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MARK RAMSEY MEDIA

Apple and Google Want the Car Dashboard – Now

Feb 3, 2014

Apple and Google Want the Car Dashboard – Now

Dear Radio Listeners: Apple and Google want you! Even (and perhaps especially) when you’re in your car. Here’s a video showing some of the navigation functionality of the “coming soon” iOS upgrade: But don’t imagine that the functions will be limited to maps and directions. From 9to5Mac: iOS in the Car is a feature that allows customers to attach an iOS device to a compatible car center console via either wireless protocols or over a USB cable. An iOS interface for managing M

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Whatever Happened to Podcasting?

Nov 23, 2013

Whatever Happened to Podcasting?

[A longer version of this post appeared in NetNewsCheck] “Podcasting” is the term describing the creation and consumption of on-demand video and especially audio. It was the “next big thing” – about six or seven years ago. And today? Not so much. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of podcasting going on out there. It doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of people making and listening to them. It doesn’t mean podcasting lacks a place in our media portfolio. But podcasting is most

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11 Million New Users to iTunes Radio – in One Weekend

Sep 23, 2013

11 Million New Users to iTunes Radio – in One Weekend

Over 11 million unique listeners have already tuned in to iTunes Radio since launch with the most listened to song being “Hold On, We’re Going Home” by Drake. A “Pandora killer”? Of course not. But does some of that listening come from Pandora? You bet. Does some come from other iTunes listening? You bet. Is some of that listening brand new – borrowed from nobody in the radio space? You bet. Is some of that listening stolen from radio? Absolutely. There’s a slavish devotion a

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Radio’s Auto Dashboard Strategy: We’ve Got It All Wrong

Sep 19, 2013

Radio’s Auto Dashboard Strategy: We’ve Got It All Wrong

In the race to exploit new digital opportunities, Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker has described three “consumer Internet ‘white spaces’ yet to be reimagined.” One of these was the “ear” and another was the car. And she describes the latter as “largely untapped.” Naturally, broadcasters are in a tizzy because one industry’s white space is another industry’s breadbasket. Indeed, roughly two-thirds of radio listening occurs away from home, largely in autos. What to do? What

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4 Ways iTunes Radio Changes Everything

Sep 15, 2013

4 Ways iTunes Radio Changes Everything

This post was originally published by PBS’s MediaShift and is reprinted here with their permission. I wrote it shortly before last week’s spate of Apple announcements. The launch of Apple’s iOS 7 signals more than a major upgrade to Apple’s mobile operating system. Embedded in its feature set is an alternative to every music-playing radio station and every online radio service – iTunes Radio. But is iTunes Radio just another choice for music, along with Pandora, Spotify, and

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Newspaper Lessons in Transformation for Radio Broadcasters

Aug 22, 2013

Newspaper Lessons in Transformation for Radio Broadcasters

Invariably, that means some in the industry will become leaders while the rest become followers and even also-rans. Mike Hodges is one of the leaders. He’s President and COO of U-T San Diego (formerly known as the San Diego Union-Tribune), one of the largest and most profitable local media companies in Southern California. My conversation with Mike was one of the most popular Q&A’s from hivio, the radio ideas festival held this past June. Mike has tons of lessons for broadcas

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What’s ahead for Pandora? CTO Tom Conrad talks to Mark Ramsey

Jul 15, 2013

What’s ahead for Pandora? CTO Tom Conrad talks to Mark Ramsey

Here are some of the questions I asked Tom: How has Apple’s introduction of iTunes Radio changed the calculus for Pandora? Are you personally surprised by how big Pandora has become? Why has Pandora become so big and not its many competitors? What’s your secret sauce? Are there any plans to add spoken work/talk content to the platform? Are there any plans to add local traffic, weather and news to the platform? What will the Pandora user experience be like in 3 years? What pla

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Thank you, Apple!

Jun 4, 2013

Thank you, Apple!

It’s hard to speculate on Apple’s “iRadio” before there’s an “iRadio” to speculate on. But one day it will be announced any day now, so here goes nothing. Conventional wisdom says: Yikes, Apple is big! Pandora and Spotify are screwed! Yes, Apple is a Big Fish. But companies like Pandora and Spotify already face down Google and Amazon – firms with footprints as big and broad as Apple’s. Even though their music platforms can’t compare to Apple’s their advantages are extensive i

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“Pandora Helps Apple Sell More Music”

Apr 22, 2013

“Pandora Helps Apple Sell More Music”

Maybe it’s time to stop asking Pandora how they feel about Apple’s pending entry into the streaming radio marketplace and start asking Spotify the same question. So argues GigaOm in this piece. And just-released data from the NPD Group tell the tale: One third (38 percent) of U.S. consumers surveyed reported that it is still important to own music, and 30 percent believe that listening to albums is important. Among consumers who listened to music on Pandora and other free mus

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Too Many Apps, Not Enough Time

Feb 21, 2013

Too Many Apps, Not Enough Time

Are we suffering app overload? That’s the conclusion of Business Insider: People download a lot of apps, but they abandon 95 percent of them, according to a study by Nuance.The result: They keep using the same apps—Nielsen says Facebook, YouTube, Google Play, Google Search, and Gmail were the top five apps in both 2011 and 2012.And they’re not spending markedly more time in apps: 39 minutes a day in 2012 versus 37 minutes in 2011. While the Nuance stats are not new, the “if y

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What Happens to Radio when Technology Kills Mobile Phones?

