{"id":8199,"date":"2015-03-16T14:25:41","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T06:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=8199"},"modified":"2015-03-13T14:30:08","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T06:30:08","slug":"new-im-app-connects-radio-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2015\/03\/16\/new-im-app-connects-radio-fans\/","title":{"rendered":"New IM app connects radio fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Instant Messaging is how the world communicates. Person to person, group to group it is the new platform of sharing ideas, images and information. Now it includes live radio.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Hitch<\/a><\/p>\n

Introducing\u00a0Hitch Radio<\/a>,\u00a0the world\u2019s first instant messaging app for Radio. Twenty thousand Radio stations are searchable in real-time using song title, artist names and content keywords. With Hitch Radio users can connect with news and sports; with their favorite artists and bands; AND can also connect with their friends and make new ones all around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere tech meets radio has always been my passion,\u201d says Hitch Radio CEO Ayinde O. Alakoye, who was one of the original creators of iHeartRadio. \u201cThere are 4.2 billion Radio listeners in the world. Until now, there was no way to share that instant listening moment. We\u2019ve created a way for them to share these slices of air-time by making the messages last about as long as a song.\u201d<\/p>\n

How does Hitch work? Type in a song or subject and the app searches the world to find where it’s playing right now, so the user can Hitch-a-Ride on that live Radio station. Then send a message to a friend to invite them to Hitch-a-Ride on your Radio stream. When they Hitch, the Driver and can take them to whatever stream to listen to next.<\/p>\n

Hitch Radio turns radio from a passive to an active platform. People will be Hitching, Driving, Instant Messaging and Connecting…not just listening. It creates a new dynamic: people creating ad-hoc communities, but also creating a new platform for stations to engage listeners.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are saying it\u2019s like \u2018Snapchat for Radio\u2019,\u201d adds Alakoye. \u201cInstant messaging music or news with your closest friends is an interactive and intimate way to be in the moment together. Having them control your Radio dial turns it up a notch.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like this. Hitch-a-Ride to your friend Molly\u2019s live stream, but if her picks suck, try Hitching-a-Ride with Miley Cyrus. Celebrities can be personal Drivers.<\/p>\n

“When was the last time your pop idol sent you an instant message?” asks Ken Hertz, the LA entertainment attorney who represents such clients as Will and Jada Smith, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani and The Black Eyed Peas. “The (music) Industry can now stop thinking linearly. Hitch Radio’s approach exploits the arbitrage opportunity created by the existing compulsory licensing and digital collection schemes. They let artists bring listeners where their songs are being played in real-time to multiply their SoundExchange royalties.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introducing Hitch Radio, the world\u2019s first instant messaging app for Radio. Twenty thousand Radio stations are searchable in real-time using song title, artist names and content keywords. With Hitch Radio users can connect with news and sports; with their favorite artists and bands; AND can also connect with their friends and make new ones all around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,19,1779],"tags":[284,2739,2737,2742,904,2738,2741,2740],"class_list":["post-8199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apps","category-headlines","category-headlines-2","tag-app","tag-ayinde-o-alakoye","tag-hitch-radio","tag-iheartradio","tag-music-streaming","tag-radio-station","tag-radio-streaming","tag-streaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}