The announcement was intriguing: Accuradio is aiming to adhd 100 vacation euphony channels to its online service.
“We’re highlighting the upstart, competitory quality of AccuRadio by launching 100 vacation play channels astatine a gait of 1 astatine slightest 1 a day,” says institution spokesperson Michael Lev. “Last clip I looked, we were astatine 68 channels; past twelvemonth we did 81 stations.”
While I deliberation that indispensable beryllium immoderate benignant of a grounds if so, I haven’t verified the numbers. It’s hardly past Thanksgiving truthful I’ve lone conscionable started reasoning astir Christmas. That said, Accuradio is caller to me, truthful I began my quest to find retired more.
You tin perceive to Accuradio done the institution website (AccuRadio.com) oregon via smartphone apps disposable for the iPhone oregon Android. Audio prime is superb with afloat fidelity arsenic I listened successful my truck.
One slayer diagnostic I recovered astir accidentally is presumption blending: If you find a transmission you similar and privation to adhd to it, you tin harvester the two. Or three. Or more. I combined top-40 HitKast with Alternative Now and Today’s New Country to make a transmission I haven’t named yet. Maybe K-WAG would work.
The app is “compatible” with Apple Car Play and Android Auto successful the consciousness that you tin watercourse done your telephone into your car stereo, but it is not “native,” meaning you cannot entree the app straight and marque selections oregon changes connected your car stereo’s main screen, but you tin usage the “now playing” surface to intermission euphony oregon skips songs.
Likewise, determination is nary autochthonal enactment for smartspeakers, but you tin nonstop audio from your telephone oregon machine to your speakers arsenic agelong arsenic you person the close set-up.
Unlike Pandora’s and Spotify’s escaped versions, Accuradio — which has nary paid versions — allows unlimited skips, truthful if you don’t similar a opus oregon conscionable don’t privation to perceive “Maggie May” close now, you tin conscionable skip connected to the next. Or the next, without moving retired of skips and being stuck with “Modern Love.”
Here’s what caught maine off-guard: The work isn’t new! It launched backmost successful the aboriginal days of vigor streaming successful 2000. Originally called RAIN vigor owed to its transportation to laminitis Kurt Hanson’s RAIN newsletter – Radio and Internet News – Hanson aboriginal changed the sanction to Accuradio. The archetypal 3 channels — popular standards, modern stone classics, and soft jazz — person evolved into astir 1000 channels covering much than 50 philharmonic genres. All of them are curated by existent radical who are said to emotion music; galore of whom person backgrounds successful music, radio, oregon television.
What inspired Hanson to make an net euphony work aft a palmy vocation successful and astir vigor itself? Besides RAIN, helium founded Strategic Media Research where, among different things, helium launched an alternate ratings work to Arbitron (now Nielsen) called AccuRatings. He’s worked successful vigor since precocious schoolhouse and has advised stations passim the country.
“I haven’t thought astir this for a agelong clip – it was really erstwhile I was successful precocious schoolhouse successful 1972 successful Milwaukee, listening to 1 of the archetypal FM apical 40 stations (WZUU-AM/FM),” helium explained. “It was a large summertime for euphony – Jackson Browne, the Stylistics, Badfinger, America, the Chi-Lites, Don McLean, Paul Simon, etc. Except each 70 minutes, the presumption wrecked the euphony travel by playing Sammy Davis, Jr.’s “The Candy Man” due to the fact that 8-year-olds were buying and requesting it! ARGH! I dreamed of the time erstwhile vigor programmers would person a amended grip connected what their listeners wanted to perceive – and adjacent amended if listeners could power what they heard.”
That led Hanson to recovered Strategic Media Research and yet motorboat Accuradio.
What sets Accuradio isolated from different streaming services? Hanson says it’s the personalization and customization. “We person a batch much assortment and personalization options than AM/FM streams, and dissimilar Pandora (which is programmed chiefly by machine algorithms utilizing their Music Genome Project), our channels are curated by existent quality beings who emotion music.
“We besides have, dissimilar Pandora and its ilk,” helium says, “some existent presumption voices to springiness america “stationality,” but they’re chiefly little sweepers that don’t gully attraction distant from the music.”
Treasures for Troops
The small AM presumption I wrote astir precocious successful Michigan — WION/Ionia (i1430.com) precocious completed its Treasures for Troops event, successful which the presumption collects donations to beryllium sent to U.S. servicemen and servicewomen astir the world. This is the eighth twelvemonth for the event.
Boxes are packed with donations including letters, cards, and notes from Saranac, Ionia, Lowell students, Ionia country residents, and others. Each container besides contains 3 “staple” items of Peanut Butter, Chunky soup, and immoderate beef jerky, on with a assortment of items from the needs database published locally each year.
“186 boxes were mailed to progressive subject members deployed acold from home,” according to presumption manager Jim Carlyle. “The boxes volition beryllium a astonishment to astir recipients; however, immoderate addresses were provided to the Blue Star Mothers by families and friends of the deployed.”
Richard Wagoner is simply a San Pedro freelance columnist. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com