Jan 2, 2013

What Happens to Radio when Technology Kills Mobile Phones?

There remains a drumbeat among some broadcasters to install FM radio into mobile phones, but what happens when some new technology kills off those mobile devices? From Business Insider: There is a line of thinking that the smartphone era will perish almost as quickly as it began.This is, after all, the natural way of technology. It’s defined by creative destruction. Just as the smartphone killed the flip phone, and the iPad is killing the traditional PC, something is going to

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Is Radio “Relevant”?

Nov 8, 2012

Is Radio “Relevant”?

I was struck by the following exchange about radio’s relevance – or lack thereof – from Radio Ink: Entercom CEO David Field got the hair on his back up a little bit yesterday when speaking at a Wells Fargo Media Conference yesterday. When answering a question about whether radio was relevant anymore, Field said there’s “a lack of respect for what radio is and has accomplished” out there. “More people listen to radio than ever before. When you aggregate all the other listening

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Apple’s “Pandora Challenge” is really a Radio Industry Challenge

Oct 26, 2012

Apple’s “Pandora Challenge” is really a Radio Industry Challenge

Apple is rumored to be launching a radio-like streaming service, and Bloomberg is missing the point. Yesterday, Bloomberg published a piece focused on Apple’s challenge to Pandora, yet it’s blind to the larger reality: Whatever targets a radio-like experience in mobile platforms (especially cars) and is advertising-supported is a significant challenge to ALL radio, not just the folks from Pandora. Especially if it flips a switch and on day one and has distribution across nume

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The Rise of “Radio as a Feature”

Oct 17, 2012

The Rise of “Radio as a Feature”

We are witnessing the dawn of a new age: The rise of radio as a feature. That means “radio” isn’t simply a media category run by media institutions. It is now a feature of other categories – a feature of brands themselves – brands which are capable of monetizing that feature in the same way traditional broadcasters do – with ads. This is another manifestation of one of my regular themes: Brands are now media. Brands are becoming “mediacized.” In the wake of unconfirmed go

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I’m Going to Stage a Secret Radio Meeting

Sep 19, 2012

I’m Going to Stage a Secret Radio Meeting

…much like the one being staged in “secret” at the NAB Radio Show right now. And like that meeting, the purpose of mine is to plot radio’s digital future. Because, as we all know, the future of any industry is best mapped out by its leading executives, locked together in a private room with nary a consumer in sight. Consumers will do what they’re told, after all. The control is all ours! This is how General Motors did it for years! I will make sure only to invite folks who

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“The Most Beautiful Product We’ve Ever Made”

Sep 13, 2012

“The Most Beautiful Product We’ve Ever Made”

That’s how Apple’s marketing chief, Phil Schiller, introduced the new iPhone yesterday. You can forgive the whiff of hyperbole because anyone who has any experience with Apple knows that its design aesthetic is 100% genuine and woven deep into its corporate DNA. It made me wonder, how often have we been able to say that about the radio products we create? How often have you been able to claim that today’s morning show or this break or that segue or your last personal appearan

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Apple wants to Erase your Radio Spots

Aug 21, 2012

Apple wants to Erase your Radio Spots

Another day, another technology-driven way to undo advertising. Forget the fact that advertising is what pays for most of the content we enjoy on TV or radio. Apple was just granted a patent for technology that would allow users to switch seamlessly to their own audio or video files once ads started playing on their TV or radio stations. I don’t know how this could affect listening to radio on traditional radios (still the way most folks get their radio) – it would certainly

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Apple’s New “Podcasts” App – Radio’s Friend or Foe?

Jun 28, 2012

Apple’s New “Podcasts” App – Radio’s Friend or Foe?

Podcasts are emerging from the dungeons of iTunes in their own dedicated app. You can get it yourself here. If you’re a podcast fan, immediately all your podcasts populate the app under the “podcasts” tab. Nice – and way overdue. Most interesting is the “Top Stations” tab. Apple seems to be reconceptualizing “shows” or “series” as “stations” (a dumb idea, if you ask me, since that distinction is so deeply embedded). Also interesting is the “swipe” metaphor to move from one

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Big Changes Coming for Podcasts – and Radio may be in the Bulls-Eye

Jun 18, 2012

Big Changes Coming for Podcasts – and Radio may be in the Bulls-Eye

From CultofMac: Apple’s developer release of iOS 6 created an instant mystery: Podcasts are missing from the iTunes app! In fact, references to “Podcasts” are in there. Things have been re-arranged, and podcasts deemphasized. Something is going on. The rumor and/or speculation is that Apple will spin podcasts out into a separate app (but keep it in the desktop version of iTunes). This prediction is supported both by funny business in the app, and also inside information from

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What Makes Radio Matter

Nov 15, 2011

What Makes Radio Matter

So the other day I was in Barnes & Noble for the first time in a long time. What a revelation! Where are the DVD’s?! Gone! And the music? Gone! Both replaced by a wide variety of “learning toys.” Meanwhile the “Nook” section was expanded and moved to the center of the store, complete with ultra-contemporary Apple-like design aesthetic. Remember when the bookstore sold books (and music and movies)? That was back when B&N competed against my dearly departed Borders, the

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