Reliability:

First and foremost, software reliability is essential. Without a reliable system, nothing else matters. Your online radio station needs to be running 24/7, so it’s crucial to choose software that is dependable and has a solid reputation. There’s nothing worse than your station going down in the middle of a show or losing listeners due to buffering or connection issues. Take the time to research and read user reviews on review platforms like Capterra, Trustpilot, and G2 before committing to a platform.

Automation:

Another key feature to consider is automation. Before the recent arrival of efficient options, I spent hours configuring my shows manually. Having the ability to automate certain aspects of your online radio station can be a lifesaver. Look for software that has robust automation features such as scheduling playlists, repeating calendar shows, rotations, auto DJ, and automatic failover in case of connection issues.

Customization:

Customization of your station page is another important feature to consider. Making your online radio station unique will set it apart from the competition. Look for software that gives you the ability to customize your page theme and interface, and to add a logo and branding. Your listeners will appreciate the personal touch. Remember to customize your social media channels as well to ensure brand consistency.

Interface:

Having a user-friendly interface is also important. Running your online radio station shouldn’t give you a headache. Therefore, pick software like Airtime Pro that has an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it simple to upload music, schedule playlists, and manage your station from one central location.

Integration:

Finally, integration with other platforms will help you reach as many listeners as possible. Look for software that integrates with popular platforms like iTunes, TuneIn, and Spotify, allowing your listeners to find and tune into your station with ease. Also, if you intend to live broadcast, be sure that your software can be easily integrated with third-party broadcasting apps like MIXX, BUTT, SAM Broadcaster, and  Nicecast.

Other things to consider

In addition to these key features, there are a few other factors to keep in mind when choosing online radio software. For example, it’s important to consider the type of support and resources that the software provider offers. Look for a platform that provides helpful documentation, tutorials, and support options to help you get the most out of your software.

Finally (and this probably goes without saying), consider what you get for your money. While there are plenty of cheap options out there, it’s often worth investing in a software platform that provides more robust features and support. Just be sure to factor in the cost of the software when planning your budget.

By focusing on these features and factors, you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful and unique online radio station that your listeners will love. At Airtime Pro, we’re committed to providing online radio software that makes it easy for you to create and manage your own online radio station.

Try it out for yourself and see why Airtime Pro is the perfect platform for your online radio needs!

The post 5 Must-Have Features in Online Radio Software appeared first on Airtime Pro.

 

Step 2: Engage your current listeners

Keep your content updated and try to explore new music avenues

Now you’re at the point where you can analyse your content and shows to see which show or style of music gets the most attention. Is it the radio shows where you speak about specific topics? Or the ones that you just play a specific genre of music. By identifying your most popular content, will help you create better programming for your station. So, for example: if you see that the number of listeners peaks when you play Alternative Rock and drops when you play Electronica, then you may consider dropping the Electronic music and emphasise more Alternative Rock. Now that you know that a good amount of your listeners listen to Alternative Rock you can do a bit of research on the demographics of listeners of this specific genre. During your research you might even find that listeners of Alternative Rock also like similar genres such as Brit Pop, Emo or Post Rock. For this example I Googled ‘alternative rock similar genre’ and got the following search result:

Another great way to find similar genres is through platforms like Spotify, YouTube and Lastfm. By adding more genres to your programme, you can give your listeners more diverse content and at the same time attract new listeners that enjoy listening to those genres. In this way you keep your programming updated so that your station doesn’t become repetitive and boring for your fans. 

 

6+1 Ways to retain and engage your listeners

Engaging your listeners makes them feel they matter, thus providing a foundation for stronger ties, which helps strengthen your brand recognition and listener retention.

Here are some great ways to engage your listeners:

1. Interact with them, ask questions, answer their questions and comments, and be playful!

You can implement a chat on your site to give them a way to interact with you and each other. You can also create a Facebook group where they can share opinions, playlists, favourite shows or any media format they like (text, video, music, images…). 

2. Ask for song requests

People love to request their favorite songs, being in a club, in a bar or calling into the radio station. They will feel that they are part of the show and will stick around till they hear to their request.

3. Make use of your social media pages

You can create social media pages on Facebook and Twitter where you can share news and the latest updates about your station, your programmes and shows and even news about the industry and the world. 

4. Make use of platforms like YouTube, SoundCloud, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Reddit, Flickr.

There are plenty of platforms you can use to engage with your listeners. You need to identify which of the available platforms are the most popular amongst your audience and try to utilise them. You can even ask your fans in a playful way through your chat or group to state their favorite platforms where they tend to spend most of their time.

5. Let them know what to expect

Another great way to make your listeners stay longer with your station is to let them know what’s coming up next, in the next half hour, which will be the next show or what to expect later on in the week. For example if you are hosting a special interview or a themed show, you may want to let them know way in advance so that they don’t miss out. You can even make use of teasers to keep them in the loop of what’s coming next.

6. Run competitions and giveaways.

Finally, running giveaways is another way to give your audience a reason to tune in. Everyone likes a nice prize and they will want to stay tuned in to see if they won.

 

Extra Tip: And here is a great tip from Bob Gaye from Airtime Pro station D-103 RADIO NETWORK: 

Record listeners’ voice drops and put them on the air. People love to hear themselves on the radio. Create a monthly theme for all (12) months of the year and select the music that will be a perfect fit. Promote your radio station TEAM and not just yourself.

In all the above ideas, the common thread is engagement: you will need to interact with the community, welcome new members, identify and nurture power users, and reward contributors when possible and appropriate. If you have more ideas, please share them in the comments section. 

