Responsive Radio & Unified

Station Management

2014 Radio Academy Awards

Submission for “Best Technical Innovation” (E2)

Jonty Usborne

Head of Online1449AM URB

University Radio Bath

1449am URB

The 1449AM URB Listener Experience

URB launched on UK Radioplayer in 2013 to revolutionise thelistener experience and spark the rediscovery of radio. We’veaccomplished this by breaking down the barriers between presenterand listener, and radically rethinking the way they interact. Ourbackend model has been reimagined and complemented by newinnovative public-facing products, and, critically, both have beengrown to work in unison.

Described by managing director of UK Radioplayer, Michael Hill,as “one of the most interesting Radioplayer implementations anywhereon the network”, and by former chair of the Student Radio Association,Fred Bradley, as being “even more brilliant than [he] thought on facevalue”, our online console saw an increase in listenership of 132% asmeasured three months after launch and compared with the sameperiod in the previous year.

Responsive Radio

We believe it should no longer be the responsibility of the listener tointeract with a station for personalised content they love. It’s thisphilosophy which prompted URB to embrace a new innovativesolution and approach to broadcasting. We call it “responsive radio”.

Ours is an industry where creativity and apparent spontaneity isoften planned, timed and rehearsed. URB’s programming, bycontrast, is dynamically influenced by listeners via our new onlinemusic product - URB ReQuester. ReQuester connects the audiencewith the output, and reinvents their radio experience. We’ve invertedthe conventional listener-station relationship by reaching out to ourlisteners rather than expecting them to reach out to us.

The service is integrated within our Radioplayer console andlisteners are invited to connect via Facebook for a uniquely tailoredjourney of on-air music discovery. For every connected listener, apersonalised and forever organically changing “Taste Profile” is born.This is an anonymous catalogue of music associations, based on theirand their friends’ habits on Facebook and linked services such asSpotify. The taste of listeners who provide minimal information canalso be estimated and extrapolated based on demographics and theirsimilarities with existing users.

As is common with music discovery engines, third-party algorithmsprovide music recommendations based on preferences identified in the

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user’s profile. However, URB has taken this concept further. Wesimultaneously analyse the profiles of all currently active listeners toprovide a playlist of suggestions based on their aggregate taste.Suggested tracks are then played out live on-air, reinforcing theintimacy and immediacy of radio, and shifting the burden of forginga dynamic relationship from the listener to the station.

During shows of “URB Nonstop” music where no presenter is livein a studio, this process is fully automated. For live broadcasts,presenters are continuously updated with the shifting Taste Profile ofthe listener pool, and can adjust their music schedule accordingly.

Limits imposed on the rate at which these socially generatedrequests are honoured ensures continued influence, but preventsdomination, of ReQuester over our broadcast. Configuring thevariable ratio of pre-programmed to responsive content is an editorialteam of music and production sta�.

Targeted Content

Complementing ReQuester’s social innovation, URB’s online consoleadditionally embraces the station’s umbilical link with the studentcommunity. As a university station, we are connected not onlyculturally to the nuances of a campus institution, but technologicallyto the University’s information infrastructure. Students and sta�listening to URB online while simultaneously accessing otheracademic services are passively identified to our system. Incollaboration with University and Students’ Union databases, thisallows us to target content to specific sets of listeners. Exposure ofcertain advertisements can be restricted to members of a society, orto students who have not yet voted in Union elections for example.

Visualised Content

The biggest push in 21st century radio has been the increase invisualised content. As well as providing a single platform for audioand video broadcast, URB’s Radioplayer application supplementson-air output with synchronised visual material. This feature wasfirst implemented in the form of clickable images displaying duringlive advertising slots in time with the corresponding audio broadcast.While the application of this feature to adverts is automated, theability to push visual content from live studios has dramaticallyexpanded the potential for presenters to engage with their listeners.

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Studio Control

The entire listening experience was developed with two end-usergroups in mind: the listeners and the presenters. The presenters arejust as involved, not only receiving real-time information on theircurrent audience, but equipped with the tools to remotely influencethe Radioplayer window.

They can, for example, force a user’s window to highlight certainfeatures of the console. That might be displaying the webcam during avisual link, or drawing attention to a specific podcast or artist’s album.They can even type messages, including photos or links, addressed toan individual listener in response to an incoming message, a group ofpeople, or indeed listeners globally.

Unified Station Management Application

To drive this evolutionary leap where presenters and listenersbecome more closely joined, we moved first to consolidate ourstation’s backend services into a single web based portal, or “UnifiedStation Management Application”, where almost every aspect of thestation is controlled.

Presenters are able to make studios live, control information suchas the currently playing track, and access all incomingcommunication to the station including voicemail messages andRadioplayer correspondence. Outbound messages are also hostedfrom the same platform, as are multiple other services includingscheduling, audio logging, website content, advert management,podcasts, and more. The system also schedules events such asautomatically adjusting the volume at certain on-campus broadcastlocations, and intelligently responds to the unexpected, for instance,a no-show by a scheduled presenter.

Centralising access to all these tools has boosted sta� skills,improving the station’s performance across the board. But the realadvantage is its ability to facilitate the transition to a uniquelylistener focused station. All these pioneering features have combinedto push the boundaries of technology and creativity in a way whichhas elevated a small volunteer-run station to the point of making atangible impact on the landscape of modern, professional radio.

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Screenshots

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