Clear Channel Radio Releases Beta Of The New iHeartRadio
Clear Channel Radio Releases Beta Of The New iHeartRadio
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For the First Time Ever, Users Can Listen To the Nation鈥檚 Top Live Radio Stations and Create Custom Radio Stations, All In One Free, Fully-Integrated Service
Offers Custom Stations With More Songs, Better Music Intelligence, More User Control and Deeper Social Integration That Are Commercial-Free Through the End of the Year
Beta Version Available Today to iHeartRadio Fans on Facebook
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New York, NY 鈥 September 8, 2011 鈥 Clear Channel Radio, the leading media company in America with a greater reach than any radio or television outlet, today announced the beta release of the New iHeartRadio.
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The New iHeartRadio brings users a best-in-class customizable digital listening experience, one which combines the best of both worlds to deliver everything listeners want in one free, fully-integrated service: More than 800 of the nation鈥檚 most popular live broadcast and digital-only radio stations from 150 cities, plus user-created Custom Stations which provide listeners more songs, better music intelligence, more user control and deeper social media integration.
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With 50 million listening hours a month and 34 million downloads of iHeartRadio mobile apps, Clear Channel is already one of the most popular digital music destinations.
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As part of Clear Channel鈥檚 commitment to social media integration, from today until September 14 fans can access the beta by first 鈥楲iking鈥 iHeartRadio on Facebook (facebook.com/iheartradio) and then going to iheartradio.com. Beginning September 14, users can experience the beta by going directly to iheartradio.com.
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Reinventing the Digital Radio Experience: Real Radio plus Custom Stations Featuring More Songs, Better Music Intelligence, More User Control and Deeper Social Media Integration
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The newest feature of the New iHeartRadio beta is the ability for users to create their own personalized Custom Stations by simply entering an artist or song 鈥 and iHeartRadio does the rest. These Custom Stations offer users a number of industry-leading features, including:
More Songs 鈥 iHeartRadio listeners can draw from a massive catalog of more than 11 million songs and 400,000 artists 鈥 more than 10 times the number of songs offered by Pandora. In fact, iHeartRadio鈥檚 library contains more albums than Pandora鈥檚 does songs.
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Better Music Intelligence 鈥 iHeartRadio鈥檚 music intelligence capability combines a sophisticated technology solution with millions of dollars鈥 worth of ongoing consumer music research and the expertise of Clear Channel鈥檚 leading radio programmers to give users the best custom radio experience available.
More User Control 鈥 By adjusting a simple onscreen 鈥榗ontrol slider,鈥 iHeartRadio users can 鈥榯une鈥 their Custom Station to play the music catalog鈥檚 more familiar songs 鈥 or adjust it to a discovery mode to play a wider variety of artists and music. A 鈥淭humbs Up鈥 or 鈥淭humbs Down鈥 feature allows users to indicate song preferences to further personalize their Custom Stations.
Deeper Social Media Integration 鈥 iHeartRadio鈥檚 innovative user Profile Pages and social media tools show users what songs their friends have recently listened to and the songs and artists they like, which serves as yet another means to greater discovery as well as a deeper, more meaningful listening experience. Listeners can also share songs and stations by posting to Facebook and Twitter.
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Other key features of iHeartRadio鈥檚 Custom Stations are:
鈥淢y Stations,鈥 which will act as a bookmark allowing users to save their favorite real and custom stations and easily access them with a single click; 鈥淢y Stations鈥 stay in sync between the web and users鈥 mobile devices for quick access at home and on the goNo monthly cap on listening hoursCustom Stations will be commericial-free until the end of the year听 And as always, iHeartRadio鈥檚 live radio stations allow listeners to tune into their favorite programming no matter where they are 鈥 including music, talk, news, comedy and sports 鈥 from Clear Channel鈥檚 more than 800 stations, and offers exclusive content from popular local radio DJs plus top syndicated personalities like Ryan Seacrest, Elvis Duran, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Steve Harvey, Glenn Beck, Jim Rome, Bill Handel and Delilah.
The New iHeartRadio will be available for the iPhone beginning on Monday, September 12; the app will also be compatible with the iPad and iPod Touch. Android and other platforms will follow in the near future. iHeartRadio鈥檚 current mobile app lets listeners take their favorite live stations and DJs with them wherever they go, and is available on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Blackberry, Android, Windows Phone 7, Mac, and PC.
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Clear Channel will release the official New iHeartRadio at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 23 and 24. This two-day music event, which sold out in ten minutes, is hosted by Ryan Seacrest and will mark the biggest live concert festival in radio history. It features an extraordinary line-up, including Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Coldplay, Kenny Chesney, The Black Eyed Peas, Steven Tyler, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Underwood, Jane鈥檚 Addiction, Nicki Minaj, John Mayer, David Guetta, Rascal Flatts, Bruno Mars, Sublime with Rome, Kelly Clarkson and special performances from Usher and Sting.
鈥淲ith the New iHeartRadio, we took something that was already amazing and made it even better,鈥 said Bob Pittman, Chairman of Media and Entertainment Platforms for Clear Channel. 鈥淭he New iHeartRadio will reinvent the digital radio experience by offering the innovative features that listeners want the most 鈥 live real radio plus the ability to create Custom Stations, all in one integrated service. And we released the New iHeartRadio beta on Facebook so that our most passionate fans could be the first to experience the new product.鈥
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鈥淭he knowledge behind our new user-created Custom Stations is unparalleled,鈥 Pittman continued. 鈥淐lear Channel is uniquely able to combine the knowledge and passion of industry-leading radio programmers, an extraordinary library of songs and unique, best-in-class algorithms; we also continue to invest millions of dollars in ongoing consumer music research and technology, which pays off in our unmatched personalized music-matching experience. The end result is a digital radio product that offers fans the top live stations plus user-created Custom Stations with more songs, more user control, deeper social integration and more opportunities to discover new music 鈥 all in one easy-to-use, seamless product.鈥
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鈥淭he New iHeartRadio advances our strategy of being everywhere our listeners expect us to be, with the best products and services,鈥 said John Hogan, President and CEO of Clear Channel Radio. 鈥淚t also serves our partners in the music industry by increasing our commitment to new music and music discovery and will provide our advertising partners with yet another powerful vehicle to enhance their marketing plans.鈥
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Hogan added, 鈥淭he upcoming iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas lets us get the word out about this new service quickly and on a scale that has never before been utilized for a media product launch.鈥
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Artists and/or event subject to change or cancellation without notice.