This story is excerpted from “The Cloud Shines for Radio,” a free ebook. It explores trends in how radio stations are using cloud-based technologies.
Among the dozen or so radio industry experts who spoke to us on this topic is Rick Cummings, a legendary major-market programmer. He was president of programming at Emmis Radio for 40 years; today he is a consultant to the company.
He told us about the use of a Radio.Cloud system at WEPN-FM and its new format that launched in January.
“La Exitosa, a bilingual AC at 98.7 FM in New York, is really our first foray into extensive cloud-based audio creation and content delivery,” he said.
“We are very proud of the result, as Exitosa debuted in the very crowded market with a .1 rating in every key sales demo and day part, in its first full month of Nielsen ratings in March of 2025. It is working just as we ‘drew it up.’”
He said the mission was a response to industry cost challenges and declining levels of Persons Using Measured Media.
“In 90 days, this launch placed us with or ahead of some of the top 20 New York radio outlets. This station has no management, no full-time staff, no physical studios. We oversee it collectively from corporate. It runs off an iPad at the transmitter site.”
He notes that many broadcasters talk about the need for innovation to remain competitive. “I agree, but only partially. AM/FM audio delivery remains, by far, the dominant platform; it’s just not as dominant as a generation ago when it was a true gatekeeper,” he said.
“Imagine a system where you have the fixed costs of a tower and an electricity bill in a market of 1 million people; once you’ve factored in those costs, the audio product you deliver only gets more efficient with each 1,000 AQH you’re able to generate. Streaming is the polar opposite — the greater your audience generation, the greater your costs exponentially.”
Cummings defers to engineers to discuss specific technical benefits. “However, one of the challenges we’ve encountered is that the technology is advancing more rapidly than the knowledge of the people creating the audio. Once in a while, it feels a little like trying to show Grandpa (and me) how to operate the TiVo.”
But, he concluded, “It seems only logical that, with advances in AI, aspects of broadcast that were, not so long ago, considered as ‘requiring real humans in real time’ to execute them, are now commonplace cloud solutions. I think this trend will only continue.”
The pace of implementing cloud-based systems in radio varies by company, market size and specific workflow applications. Yet clearly it is taking a growing role. Read the opinions of other radio experts about how stations are using cloud technology in “The Cloud Shines for Radio,” a free ebook.
