Batanga, which offers fans of Latin music the opportunity to use its internet-based service to create their own customized radio stations, is expanding into the world of mobile audio with new availability as a free app on iPhone and iTouch.
Batanga says this version of the service retains all the functionality of its online version.
“The Batanga Radio App provides iPhone and iTouch users with the largest and most extensive catalog of Latin music available,” said Batanga Chairman and CEO, Rafael Urbina. “The launch of the Batanga Radio App provides U.S. Hispanics with the first-ever Latin focused radio app and instantly allows them to enjoy thousands of songs that could not be found on any other streaming radio application.”
RBR-TVBR observation: There is basically no niche in radio that is so specialized as to be immune from internet competition – indeed, it is probably the opposite, since it is much easier to start up an internet service and customers are available not just within the contours of a radio signal but worldwide.
Of course, radio stations can tap into that worldwide audience as well. And they can provide something the national services cannot: Local flavor. That is radio’s edge, and if radio fails to keep the local edge sharp, radio eventually will lose.
