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New web-only station launched by John Gorman.
- Thread starter Telosian
- Start date
He's been running a stream all week as a test. I think the official debut is tomorrow. There is a solid team of pros behind the venture, both on-air and off. John has said for years that terrestrial and satellite aren't the way people listen to music. The growing popularity is online. I think oWOW will do well.
Online music is very popular. At this point, it's just not profitable. I wish him the best of luck with his venture.
This will be very interesting to watch. Somebody will have the expertise and business plan to monetize internet radio listening. Sure, odds might be against him but fear of failure can't be an excuse because you can never find success without tangling with the threat of failure.
What will be interesting from my perspective will be two things: how that monetization comes and how the website involves listeners in the 'radio' experience.
Advertising is priced on how many you reach. Internet only streams mostly have so few listening at a given time, nobody will bother but when you consider ads on the website, then number of visitors becomes more of a factor. It might be the site versus the stream makes the money.
The use of an interactive website 'enhances' the experience for listeners and helps to establish a bond with listeners. It will be interesting how this will play out. Some have used streaming video as well to enhance the experience. Others are involving posts in their shows in much the same way stations used the phones.
What will be interesting from my perspective will be two things: how that monetization comes and how the website involves listeners in the 'radio' experience.
Advertising is priced on how many you reach. Internet only streams mostly have so few listening at a given time, nobody will bother but when you consider ads on the website, then number of visitors becomes more of a factor. It might be the site versus the stream makes the money.
The use of an interactive website 'enhances' the experience for listeners and helps to establish a bond with listeners. It will be interesting how this will play out. Some have used streaming video as well to enhance the experience. Others are involving posts in their shows in much the same way stations used the phones.
Until music licensing fees are restructured to be more fair to internet stations, it's going to be extremely tough to make a profit with a music station. Also, there are SOOOOO many music stations out there, it's very difficult to stand out from the crowd and build a loyal audience. I've run my talk radio station for nearly five years and actually make a small profit, but I'm not going to be quitting the day job anytime soon.
I wish him a lot of luck. He will need it since he will be competing against his own local stations in Cleveland. I have been lucky because here in Mauritius the terrestrial stations do not have a specific format of music. When you tune in, you will hear a mixture of everything from local Sega to Bollywood and pop from the U.K. This drove me crazy while waiting on a rock song. When they did play a rock song, it was always "Still Loving You" by the Scorpions. I had heard that there were local rock artist here on the island and another island almost near by named Reunion. So I created a online station called Rock Mauritius Radio using the platform from the company I work for. I promoted it as the first and only rock station in Mauritius, therefore making rock history here on the island. The slogan is "Rocking the world from paradise". As time went on, rock bands came out of the wood work submitting their tracks from Mauritius, Reunion, and South Africa. Come to find out, there are almost 30 rock bands on this island alone. In the beginning it was hard to monetize my little local online station. The companies here can't wrap their heads around the concept of a online station only. So I did eventually get local sponsors and added affiliate links to the station's site. I have also have been merchandising with T-shirt sales and producing concerts.
Now a days the station is popular and I have listeners from over 80 other countries every day. I noticed while I was sleeping, over 70% of my listeners are American and Canadian. So now I am launching another station for the North American market called My Radio.Rocks. www.myradio.rocks I have almost everything in place and the apps will be available for every device very soon. I have recruited most of my DJ's and having the get familiar with the virtual studio and other features of Radiojar's platform so there will be no hick ups when the station officially launches. Right now, the same stream from Rock Mauritius Radio is heard from the station's website. I will use the same techniques to monetize this station as I did with Rock Mauritius Radio until American sponsors are on board with us. I have already made a little money from sales of the T-shirts and an affiliate program with rock.com.
As for royalties, not worried about it. I am very lucky that there are no royalty laws for streaming here in Mauritius as both stations are owned and operated from here.
Now a days the station is popular and I have listeners from over 80 other countries every day. I noticed while I was sleeping, over 70% of my listeners are American and Canadian. So now I am launching another station for the North American market called My Radio.Rocks. www.myradio.rocks I have almost everything in place and the apps will be available for every device very soon. I have recruited most of my DJ's and having the get familiar with the virtual studio and other features of Radiojar's platform so there will be no hick ups when the station officially launches. Right now, the same stream from Rock Mauritius Radio is heard from the station's website. I will use the same techniques to monetize this station as I did with Rock Mauritius Radio until American sponsors are on board with us. I have already made a little money from sales of the T-shirts and an affiliate program with rock.com.
As for royalties, not worried about it. I am very lucky that there are no royalty laws for streaming here in Mauritius as both stations are owned and operated from here.
Red: very few Rap hip hop internet stations pay royalties you never see live 365 or stream licensing on probably 90% of them....the RIAA has never sued anyone black for stealing and downloading music so why should they start now?
Me too. I've been thinking this is something that could work in a few years but this might be early. Still, I give it a chance because it's advertisers, not listeners who will determine its short term survival. With Gorman running it, it may intrigue others as it does me. I no longer live in Ohio so my listening may not help but I'm listening if only because I want to while I can. I like what they're doing.
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I agree with a lot of what's been said here. Gorman was a very vocal critic of Clear Channel for a long time. He tried doing broadcast syndication, and didn't have much luck, even though he had some legendary hosts. Now he's trying internet. He'll find it to be even more difficult than syndication. The hardest thing will be discovery. The next hardest thing will be to cover all the expenses. Royalties for internet radio are killing even the most popular operators. So even if he gets a lot of users, the costs will be hard to cover. Plus he has millions of online competitors. He's never faced the amount of competition he has now. Good luck!
John Gorman is a Facebook friend. He's been posting many articles from Cleveland media about the station. Plus, with the power of Facebook, that would help. At this very moment, the oWOW Fan page has 3314 likes.
Lets see it!!! You may be surprised that I like you !!
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