TuneIn: Audio answer to Facebook, Twitter
Over the last two or three years, I’ve recommended the TuneIn app as an easy way to find radio stations.
Two or three years ago, that meant a whopping 70,000 stations around the world — both terrestrial and online, both commercial and noncommercial.
You could find stations and listen to them instantly without going to a station’s site and figuring out the “listen now” button, which sometimes involved annoying sign-ups with third parties.
I loved it. But the company, founded in 2002 as Radio Time and rebranded TuneIn in 2010, was just that — a way to tune into stations on your computers, tablets and smartphones. It was a great app — and free, to boot — but a one-trick app that, one might think, had no place to grow.
After learning that TuneIn is headquartered just a Caltrain ride away in downtown Palo Alto, I decided to visit and found a company that’s doing nothing but growing. In fact, TuneIn had just moved into larger offices for its 100-plus employees.
Today, TuneIn connects to more than 100,000 stations, plus some 4 million on-demand podcasts. It has some 50 million active users monthly, and its one-trick days are over. TuneIn Radio Pro, a paid version of the app, carries no ads and allows recording of programs.
Last spring, a v6.0 of TuneIn vaulted the company into the social-networking arena, allowing users to “follow” stations or programs and, if they choose to, let other listeners know what their favorite stations and shows are. The resulting interaction and data will allow TuneIn to recommend shows to its users.
This, said TuneIn CEO John Donham, has turned his company into the world’s largest audio network. “We’re trying to build a relationship with the listener and give them the things they want to listen to and give them better recommendations.” Before, he said, “it was like Yahoo in 1995 — a list of websites, and you go to them.”
The redesign has drawn comparisons to Facebook and Twitter, but neither of those giants offers direct connections to audio programs. “Individuals, stations and brands are creating presences on Twitter and Facebook,” said Donham, “and also have a presence on TuneIn.” They are learning that TuneIn accounts for more listening than do the two social networks. Donham offered an example: “BBC Radio One has 1.6 to 1.7 million followers on Facebook, and 2.1 million on TuneIn. On Facebook and Twitter, you click on it, and it takes you to BBC’s page. On TuneIn, click, and you’re listening. Where does BBC Radio One get most of its audience? It’s TuneIn by 30 to 40 percent.”
Broadcasters are partnering with TuneIn to attract more listeners, and so are musical artists. TuneIn has launched stations tied to labels like Sub Pop and Alligator and, just two weeks ago, to Pitchfork Media, the indie-music guide. Artistcurated stations on TuneIn include Kenny Chesney’s “No Shoes Radio” and “Wu Tang Radio.”
Last month, the company introduced TuneIn studios in Venice Beach (Los Angeles County), with recording and production facilities open to musical artists, broadcasters and podcasters. “They can come in and produce content to live on TuneIn,” said Siobhan Murphy, public relations manager.
As my visit with Donham and Murphy neared its end, I asked Donham if there was anything more to ask.
Well, duh! He didn’t say that, but he did offer to answer his own questions: “Why does radio matter in the long term?” And: “If you fast-forward 20 years, is radio still relevant?”
Both TuneIn and radio have plenty of competition, he said. Yet “both are going to live side by side.” It’s not unlike radio tuners being joined by CD players in cars. “You had ondemand — CDs — versus live humans on the other end (radio).
“Our belief is that the livehuman element is getting underrepresented. Sports playby-play, breaking news — there are all sorts of needs that are filled only by listening to a human talk.”
So, as broadcasters continue to replace live humans with prerecorded programming, will radio remain relevant?
“Our answer is, you’ll always want to have a human being on the other end of the broadcast.” Christmas gift: There’s talk in the industry that some stations playing only holiday music in November and December have seen smaller bumps in their ratings, as music fans find other options for songs of the season.
So how did KOIT, our local Christmas-music dispensary, do? The station, which went all-Santa on Nov. 26, did swell. The week before Christmas, program director Brian Figula e-mailed, “KOIT broke the all-time PPM weekly record for ‘Holiday week 3’ Dec 18-24 with 2.76 million cume.” In English: KOIT had the largest cumulative audience (the number of people who tuned in for at least five minutes) the week before Christmas since the advent of the electronic Portable People Meter as the primary method for measuring listening. Figula added: “For December, one out of three people in the region were listening” to his station.
Among its target demo of listeners ages 25 to 54, KOIT had a 10.9-percent share of the market, where the top station usually scores about a 6. Before the holiday week, the Nielsens, covering overall listening from Nov. 6 through Dec. 3, had KOIT with a 5.8, behind KCBS (6.3) and ahead of KQED (4.9) and KMEL (4.7). The rest of the top 10: KIOI (“Star 101.3”) and KMVQ (“Now”), tied at 3.9; KNBR at 3.7 (down from the Giants-driven 8.9 of November); KYLD (“Wild”) at 3.6; KISQ (“Kiss”) at 3.4; and KBLX and KBRG, tied for 10th at 3.2. Coasting: The other column, I recommended a few stations to a reader, 65, seeking a morning show that mixed familiar and new rock, and had personality and gave information. These stations included KFOG, KITS (“Live 105”), KRSH (“The Krush”), KPIG and KCRW in Santa Monica — all available online. Reader Allen Cherry adds KOZT (“The Coast”) out of Mendocino, and he’s right. KOZT (at 95.3 and 95.9 in the Fort Bragg and Mendocino regions, respectively) carries the eclectic music banner and, in fact, is programmed by Tom Yates and Kate Hayes, who spent years in the Bay Area on KSAN, KKCY (“The City”) and other stations. Also Coasting: morning anchor Joe Regelski, a news reporter at KMEL, which is back in its album-rock days. Go to www.kozt.com to check it out. Of course, there are dozens of stations that can be recommended, and I’m happy to hear — and pass along — your ideas.