There’s a new feature in the iHeartRadio app that lets listeners send voice messages to air talent on participating iHeart radio stations.
“Engage with your favorite on-air hosts and DJs in on-air conversations by tapping, recording, and sending your voice directly from within the iHeart app for iOS and Android,” the company tells listeners on its website.
The user navigates to a participating live station, taps the mic button and records a voice message up to 30 seconds, and hits Send. The voice recording is sent to the station.
The feature only works on participating iHeartRadio live radio stations. The user has to have the latest iOS or Android app.
TechCrunch reports that the feature also will roll out to interested iHeartRadio podcasters who opt in come April.
“What makes this offering unique,” TechCrunch reports, “is that the recordings aren’t just going to some inbox somewhere — Talk Back is integrated with the proprietary iHeartRadio content management system, so the voice recordings are available to use, live on air, within about 10 seconds after sending.”
In a blog post, iHeart said it expects listeners will use it to send song requests and participate in on-air conversations. “This first-of-its-kind feature makes it simple for listeners to pause their listening, join in the conversation or make a request using their voice, and then seamlessly unpause and return them back to the content they were listening to. And with Talkback, the studios aren’t just receiving a transcript of what was said, but will hear users’ actual voices and be able to play them back in front of millions of other listeners.”