Audacy today has launched a suite of over 400 “exclusive stations” focusing on different genres.
The channels range from sub genres like New Arrivals and 1990s Dance to artist hosted channels Coldplay, Tiësto, Sofia Carson and Jake Owen to channels programmed by Audacy station talent such as WXRT Chicago’s Lin Brehmer’s “Americana”, WTIC-FM Hartford’s “Christine Gets Dumped At The Prom”, and KRLD-FM Dallas’ “Troy Hughes’ Stadium Anthems”.
The new suite is being “powered by Napster” and includes the ability for listeners to skip a certain number of songs per hour, much like other playlist based streaming music services.
Audacy today announced the launch of new exclusive music stations, available immediately to all listeners, that will build upon existing format offerings and bring new variety to its digital platform. The exclusive station collection is designed for fans by fans and will range widely across various music genres, moods and activities, enabling users to discover new music driven by their interests, favorite artists and upcoming events.
“Exclusive stations underscore Audacy’s commitment to a roadmap of innovation, with many more features and interactivity to come over the coming months,” said J.D. Crowley, Chief Digital Officer, Audacy.
The initial launch group of over 350 new stations are expertly curated by iconic Audacy brands, on-air personalities and influencers from across Audacy’s nationwide portfolio and collectively leverage millions of hours of human music compilation and audio production experience. Audacy’s exclusive stations will add more depth to existing formats on the platform and introduce new and unique genres to listeners. Stations will also be built by some of the biggest stars in the music industry, including Coldplay, Tiësto, Sofia Carson and Jake Owen at launch, with additional artist-programmed stations added in the coming weeks. Curators will leverage various listener usage data to continuously evolve and enhance the stations.
“This is an important next step toward a listener-centric digital content experience that reflects the strengths and attributes of the Audacy brand,” said Jeff Sottolano, Executive Vice President of Programming, Audacy. “These stations, created for fans by fans, including our industry-leading programmers, personalities and music’s biggest influencers, will allow us to deepen our connection between talent, artists and listeners. Together, we’ll introduce a greater variety of music, allowing us to generate even more opportunities to engage and entertain our rapidly growing digital audience.”
“I’m so happy to have joined forces with my Audacy family on the creation of my own exclusive station,” said Sofia Carson. “‘Sofia Carson’s Love List’ is a compilation of songs that I LOVE – the music I grew up listening to, combined with some of my recent favorites from artists I admire. I hope you love my ‘Love List’ as much as I do.”
“Powered by Napster,” a complete music and audio platform service, is powering the catalogue of Audacy’s exclusive stations. The stations will exclusively be available on its digital platforms, including the Audacy mobile app and web platform, along with smart speakers and, soon, connected devices. Audacy relaunched its digital platform in March as part of its transformational rebrand. Additional new interactive features will be introduced in the coming months.
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com