EmmisBeat: More Than Just Friends

Emmis Radio Gets Social on Facebook

The social integration of broadcasting has taken another step forward with Indianapolis based Emmis Radio properties.

Five radio stations –  Hip Hop and Top 40 stations HOT 97, HOT 97 Throwback, HOT 97 Funk Master Flex, Power 106, and Alt-Rock Internet station RXP Online – are now streaming socially thanks to a partnership with Jelli, a crowd-sourced radio listening application that’s been operating since 2009.

The partnership was announced at f8, Facebook’s developer conference.  “Emmis has the strongest brands and communities in radio with HOT 97 in New York, Power 106 in Los Angeles, and RXP online,” said Jelli CEO/Founder Mike Dougherty.  “We are honored to help make these communities more social and engaged by combining their strength with the power of Facebook.”

Dougherty’s point should be well taken.  With Facebook approaching nearly one billion users (that’s right), social streaming, listening, and sharing is becoming an increasingly important matter for anyone concerned with broadcasting.  This social integration of streaming channels – and it’s reflection on terrestrial broadcasting – not only allows for greater ease of listening for the customer, but allows Emmis Radio properties a greatly expanded reach.

Product improvement is always on the mind of Emmis Radio execs.  “This gives our listeners non-stop new music and it gives Emmis back-end metrics to see which songs are really resonating,” said Emmis Vice President of Programming Jimmy Steal.

Jelli’s Facebook app can be found here.  The five Emmis stations are online now and available for streaming and sharing on Facebook.  Of course, if you’re a linebacker with a guilty pleasure for Cyndi Lauper and aren’t quite ready to tell everyone yet, you can choose not to publish your listening.  Just visit Jelli’s settings page, click on the “Facebook Connect” tab and uncheck the box next to “Share my Jelli activity with my Facebook friends”.