Radio is a very special medium. Especially compared with other mediums. As ever, it still exhibits stable reach, reflecting a strong affinity towards it. The special challenge now is not to gamble away these assets, especially with regard to the future.

Curated radio is a great thing. I write this with the profoundest conviction because at streaMonkey, we love radio.

The digitally delivered radio program, this wonderful product, doesn’t just have to be led into the future but, more importantly, it has to be protected.

From technical processes for example.

It would be rather absurd to passionately produce a program in brilliant quality and then deliver it digitally in a worse, partly even laughable quality. Wouldn’t it?

Here comes the hard truth:

If we compare radio streaming to FM, then FM is mostly the better choice for the listener. It just sounds better – A LOT better – than the streaming reality that is often delivered. I can quite simply listen to VHF in great quality in the most remote corner of the country.

Delivery via streaming has a real problem here, right?

The competition isn’t fierce – it’s overpowering

Music streaming services – like Spotify, Apple Music or Deezer – are easily available and have a gigantic offering. You get to listen to whatever you want to, either for free or for a very small price. And that’s not just music anymore but also information and entertainment communicated by the spoken word.

Joe Rogan, one of the most well-known US entertainers with easily the highest reaching podcast made a deal worth 100 million dollars with Spotify in 2020.

It is offers and deals like this that radio stations have to compete with for the time of listeners, and the ad revenue connected to it. Which is why radio doesn’t just have to offer better content – it also has to be at least on the same level technically.

In our opinion: a better one.

And that should, at the same time, be the aspiration of the whole branch.

Audio is an awesome thing for listeners and the market. This is explicitly shown by trends in the use of features like podcasts or apps like Clubhouse.

Print and TV have almost lost this race in the past. Radio can still manage to ride this wave. To stay king where one has been it for so many years -> in the ear of the people.

In order to battle through, radio streaming has to offer listeners an advantage. And this advantage has to lead this medium into the digital future.

Firstly: Provide accessibility

The first hurdle on this path is accessibility.

Listeners will have to be able to consume digital radio in every situation, even situations with just a marginal data connection.

When the listener is using audio streaming in the car and then drives into an underground car park the signal can’t be allowed to break down. When the commuter is sitting on a train travelling through a tunnel the signal can’t be allowed to break down.

Streams have to deliver maximized stability in no matter what situation.

The solution for this is adaptive bitrates. Leaving the technical blah-blah aside, one could explain the technology like this: We permanently check how strong the individual connection of the listener is and provide him/her with a stable stream that adapts to the existing data connection.

With longer listening time there’s some wonderful possibilities of advertising you say? That’s exactly what we were thinking when we had the idea for this.

Secondly: Give before you take

Do you know what constitutes one of the worst customer phone services? Silence, delays, a muddle of choices, no feeling of welcome, no “wow”!

Imagine you’re listening to a program for the first time and your first contact with it is bumpy. In classical program control we all bend over backwards every day to prevent turn-off impulses. But when streaming, a lot of stations begin with exactly that – with a turn-off impulse.

So it’s better then to give the listener what he expects from us first: an audio wow! An excellently produced program in terms of content and technicality with a sound to kill over. At the same time, and with exactly the same passion we provide him with what could be of interest – because we know where he is and whether or not it’s sunny there.

Would you like an ice cream?

Thirdly: Sound better than Spotify

Talking of sound: most stations play out their mobile streams with 64 kbit/s. That sounds, well, as an audio savvy person you know how that sounds.

You save data volume, alright so far. But what if the listener is already using 5G? Or using a free wi-fi network? Then he doesn’t have to save data but the quality of his listening experience is still comparable to that of grandma’s gramophone.

A stream with adaptive bitrate helps here too. Because when there’s enough bandwidth a stream can play out that let’s Jon Bonham’s hi-hats hiss like he’s sitting right next to you.

Fourthly: Use data that maps the NOW

Nothing is older than yesterday’s data. So work with up-to-date data. Don’t just rely on logins since not every listener clears this hurdle. Rely on a system that can deliver data to you in a different way.

If you know when a listener is at a certain location, then you can stream spots based on his interests and that location that strike a chord and don’t miss it with approximation methods.

What does all of this mean for the digital future of radio?

Radio stations require full control over their own inventory. Only then can you recognize how your reach can be developed and where additional business models are advisable in the future.

In short – for this you need:

  • high connectivity of the streams (for example by means of adaptive bitrates)
  • the best sound quality for high resting time
  • Meaningful real-time data for efficient marketing and reach optimization.

These parameters have to be thought of in terms of 360 degrees, from the view of a radio maker and in the context of data competence and the maximum of technological possibility.

Unlimited. Passionate. And the firm belief in the future of the medium.