RAIN Publisher Kurt Hanson says NextRadio has to be looked at “with a dispassionate eye” and see how it does in a year.
According to the latest Emmis information, there have been more than 750,000 downloads of the NextRadio FM app. Hanson studied the figures and says the average user listens for a total of 80 minutes and then stops.
He also said at the RAIN conference here in Indianapolis ahead of the Radio Show that NextRadio is inaccurately named, because it’s really an “easier way to get the previous generation of radio.”
He’s not sure consumers care that the app conserves smartphone battery power and suggested proponents focus on car dashboards, which NextRadio has been working on.
The Internet audio proponent had similar harsh words for HD Radio, saying the “secret channels” are too secret and they have “unmemorable” programming; he also believes the channel numbering system, meaning how the main HD and multicast channels are displayed is “unweildy.”
