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Radio gives control to listeners

As technology advances, so does the power of the listener.

Tech Crunch reported last Friday that a Tampa Bay radio station switched from station-controlled to listener-controlled. The article explained the radio station's use of iPhone and Android applications to allow the user not just control of what song is played, but also to play a mini introduction to a song by the user that is actually shared on the air:

A Cox Media-owned radio station switched from DJ control to user-control via phone applications last Friday.

(Friday), a Cox Media-owned radio station in Florida’s Tampa Bay is shifting its entire format to listener-controlled radio, now putting its audience in control of the songs that play 24 hours a day. It’s the first station among Cox Media’s 86 U.S.-based properties to do so on both web and mobile, if not the first in the U.S. to experiment with the format. Is this what the future of terrestrial radio looks like? It just might be.

What the future of radio looks like is a question that radio stations everywhere — and not just here in the U.S. — are struggling with. After all, what hope does radio have when anyone can play any music, on-demand, any time they want?

Read more at Tech Crunch.