Created By Emmis’ CTO, It’s A Revolution In Mobile Listening
Emmis Chief Technology Officer Paul Brenner takes the long view of the radio industry. Emmis – and the industry in general – is fortunate to have him. “The short view is to keep operating radio the way you are, and take the risks that all the things that evolve around you dissolve away your success,” Brenner tells Radio World. “For me the long view is [to ask], what are the evolutions of the world around us and how do we fit into those?”
Brenner, in conjunction with Emmis Communications, has created NextRadio, a receiver application app that delivers broadcast radio to FM and HD Radio enabled smartphones. Built in conjunction with its successful TagStation® technology platform, NextRadio will integrate a multitude of interactive mobile music and advertising features with the standard local radio broadcast.
Most notable about NextRadio smartphone technology is that unlike other music streaming apps, NextRadio won’t use a single ounce of precious data to stream music, allowing for the easiest and most cost-effective mobile listening. As emphasized by Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan in a recent podcast, “data metering” with associated increased costs is coming to consumers; and that will be a game-changer. Only the interactive features – tagging and saving songs and stations, downloading advertiser offers, etc. – will require data.
This video explains more about NextRadio’s function and capabilities.
“NextRadio leverages the efficiency and scalability of broadcast radio enhanced by the phone’s data channel to deliver an interactive artist and ad experience,” said Brenner. “With other features like enhanced synchronous ad types including SMS (text) integration and couponing, song tagging capabilities, and social integration, NextRadio stands out as a truly innovative mobile experience.”
In January, Sprint announced that it would pick up the NextRadio tuner, making it available on a number of Android and Windows smartphones. NextRadio technology will allow for all the great music and information-centric features of satellite radio, Pandora and Last FM, but with the important feel and power of local broadcasters that satellite can’t deliver – great news for today’s listener.