Interesting stuff about how the…we need a term for all the streamers like the New Radio….the New Radio are starting to involve more humans.
Now that people assume bots lurk behind most every online experience, they seem to place more value on a human presence. Slacker, a seven-year-old Internet radio service, has 65 curators on staff, each responsible for programming the songs on up to five stations. Before, they mostly worked behind the scenes, but after Slacker discovered that listening sessions last up to 20% longer on stations hosted by a person, the company “doubled down,” says Jack Isquith, Slacker’s senior vice president of content programming. Now curators come on between songs to talk about the music.
via The Search for the Perfect Playlist – WSJ.com.
As a human, I am in favor of the humans.
As a programmer, yes you do need that human touch on the mouse/algorithm to give it that extra special something. Yes you can get by just hitting shuffle….but for how long.
As a programmer with expertise in comedy, none of the New Radio have nailed this yet for that format. The computers are spitting out the same Jim Gaffigan clip every time I hit play, and Jim Gaffigan every 4th cut (is that what people want – comedy is not music), and the computers don’t know who Ryan Belleville is.
But the New Radio will get there. Good stuff from the WSJ, worth a read!