As the dust continues to settle on the major announcement of Clear Channel welcoming Cumulus’ 570 stations to its iHeartRadio streaming platform, the latest news is about Townsquare Media’s radioPup app—it will be adding stations from other groups as well, but there will be no announcements when they’re added. RBR-TVBR spoke with Alex Berkett, Townsquare EVP/Business Development and Mergers and Acquisitions. The radioPup personalized radio app is designed for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android devices.
Bill Wilson, EVP/Chief Digital Officer, has already stated they’re in discussions with other groups.
Berkett confirms: “We’re in discussions with other radio owners about coming onboard with RadioPup and users of the application should expect to see more stations added to the application over time.”
Sources say these stations will be added quietly. They’ll just start showing up on the app, no fanfare. When Townsquare partners with other radio companies, they’ll provide the same radioPup bells and whistles for their stations as well. Like Cumulus and Clear Channel’s deal with iHeart Radio, any ads placed in the station stream as part of a PadioPup buy will be shared.
radioPup features 160+ local radio stations streaming the music and news. Covering Country, Classic Rock, Hip-Hop / R&B, Pop, Lite Sounds, Sports, News/Talk, Classic Hits, Rock and more, RadioPup also offers personalized news, video, photo galleries & audio content from its local stations and featured national entertainment sites. Personalized weather forecasts and push notifications for timely news and information on the go is also part of the mix.
RBR-TVBR observation: It makes sense, as Townsquare’s focus is with smaller markets. The announcement of Cumulus’ 570 stations is pretty significant. If Townsquare adds a 15-station group and makes a major announcement about it, it will have to do the same with a single station added from a different owner. It looks like the focus will stay with smaller market stations looking to find a larger audience from an aggregator.