 

 

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So, you have your Airtime Pro station already set up and you want to place it on your website, right? Easy. Airtime Pro’s Radio Player is a flexible widget that in a few easy steps can be embedded with just one line of HTML code so that your online radio station can be seen and listened to by anyone, anywhere on the internet.

To get started promoting your station in this way, go to Widgets in your Airtime Pro dashboard and select Player. 

Here, you have two choices. The Simple Radio Player displays the track or show your station is currently playing as well as the upcoming track, and there is the option to display icons for Twitter and Facebook, which lets listeners share your station with their social media followers. 

Cover Art is a responsive version of the Radio Player that will additionally display each song’s full-colour cover art as they play out, automatically based on the track’s metadata. When listeners click play on this version, the cover art will spin in an eye-catching way.

Select the version you prefer. 

Below that, there are additional options to customise your player: 

• In the Title section, type in your station’s name or tagline, and it will appear in the upper left corner of the player. 

• Select “Auto detect the most appropriate stream to use” to give listeners on mobile devices the option to save data by using a lower quality “mobile stream”. 

• Display or remove Facebook and Twitter icons that listeners can click to share your programming with their own social media followers.

• Include an icon for the embed code so that anyone can grab it and place your station’s Radio Player on any website they want.

On the bottom of your Player page (see below), you will find your unique embed code, which you will copy and paste into your target website’s HTML.

You can add any text you want just before the code to introduce it, such as “Listen to My Cool New Online Radio Station”. Disclaimer*: A few website builder template services don’t allow iFrames at all or require additional plug-ins to work. If you run into any problems, consult with your service to see if it accepts iFrames and has a workaround. Also, keep in mind, iFrames can only display content from sites that use the same Hypertext Transfer Protocol you use. If your site uses HTTPS, you will only be able to embed content from other HTTPS sites. Likewise, if you use HTTP, you can only embed HTTP URLs.

Voila…it’s that easy! As long as this Radio Player iFrame code is embedded in your target website(s), all of the information and audio from your station will be transmitted there in real time. Place it prominently on your station’s homepage, blog or social media and encourage fans to share it on theirs.

Ready to start your own internet radio station? Test our internet radio broadcasting software today with a 7-day free trial, no credit card required.

The post How to Embed Airtime Pro’s Radio Player on Your Website appeared first on Airtime Pro.

Dashboard Tracks

We transformed the Now Playing screen into a Dashboard view that allows you to schedule tracks and manage your library more efficiently in a single view. We also made the layout more intuitive, consistent, and responsive across more screen resolutions and devices.

Smart Block Editor Dynamic Tabbed

This update also lays the foundation for some exciting new features we’re planning to bring you over the coming months. We’re not quite ready to unveil them just yet, but when we’re finished, they’ll form part of our next open source release, Airtime 3.0.

At Sourcefabric, we’re committed to empowering independent media through open source, and we intend to continue helping independent radio around the world by releasing this powerful new version of Airtime to the community next year.

Summary of changes

• The new, streamlined interface makes it easier to find and use some of our best features like the Smart Block Editor.
• The Dashboard view offers a powerful tabbed editing interface allowing multiple playlists to be edited more easily within the workspace.
• The Upload page now allows you to drag and drop an entire folder of tracks from your computer to be uploaded.
• The update includes dozens of usability enhancements and a new layout that offers a better experience across more screen resolutions and devices.

We’ve prepared a short tutorial explaining these changes for you. Enjoy watching it!

Are you looking to further streamline your broadcasting workflow or distribute audio on other platforms? Let us know what you’d like to see next from Airtime Pro on our Facebook page or Twitter! Interested in running your own internet radio station? Sign up today for a 7 day trial of Airtime Pro!

The post Introducing a new look for Airtime Pro appeared first on Airtime Pro.

Simply put, college radio is an institution, one we’re proud to help drive into the 21st century.

So, in the interest of doing just that, and creating greater access to more powerful tools around the world, we’re excited, even proud to offer a 45% discount for all new academic Airtime.pro plans between now and the end of October. After October, we will be featuring an ongoing discount of 30% to all academic plans. 

How do I qualify?

It’s easy. Be a student or a teacher and have the account affiliated with an educational organization. While we’d love to open this up to everyone, we think that we can have the greatest impact this time around by engaging with academic institutions. We’re not exactly shy with our promotional offers (it’s a hazard of believing so strongly about what you build), so keep an eye on this blog.

Some of the benefits you can offer your college or university with Airtime Pro include:

• Live and pre-recorded interviews with special guests – students, professors, local bands, visiting speakers, local politicians
• Engage your community
• Promote important discussion
• Broadcast critical school updates
• Share the creative work of the student body
• Share recorded lectures online
• Easy, affordable practicum opportunity for public speaking, broadcasting, and presentations
• Go it alone or develop complex team-building exercises

Additional new features can be found here.

As much as we’d like to, we can’t run this promotion forever, so to take advantage of the 45% discount, sign up by the end of October. Ensure that you and your school has the opportunity it needs to benefit from Airtime.pro’s powerful solution and slick, easy interface.

Connect with us, be the next voice, whether you’re Rodney on the Rock or Ira Glass, John Peel or Dr. Demento, get Airtime.pro and be heard.

The post Shape the future of college radio with the new education discount appeared first on Airtime Pro.

To enable uploading to SoundCloud, go to the Preferences page under System, and click “Connect to SoundCloud”.

Connecting to SoundClound is easy

When you left-click on a track in your library, you’ll now see a new option allowing you to upload the track to SoundCloud:

You can now upload the tracks to SoundCloud

Are you looking to further streamline your broadcasting workflow or distribute audio on other platforms? Let us know what you’d like to see next from Airtime Pro on our Facebook page or Twitter!

Interested in running your own internet radio station? Sign up today for a free 7 day trial of Airtime Pro!

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