Radio World introduced you to the new PRSS MetaPub Platform a couple of weeks back. Now the initiative is partnering with NextRadio.
The announcement was made by NextRadio President Paul Brenner and NPR Distribution VP Michael Beach.
Both organizations have a keen interest in exploring the idea of enhanced radio services. The Public Radio Satellite System created MetaPub for its market to enhance programming with capabilities for displaying images, text and promo materials. Pubradio biggies NPR, American Public Media and Public Radio International have been involved and supply the metadata that feeds into the system and then to public stations and listeners. NextRadio meantime is the “hybrid radio” smartphone app from Emmis-backed TagStation (created with partial funding from NAB Labs); it uses cloud services to provide enhanced listening using FM tuning capability in smartphones combined with internet-based features.
Now here at the NAB Show, NextRadio and PRSS said MetaPub will integrate enhanced visual features and information from certain public radio programming into NextRadio. Shows that will serve data include “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered,” “Classical 24,” “BBC World Service,��� “Weekend Edition Saturday,” “Weekend Edition Sunday” and “Weekend All Things Considered.”
This integration “will allow public radio stations that air national shows to automatically set up the feed directly into NextRadio,” the organizations stated. “The result is a particular program or story enhanced with visual images along with other descriptors such as the title of the show, the topic at hand, the host or other elements.”
They said stations and producers thus will have the opportunity for “increased revenue potential and listener engagement,” as well as the ability to collect listener data via NextRadio app tracking.
