by Jim Kerr
One of the advantages in working so much in the digital and Web 2.0 space is that you see platforms and technology that may work for radio well ahead of when either radio or the platform creators think to bring the two together. While this is especially true of platforms that bring radio and their Web sites together, it is also true of sites with resources solely for broadcast.
The best example of a direct resource for broadcast radio would be Nugs.net (www.nugs.net). Nugs.net sells open MP3 downloads of live music performances, with artists from Metallica to Barenaked Ladies to Widespread Panic. The real benefit for radio is that the downloads are extremely topical — the files are nearly always available for download the morning after the show. Since live shows are also local, Nugs.net is a resource for extremely relevant content.
Think of all the fans that attend a Metallica show in your town. Wouldn’t it be great to offer the entire concert for sale from your Web site the next morning while you are highlighting the actual performances from the night before on your station? Now that’s being local. You can contact Brad Serling via brad@nugs.net to look into what kind of past and upcoming live material is available for your station.
Beyond content for broadcast, the next major benefit of new media and tech companies is providing ways to create better listener engagement on your Web site. Of course, the ideal is a platform that can not only work online, but could also be used with the broadcast as well. This is the biggest gap you see on most radio Web sites — they provide online content, but it has little immediacy to what is on the air.
Meebo (www.meebo.com) is the leading chat destination and platform on the Internet, and it is the perfect example of how a radio station can utilize the natural dynamic of communication between DJ and audience to bolster both the broadcast and online experience at the same time. Meebo actually has several products, each of which work with radio effectively but do so in different ways.
Meebome is a simple concept with a unique twist: It is a chat window that sits on your station Web site and allows the site visitors to instant message the DJ. The twist is that the DJ can watch as people enter the site and send out instant messages to the site visitors without the visitors doing anything. At first glance this sounds little more than big brother creepy, but when you think about it, you could do some revolutionary contesting: Picture giving away tickets to not just the tenth caller but also the tenth visitor on the Web site. That’s right, you could have the DJ watch the Meebome interface, count down ten, and then literally send an instant message to the tenth visitor, giving them the tickets as the winner. This builds massive site traffic while also adding a cool twist to a contest.
Meeborooms is their chat room product, and it includes multimedia capabilities. While you can certainly use it for a standard chat room on your Web site, the multimedia capabilities mean that you could use it for things like an online record release party. You can stream songs from a new album, play some of the music videos, and the whole time have a chat. You could also build a chat around your radio audio stream. Or you could have a virtual backstage with DJs and artists being interviewed at a concert or a virtual tailgate party with sports hosts at a football game.
Feel free to contact Daniel Bernstein at meebo if this sounds interesting to you (danny@meebo.com).
Finally, let’s examine one of the biggest trends we are predicting for 2008: the life stream. You may have heard of Twitter (www.twitter.com), which is a way for individuals to quickly and easily keep friends and family posted as to what they are doing. This “life stream” has proven to be incredibly popular and oddly compelling. What is interesting about someone typing that he or she is going off to Starbucks for coffee? Well, more than we imagined.
For radio, Twitter came into its own during the California wildfires, where both TV and radio updated people via Twitter posts (called “tweets”). The power of Twitter posts are that they are broadcast via every text digital distribution channel imaginable: email, Web, and text messaging. For someone wanting to know what was going on with the wildfires, Twitter was a fantastic source , reaching them no matter where they were. Creating a news/weather/sports update Twitter channel is a great way to get out fast updates for people wherever they are. You can find out more at www.twitter.com.
What if you as a radio programmer want to create a life stream for your morning show? If Uncle Vinny’s life stream is compelling as he goes to the fish market, how compelling would it be for listeners to know what Howard Stern is doing after he goes off the air? Very. However, one of the shortcomings of Twitter is that it is text-only. For a media outlet, it would be better if you could use photo, audio, and images in the life stream. This is where Kyte comes in.
Kyte is a life stream like Twitter but includes significant multimedia functionality. You can update the content with video, audio, text, a photo slideshow, and even a poll. Part of what makes Kyte a compelling choice is that it includes an embedded interactive element. So while people are viewing the life stream, they can also comment on it and comment on others’ comments. The whole experience is incredibly compelling.
One of the best things about Kyte for radio programmers is that it also has two critical key features. The first is that it is drop dead simple to use. If a person has a cell phone that handles video, they can use that to produce their channel — record the video, add a subject line, and email it to Kyte. It is then instantaneously available. Kyte also works with Web cams, file uploads, and cell phone cameras. Basically, if you can create the media in some fashion, Kyte can process it.
The other critical feature is that Kyte channels are embeddable and cross-platform. This means that a listener can follow their favorite personality the same way they can with Twitter: Via both the web and cell phones. I’ve used Kyte with a generic SonyEriccson browser, a Windows smartphone, and my new iPhone — Kyte works seamlessly in all of them. As to the Web, listeners can embed the content on their own blog, MySpace, Facebook, or other pages, so Kyte channels are also incredibly viral.
You can learn more about Kyte by contacting John Cornett at john.cornett@kyteinc.com.
Unique new music content, online-broadcast interactivity, and viral life streams are just three examples of the astounding opportunities available via the Internet and wireless for radio. PMG is in the center of mining this new media landscape for traditional media, working with clients like Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Nugs.net, meebo, Kyte and others. If you are interested in learning more, feel free to contact me at jim@pollackmedia.com.
Jim Kerr is Vice President of New Media at Pollack Media Group. Reach Jim at 214 324 9060 or Jim@pollackmedia.com.
