Among radio companies with digital and online initiatives, ESPN has enjoyed success and is watched closely.
Now ESPN Radio offers its latest app, emphasizing personalization and the ability to rewind live audio streams; this is also the first ESPN Radio app optimized for the iPad.
Marc Horine, VP of digital and print media, emphasized the “complete control” that listeners will have to customize by sports, teams and specific athletes using the app, which is for use with iPhones, iPads and iPod touch. Versions for Android and Windows 7 smartphones are planned.
The app sponsor is Lowe’s. The basic version is free; the premium version ($4.99) adds the personalization and other enhancements.
One of the selling points is a feature that lets fans build their own sports stations. Users can search audio clips by a topic and create a station or playlist of favorite shows, teams, players and sports. Also new, users can pause and rewind up to an hour of live audio. Customized audio is pulled automatically into the app based on favorites. And a user can ask for audio content suggestions and sign up for alerts and push notifications.
The premium app provides access to streams from 35 ESPN Radio stations and various shows and other content.
