Gil Edwards
After a 15+ year career in radio, Gil Edwards recently left the programming ranks and joined Redlasso.com, an internet company based in King Of Prussia, PA. The company was founded in 2005 and has been gaining prominence as of late through its unique technology that is becoming the hit of the blogosphere. If you surf the web – and we know you do – then you have come across Redlasso’s handiwork at some point on sites like PerezHilton.com, People.com, Breitbart.com and many more sites.
Edwards is a Philadelphia radio product. In the early ‘90s he worked at WEGX, Eagle 106, before joining the WDRE ranks of the Jim McGuinn era and then moving on to WYSP with Tim Sabean, ultimately becoming PD from October 2005 to June 2007.
We recently caught up with Edwards for the scoop on exactly what Redlasso.com is, how it works and why radio should care.
What is Redlasso.com?
Billed as “The On-Line Media Center for Bloggers”, Redlasso.com is the only site on the Internet that enables users to search National and Local TV and Radio broadcasts, create clips and share them on their blogs or websites. It is pretty amazing technology that allows radio spoken word content to become searchable by keyword, giving the user the ability to create linkable and embeddable clips of the content to share on-line in a controlled manner. Bloggers can then comment and write about the content within their posts, and the broadcasters will be able to benefit by now being able to monetize their content as it moves virally around the web.
Who is using Redlasso.com?
We have a large and growing user base of bloggers and site content managers. Thousands of sites have now posted content from Redlasso.com. Bloggers and sites like Perez Hilton, Politico.com, People.com, Breitbart.com, Crooks and Liars and Fanhouse on AOL.com have all used Redlasso.
How does the technology work?
Redlasso.com uses a proprietary and patent pending platform that enables users to “go inside” broadcasts to search and find relevant key words, names or phrases. What if you could virtually hook up a keyword search engine and a “YouTube style” clip generator to your on-air signal? Imagine being able to search your morning show content for “Jessica Simpson” and the technology to deliver that content immediately to the point of mention. Then, what if you could take the clip of that interview and easily push the content virally around the internet. That’s how it works.
Talk about your radio product, the “Air2Web.”
Early on, we knew that our parent site had amazing potential for content owners to use the technology to better manage their broadcast media content on-line, both for TV and Radio. So, we developed a product called the “A2W”, that is the only all in one, entirely web based, viral, on-line content distribution platform. Using designated secure log-ins, radio stations can use the technology to clip their broadcast content, or even allow their listeners to clip the content they think is “hot” and the clips are automatically fed to your station website, where listeners can search archives of your show’s “clips” and then easily email them to friends, directly from the player, link to the clips, or even embed them on to social networking sites like MySpace.
And your first radio partnership is with Greater Media and WMMR in Philadelphia, right?
Yes. We are doing our first pilot project with WMMR and the Preston & Steve Show. Along with the Show, Bill Weston and Chuck D’Amico have been amazing to work with. Early on, they were big fans of the technology and we were very lucky to have them as a pilot partner. So, they came up with the idea of calling it “The High Five” where they feature the top 5 bits of the week, including interviews, studio guests, stunts and more. Now, their listeners can come to their website and search an archive of bits, and pass them around the web. They can also post their favorite segments to their own station and talentMySpace pages (like this one from Preston & Steve Producer, Marisa), and listeners can do the same. As you can see, the clip player carries some great branding and sales opportunities as well.
Are there revenue opportunities with the A2W?
Every content provider, be that Radio or Television Networks, are seeking additional ways to monetize their content on-line. We wouldn’t have built it if stations couldn’t make money from it. We can easily connect the clip engine to your stations pre-existing on-line ad network, allowing for all the content to be monetized every time the content is either loaded or played.
I’ve seen the “A2W” technology, and it looks very possible for a station to add video to the service?
You nailed it. We are also currently working on being able to add and sync a stations web-cam video to the clips as well. This will be an amazing way for stations to feature in-studio video clips without facing huge bandwidth costs. If your show posts content to other video sharing sites, the big problem of not being able to monetize that content remains. We solve that problem.
How is this different from Podcasting?
It is very different. Podcasting tends to be a solution for long form subscription based listening. If you are lucky, listeners will subscribe to your podcasts or listen to hour long chunks “on-demand”. That’s great, and stations should do that too… but this is VIRAL. When was the last time you tried to email an entire podcast to a friend? The files are too large and limiting. This is about short blasts, hot content, virally moving about the blogosphere, social networking sites and listener peer to peer email activity. The “A2W” clip engine becomes yet another destination for your listeners to access and share your content.
Are there any other radio stations using Redlasso.com?
WMMR is our first pilot for the “A2W”, but we’re looking for the next stations to partner with. There are several shows and stations that are using Redlasso.com as a prep source for their programs, and a content tool for their station web-sites to cover happenings in the news and media world. We are growing with new radio users every day.
How else can radio utilize the service?
There are many potential uses for the technology on Redlasso.com. We will soon be announcing an additional product that will be of great use to station sales departments. Stay tuned for another cool announcement soon.
For those that don’t know, what is the status of the C&D recently issued to Redlasso by the major television networks?
We have been engaged in ongoing two-way conversations with all the networks for two years. We would like the networks to join us in our goal to maximize the new value created by bloggers and the on-line community. We are hopeful that we will be able to come to an agreement with the networks.
Redlasso recently added former CBS CEO, Michael Jordan as an advisor, what will be his role with the company?
We have been fortunate to bring in Michael Jordan, one of the broadcast industries best known CEO’s, to act as a liaison with the networks. We also just launched a “Media Advisory Board” that will provide strategic counsel to the Redlasso management team and serve as liaisons with media companies on behalf of Redlasso.com. Two of the charter members include; former Viacom CFO, Michael Dolan and former Paramount Station Group President, Anthony Cassara.
What drew you from radio to Redlasso?
I loved radio. It was a big part of my life and professional development for over fifteen years. However, the media landscape is changing dramatically every day and I’ve always been an advocate for technology and the evolution of new media. It is very interesting to me to be on the front lines of such dramatic change. The opportunity to join the team at Redlasso and help build such an amazing platform was very exciting to me.
How do your tools as a former radio guy translate to Redlasso’s model?
It’s all about identifying and growing the value of unique content, and building a positive and valuable user experience. Does that sound familiar? As a broadcast media website, many of the same principles for success carry through. Not to mention a regular dose of hard work, building relationships, and a having a passion for your product.
While we have you… do you have any thoughts on the state of Philadelphia radio since your departure from WYSP?
Philadelphia is and always has been a great radio market. WYSP was an incredible station for so many years, and I was very lucky to not only program the station, but to be able to work on the way up with people like Tim Sabean and Karin Buck for over a decade. Radio is a business of change, and I certainly saw the up’s and down’s of that process over the years. Radio was very good to me and I learned a lot along the way.
It’s been a very interesting year watching Philadelphia radio from the sidelines. We’ve witnessed the demise of two local morning shows, and the continued dominance of Preston & Steve at WMMR. We’ve also seen the sad loss of Big Ron at WOGL, and the interesting evolution of Clear Channel’s Alt-Rock, Radio 104.5. I also spent some time working with Jim McGuinn again (we worked together first in ‘95-‘96 at WDRE in Philly) at “YRock on XPN”, the amazing WXPN-FM HD-2 Alternative side channel. For stations looking for great examples on how to do local HD-2 programming right… look up Jim McGuinn and his incredible story.
Gil Edwards can be reached by email: gil@redlasso.com .
** QB Content by Michael Parrish **
