A major advantage of terrestrial radio is simplicity. Turn it on, hit a preset, and there's your content. Want to try something new? Use the tuner to find new content.

Streaming should be just as simple, and it is for stations that allow their content to be streamed on platforms along with the competition. That way, listeners can choose a platform they like and find their favorite programs including those from iHeart.

Listeners don't care, for example, whether Mark Simone is on iHeart or Cumulus or whatever. They want to hit the button and have the program start instantly - no pre-roll ads and no waiting for links and video content to load. After all, this is RADIO, or the streaming equivalent. It shouldn't be more complicated than that.
Click to expand...

I listened to podcast downloads of Mark Simone for years. I quit when iheart stopped posting the downloadable podcast in June. I have noticed that some of the other popular iheart folks (Joe Pags & Michael Berry) have a 3rd party making podcasts of their shows available.
 
wadio said:
Focus on ears and impressions, not clicks. Be part of platforms that insert local ads and give you a cut. Don't lock down your content and drive people away to content that IS out of town!
Click to expand...

They ARE focusing on ears and impressions. That's why they want you to join, become a member of their tribe, and stay connected within their universe. Clicks aren't worth a dime on the internet. Impressions and active memberships are. You obviously like their content. So you should be willing to do what it takes to continue receiving it. Otherwise you're not really interested.
 
TheBigA said:
They ARE focusing on ears and impressions. That's why they want you to join, become a member of their tribe, and stay connected within their universe. Clicks aren't worth a dime on the internet. Impressions and active memberships are. You obviously like their content. So you should be willing to do what it takes to continue receiving it. Otherwise you're not really interested.
Click to expand...

As I said, if they want me they'll make it easy and unobtrusive to listen. Otherwise I'm gone. There are other choices.

And, BTW, I definitely don't miss Simone's half-hourly, "Oh, and look at the website ... " reminders where he lists links to stuff unrelated to the show. Anyone can Google that stuff. It's another example of lack of focus.
 
wadio said:
As I said, if they want me they'll make it easy and unobtrusive to listen. Otherwise I'm gone. There are other choices.
Click to expand...

They've already budgeted for that. You're someone who wants what you want for free. That's not a workable business model. You wouldn't work for free. They don't either.

Cumulus doesn't have a digital strategy yet. At some point, they'll figure it out, and WMAL will be set up in a similar way to WOR. So you're on borrowed time.
 
TheBigA said:
You're someone who wants what you want for free.
Click to expand...

Stop with the YOU stuff! It's easy to make assumptions that simply aren't true.

I'm not looking for a free ride and am happy to consume the AUDIO advertising that comes along with any stream. Also, as an avid talk show listener, I wouldn't mind paying a monthly fee for aggregated talk content IF it were all-inclusive, not a disparate bunch of sites and apps.

My point is that online streaming of terrestrial radio content is becoming too cumbersome, too restrictive and too user-unfriendly. I've cited one example to make that point.

Online streaming could be a wonderful and well monetized resource if done correctly. Why is that a foreign concept worthy of such resistance?
 
mohawk82 said:
You can listen to them there, but there is no longer an mp3 to download. I'm a Linux guy, so itunes is not an option either.
Click to expand...

Would you pay a monthly membership fee to download only his podcasts, as is the case for other major talk hosts such as O'Reilly and Stern?

They might be collecting data to determine of they want to go in that direction.


wadio said:
I'm not looking for a free ride and am happy to consume the AUDIO advertising that comes along with any stream. Also, as an avid talk show listener, I wouldn't mind paying a monthly fee for aggregated talk content IF it were all-inclusive, not a disparate bunch of sites and apps.
Click to expand...

Online advertising is a fraction of on-air. The goal of these talk shows is to do what O'Reilly and others have done, and put their content behind a paywall, because that's the only way to actually get paid for content. That's the direction CBS-TV is going with Star Trek. They say it's working.

Radio aggregators are getting out of that business. TuneIn.com is creating its own content, and putting it behind a paywall. That's how AppleRadio works too. The only way to make the dollars work is if the company that owns the content also distributes it. So there will be no single source for all radio.

It sounds to me like you're not ready to give up on Simone. You just want them to change their system to suit you. That's not going to happen. If streaming is cumbersome, then listen on-air. That's really what they'd prefer you do.
 
TheBigA said:
Your words are saying you want iHeart to change their platform so you can hear Simone.
Click to expand...

No, I said, "I don't see how this serves them well."

TheBigA said:
As I said, you can listen to the show on-air if you don't like the iHeart online platform.
Click to expand...

Wrong again. I said, "I catch the show online because of severe interference problems with WOR-AM."

Learn to take things at face value ... read the lines, not between them.
 
wadio said:
Not true. New Coke?
Click to expand...

I didn't know iHeart made Coke. Is that your best response?

The iHeartRadio platform is among the most successful internet radio platforms. Don't compare it to a failed soft drink. It is a survivor.

Once again, if you don't like it, don't use it. They've already budgeted for some lost users.
 
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