• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Entercom To Rebrand as Audacy

One primary aspect is that they're abandoning the Radio.com branding and website because they're much more than just "radio" today. Toward the bottom of that news item, there are mentions of podcasts, on-demand and interactive technologies. Elsewhere it points out things like gaming and distribution.

I also found the snippets below to be quite telling. Entercom is just the latest company to move away from radio or radio-themed branding:

"Entercom is the latest company to rename itself to reflect an expansion beyond its broadcast radio roots, following in the footsteps of iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel), Urban One (formerly Radio One) and Uforia (the brand name for Univision Radio).

Since merging with CBS Radio in late 2017, Entercom says it has evolved into a “scaled, multi-platform audio content and entertainment organization” with positions in broadcasting, podcasting, digital, network, live experiences, music, sports and news."
True, but “IHeartRadio” is still the name of the broadcasting and streaming arm of IHeartMedia. So it’s the “IHeartRadio App” and it’s an “IHeartRadio Station” which makes sense. If Entercom is now going to start telling people “This is WBBM, an Audacy Station and live everywhere on the Audacy App” people are going to be like wtf is that? People knew what the Radio.com app was about. People know what the “IHeartRadio” app is about. People are not going to know anything about Audacy. Also, you know you came up with a bad name when the computer’s spell checker keeps wanting to auto-correct Audacy to Audacity!
 
People are not goingAlso, you know you came up with a bad name when the computer’s spell checker keeps wanting to auto-correct Audacy to Audacity!
That proves they did not test the name well.

reminds me of early spell checking in Word that wanted to change Beasley to “beastly”.
 
Entercom is changing its corporate name, and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange as Audacy, Inc. under the ticker AUD. Date of the change is not yet confirmed.
 
Check the background of the last company to use the "Audacy" moniker; funny stuff. Perhaps the new Audacy will follow in its namesake's footsteps in more ways than one!

Davey Field probably hopes the name change will compel everyone to forget how badly he screwed up so many of his radio properties.

Audacy reminds me more of "audacity" than odyssey!

The company formerly known as Entercom was the victim of multiple major security breaches over the past two years and hasn't even figured out how to disseminate accurate playlist data to the web sites of many of its radio stations. Why on earth would anyone place their faith in this company to properly manage digital audio content?

If I were an existing or would-be podcaster, I guess I do not exactly understand the value proposition or competitive advantage Audacity provides to me vis-à-vis Apple, Google Play, Spotify, Buzzsprout or Podbean.
 
Last edited:
Turning their backs on radio and instead feeling that the future is with podcasts of Boomer Esiasion and Demi Lovato...Audacy = luge ride to oblivion. They are clueless.
 
I do not exactly understand the value proposition or competitive advantage Audacity provides to me vis-à-vis Apple, Google Play, Spotify, Buzzsprout or Podbean.

Do you do a podcast? If you did, you'd understand the difference. All those other platforms are merely that: Platforms. They don't in any way route potential listeners to your specific podcast. The podcaster is responsible for driving traffic to their own podcast. The radio companies help podcasters direct their existing audience to related podcasts on their platform. iHeart is pretty good at this. NPR is probably the best. Still, if you're a podcast creator, placement is not a one-or-the-other thing. You want your podcast on ALL platforms. I see the research an the initial location is usually not the defining factor.
 
Turning their backs on radio and instead feeling that the future is with podcasts of Boomer Esiasion and Demi Lovato...Audacy = luge ride to oblivion. They are clueless.

There was a great documentary about the rise of gas stations at the turn of the last century. A lot of blacksmith shops started adding gas pumps to their barns. They didn't stop putting shoes on horses. But their location usually made them optimal stops for cars seeking fuel. Same with podcasts. They're not stopping their heritage business. Just expanding it. They're not "turning their backs" on anything. That's YOUR interpretation and your attempt to redefine their business to suit your agenda.
 
That info is helpful; thank you.

At some point, there will be consolidation in that space. I am skeptical that the Audacity platform will be a long-term survivor.

In the case of NPR, they don't allow just anyone to invade their space, do they? What I mean by that is this - the content needs to fit NPR's mission & core values, correct? In other words, the nature of the content needs to be compatible with the NPR brand.
 
Excellent commentary, David Eduardo.

I share your strong dislike for inclusion of corporate names in TOH station IDs. It's yet another piece of clutter that adds no value to the listening experience.
 
I share your strong dislike for inclusion of corporate names in TOH station IDs. It's yet another piece of clutter that adds no value to the listening experience.

The call letters could be described the same way. They're there for only one reason: They're legally required by the FCC. In this case, they're required by the guy who signs the paychecks. There's such a thing as company pride. The people who work there can tell their relatives across the country that they work for the same company that's in their town. Sure you can find all kinds of reasons not to do something. But these folks know what business they're in. They know people pay them money to have their products sold on their stations, so why not use that same platform to sell themselves? The folks at Sirius push the brand name all the time. The new Apple Radio stations brand themselves and push the Apple brand all the time. That's why they're there: To sell computers and phones. So don't kid yourself. Don't like branding? Buy the CDs and listen to the music on your own player.
 
That info is helpful; thank you.

At some point, there will be consolidation in that space. I am skeptical that the Audacity platform will be a long-term survivor.
Spotify and Apple Podcasts (and Stitcher and probably others that I have not used) have robust interfaces for discovering podcasts. Literally all Apple Podcasts consists of is a directory and search engine for podcasts, plus an audio player that fetches recent episodes of the things you subscribe to. Spotify and Stitcher both have a directory/search and show ads for their own podcast productions, much in the same way Audacy probably does.

Now, is it likely that someone will find you on Apple Podcasts, unless you have some pre-existing celebrity? Probably not. It's a big world out there. But the cost of entry is pretty low too.

My question about the long-term survivors would be the pure-play podcast companies, like Podcast One (who produces Adam Carolla).

In the case of NPR, they don't allow just anyone to invade their space, do they? What I mean by that is this - the content needs to fit NPR's mission & core values, correct? In other words, the nature of the content needs to be compatible with the NPR brand.
Yeah, the NPR podcasts are produced and distributed by NPR. Some may be co-produced, not sure. I'd disagree with BigA, though - NPR is among the worst at conversion because the NPR podcasts were banned from being mentioned on the air by the member stations a few years ago.
 
Seems foolish to give up "radio.com" as a domain. As far as the name change is concerned, I think they left a letter out. I think they should have called it Audiacy - short for Audio Idiocy.
 
Seems foolish to give up "radio.com" as a domain.

I don't think they're giving it up. It won't be available on the domain marketplace anytime soon. They retain a number of domain names that they don't use publicly. A lot of companies do this. They'll just route traffic to the new domain.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom