Encouraging news that Clear Channel’s iHeartradio platform has accepted broadcast competitors Cumulus, and most recently this week Greater Media stations to the listening choices. The list of stations on iHeartradio is rapidly growing and is making strides to become a more unified platform for listening. As of yesterday, one other nugget came from the Clear Channel camp: CC announced that it is releasing a Developer Program that will allow iHeart to be plugged in to other websites and applications. Could that mean future access to non-broadcast audio content like podcasts from Adam Carolla or Tom Leykis all under one app?
Today the savvy programmers know that the business is not about the conduit of the airwaves, but about all the conduits available to us that disseminate the product we manufacture. This new model suggests that partnering-up stations is a vote for listening and symbolizes a new era of relationships—beyond the obvious choices such as putting up a fan-page on Facebook (partnering with FB) as we did over the last few years.
And now stations teaming up with broadcast competitors is a bold move that might become soon be as common place as duets on a Santana or Pitbull record. Our industry is really wising up to the fact that radio is really about delivering content — by any means — a fact that most of us realize, but don’t really KNOW. This ‘circling of the wagons’ partnership is good for the industry and hopefully the start of bigger things.
Competition makes us better. Partnerships make us stronger.