Tampa radio station changes format for listener control over music

Tampa Bay, Fla. radio station WSUN-FM isn’t aiming for today’s common hybrid radio model of talk content supporting music influenced by listener requests. The station is taking audience engagement a step further, recognizing that some listeners want just music, and more than that, the power to control it, Keith Lawless, vice-president and market manager at Cox Media Group, which owns the station, said in an interview with The Wire Report. “From a radio industry standpoint, it’s a strong move to marry what would be a mature, traditional business with terrestrial radio on an enhanced digital platform, and I think this is probably the direction all of us will be heading in the future,” Lawless said. Technology news site TechCrunch reported in January that WSUN-FM expanded its entire operation to a smartphone- and web-based, listener-controlled format. In a follow up email, Lawless said WSUN-FM continues to broadcast on the 97.1 FM frequency and is now streaming at 97xonline.com, as well as on its mobile application, iHeartradio and Tune-in radio. Listeners can also direct the rock station’s playlist through mobile app and web voting, Lawless said, determining the songs played and in what order. He said there are incentives on one of 97x’s new apps to encourage listeners to develop a “deeper relationship” with the station. “We’re saying you control the radio station,” Lawless said. “You can actually earn a badge after a certain number of votes to become the music director or the station manager.” Lawless said the new digital platform offers an open mic-type feature that, while moderated by a DJ, allows users to record a 10-second introduction, dedication or song request. “I think this is really interesting and engaging for the listener,” he said. Lawless said the station’s DJs are responsible for placing voted songs and listener dedications in the right order. They also provide quick news, traffic and weather updates, he said. DJs will tell listeners what songs are likely to be played in the next voted cue. “Their primary role is to facilitate the process of the audience controlling the music,” Lawless said. Steve Jones, vice-president of programming at Newfoundland Capital Corp. Ltd. subsidiary Newcap Radio, which owns radio stations across the country, said in an interview that the online and app-based radio format will be part of the medium’s future as stations in the United States and Canada try to deepen their relationships with listeners. “It’s part of the future for every media to become more community-driven more interactive,” Jones said. “I think this is an interesting step forward, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the future.” Jones said listeners may be attracted to the idea of controlling a playlist, though they still want content that reflects their community and daily lives. “A stream of songs, even if they’re really cool and chosen by your peers and it’s exciting to listen to, I think eventually will fail you, because it’s just not a very big platform on which to build an entire radio station,” he said. “Radio is important to people for more than just music.” He said he believes the future will be a combination of listener-influenced playlists and on-air personalities who can discuss local events and issues. The use of crowd sourcing is increasing in radio morning shows and talk shows as stations seek more feedback and participation from listeners about their content, Jones said. Across Canada, he said, radio talk shows are engaging audiences and driving conversation through mobile apps and social media networks. Roberta Fox, chair and chief innovation officer at consulting firm Fox Group, said in an interview that the app-based format is where radio is headed. Fox said the format emerged in the late 1990s and some companies wanted to migrate to online but the capabilities were not yet available to support it. “It was interesting, but we couldn’t do it then because the networks weren’t there. The capacity, the bandwidth, as well the applications, weren’t there,” she said. “So 14 to 15 years later, the pieces have come together.” Fox said radio is evolving slowly because it is in a protectionist rather than a proactive mode. “They’re trying to survive,” she said. Radio stations must evolve and reach out to listeners in new, innovative ways if they are going to maintain their market shares, she said. Traditional radio faces competition from online music streaming services, Fox said, such as Live365.com, which offers music with commercials for free or for a $2 “VIP” option, through which listeners can gain access to content without advertising. “ able to be the virtual DJ,” she said. Due in part to copyright licensing issues, popular online music streaming services from Pandora Media Inc., based in California, and Sweden-based Spotify AB, are not yet available in the Canadian market. The advertising- and subscription-supported services will play songs and themed “stations” for users based on their tastes and what they feel like listening to. David Bray, a radio industry expert and president of Bray and Partners Communications, said in an interview that user-determined radio needs some moderation to ensure playlists do not only represent the musical tastes of a small group of listeners who are constantly voting. “The more narrow someone’s interest, the more obsessive they become about spending hours to get what they want,” Bray said. He said most radio listeners are passive and content to turn on the radio and listen to whatever’s on air. “A very select few are going to sit down, get on their apps, and say, ‘I’m going to spend three hours tonight writing out what I want to hear on this radio station,’” he said. Bray said music is important, though on-air personalities in breakfast and commuter shows are a “major” factor. “You can’t take away the personality from radio, otherwise it becomes a jukebox,” he said. Lawless said that due to the format change, two-thirds of the resources on the station’s popular “Morning X” show was moved to other stations. “But no one was terminated as a result of this adjustment,” he said in an email. According to the station's Facebook page, listener response to the new format has been mixed. As of Monday, one page titled “Bring Back The Morning X” registered 563 "likes." Lawless said the station is live 24 hours a day with an in-studio “music guide” who keeps track of the votes, plays the selected tracks and organizes the messages listeners submit. “The choices don’t automatically go in,” he said. “I’m cynical as hell about this,” Howard Christensen, a broadcasting expert and publisher of technology-based magazine Broadcast Dialogue, said in an interview. Christensen said broadcasting regulations of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S. and the CRTC in Canada stop radio stations from being fully “listener controlled.” “I can’t imagine a program director or general manager allowing that to happen to his or her radio station, particularly in Canada, where you have Canadian content ,” he said. “If you had a listener-controlled format, then all those rules regarding Canadian content are out the window.” Listeners would only make suggestions or requests for songs, he said. “You can bet your bottom dollar that there’s someone at the receiving end saying, ‘Not a chance for that one,'” Christensen said. He said the listener-controlled format is a good marketing tool that appeals to listeners accustomed to a connected, on-demand environment. “Essentially the request line lives, just through a different way of getting the request in,” he said. —With reporting by Danika Grenier at dgrenier@thewirereport.caand editing by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Tampa radio station changes format for listener control over music

Broadcast | February 4, 2013

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Tampa radio station changes format for listener control over music

Broadcast | February 4, 2013

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Bell Media unites English and French outlets in Quebec into one team

CRTC launches consult on CAB’s proposed ‘Commercial Radio News Fund’

Digital media leads the way in CRTC broadcast survey

Stingray profit, streaming subscribers down in Q1; revenues rise

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us