I mean why get rid of tunein. Many people myself included dont want a million different radio apps on my phone just to listen to normal radio on my phone.
This is why smart speakers are such a great invention. But it doesnt work this way when out. You need to have every app on the planet to listen to various stations. I, for one am sick of it and am now beginning to understand why people are flocking to streaming services like Spotify, Tidal, YouTube etc.
I have iheartradio and tunein. Thats my two and until recently it covered everything. Admittedly I rarely listened to the cookie cutter radio being spewed out by SCA, but it was nice to know if I wanted to listen to them I could.
To me this is just them shooting themselves in the foot and becoming more and more irrelevant.
Wholeheartedly agree not to mention some of the earlier internet enabled Hi-Fi systems, AVRs and wireless speakers which don’t feature AirPlay or Chromecast only offer Tunein as the embedded internet radio app.
LiSTNR isn’t even available on the popular Sonos platform of home wireless speakers although there is RadioApp support.
I really find this approach to be a brain fart of an idea, why would any broadcast media especially one struggling as much as SCA are limit listening options for their broadcast stations?
I can understand the offering of additional content on the LiSTNR platform but certainly not the removal of their broadcast stations from Tunein and likely RadioApp in time. Although they probably wouldn’t loose a huge number of listeners the loss of that small percentage of listeners on the previously mentioned devices doesn’t seem like a good business move.
But again this is SCA and who knows the rationale behind most of their decisions……
I don’t think they will remove their stations from RadioApp anytime soon. RadioApp is finally integrating well with smart speakers and Android Auto/CarPlay.
Plus they are now starting to do SSAI via the streams on RadioApp and on Listnr so they are monetising it well on both apps for now.
I wish Australia had a web platform that included all channels in Australia, a bit like http://juke.nl in the Netherlands.
I know there is Lava, buts its a bit slow, interface wise and doesn’t offer content from a station besides the stream, and radio-app in just mobile.
The biggest mistake SCA has made is to have LiSTNR app only available for download and use in Australia. There must be thousands of Aussie expats around the world who would like to catch up with Hit and Triple M shows in their own time, as well as listen to Triple M coverage of AFL and NRL matches live.
Does anyone know where Apple source their “Local Broadcasters” list from? This is also the same list I see under Radio in the Music app on my iPhone.
It’s an obscure list of mostly ABC stations, with some Sydney and Melbourne ARN and Nova additions including 5AA Adelaide too. If you search using the app you can find more Australian stations including Ace Radio and some other regionals.
SCA is completely absent from this list, no doubt thanks to removing their listings from Tunein and not being present in iHeartRadio either. Tunein and iHeartRadio seems to be the source of choice for radio stations in Apple Music.
I wish it was better as it makes my Apple Homepod difficult to use. I have to Airplay from my phone most the time to get SCA stations and also the Nine Radio stations.
because they are a 21st century business running on 20th century ideas. they go up and down the dial and think those are there competitors. they are forgetting how much access to entertainment people have now, even on the go.
if I’m in the car and i can’t listen to a streaming station - i’ll pick another. don’t go without, i go elsewhere, so all of a sudden i’m listening to BBC radio 1, or KIIS FM LA, or HOT 97 NYC.
Or im listening to a podcast, or an audiobook. next thing you know i get in the car and KIIS is my default when driving, even in areas where B105 is available.
This will end up like the Hit rebrand - it will fail and they will go back to tune in - i predict in the next 12 months, and it will be done quietly. they will just be available one day again
Unfortunately this “people are still dial twiddling” mindset seems to persist not only amongst broadcasters with 1980’s thinking but even amoung some contributors to these threads.
There’s just far too many options these days for aural stimulation. As an example I tried Triple M 90’s the other day but gave up after an hour or so as the excessive ads just drove me to a 90’s rock Spotify playlist.
I’m currently working on a large building site. I see a lot of tradie radios only some of which are tuned to Triple M (stereotype I know) while the rest are listening to personal playlists, streaming etc. Out of interest have heard iHeartRadio’s iHeartrRadio Dance and an episode of Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance.
What I’m trying to get at is as a provider of a service (the same to applies to any product) if you limit or restrict access to that service you’ll inevitably loose customers.
I can’t see there being any huge financial gain to SCA by limiting station streams to LiSTNR certainly not one large enough to offset the loss of audience if they pull the streams from RadioApp.
Broadcasters seem to only be interested in streaming if it drives traffic to their website or app such as LisTNR/iHeart etc. Tunein doesn’t do that so SCA bailed.
For me, state of art is VLC on my iPhone with an internet stream list of my favourite stations. Some of the better resourced streamers obfuscate their stream URL so you have to point a Regex request at their CDN to get the stream URL via a JSON return - they make it as hard as possible to bypass their website or app and don’t want their stream URL widely available.
If I just want music I have about 300 ACM and CHR type tracks in my music collection so I don’t need them or even Spotify. A PC playing a playlist into a transmitter with some ads interspersed is not going to make money for anyone nowaday’s.
A station playing 60s music has been added to the Listnr lineup.
LiSTNR - 60’s Hits
The greatest hits from the 60s
HTTP → http://wz7liw.scahw.com.au/live/760shits_128.stream
HLS → http://wz7liw.scahw.com.au/live/760shits_128.stream/playlist.m3u8
HTTP → http://legacy.scahw.com.au/760shits_128
This is common practice in the USA and UK for big commercial stations to only access their live streams via their own apps (eg. Audacy) exclusively available in their respective countries. Absolute Radio and its parent company did this recently. You rarely see these stations on Tune In.
I’m sure those companies are collecting data, running cookies & analytics in the background to spy on you and serve you more in-app advertisements (especially pop-up ads, or dynamically inserted ads at the start of a stream), in addition to the commercial breaks already in the original audio broadcast.
Unless those “wall gardened” stations have a really unique playlist mix and interesting shows, I would prioritise stations that allow you to use your preferred media player and do not mandate you to use their bloated app that nags you to update every few weeks.
Great finds @HeroPiggy95, is there a URL for white noise?
Love your work as always @dutymainttech.
These companies limiting their access will be the long term losers.
Listnr will be sold off to reduce the huge debt burden SCA has. Many staff have been shifted out of the SCA business to Listnr such as that ancient Tothill bloke who keeps hanging on.
I couldn’t find the station that you were referring to, besides those 3.
I use white noise (rain sounds to be precise) to aid sleep but just ask a Google Home clock radio (Harmon Kardon Citation Oasis) to play which it does continuously until being told to stop.
A station playing 2010s music has been added to the Listnr lineup.
LiSTNR - 2010s
The Biggest Hits of the 2010’s
HTTP → http://wz7liw.scahw.com.au/live/72010s_128.stream
HLS → http://wz7liw.scahw.com.au/live/72010s_128.stream/playlist.m3u8
HTTP → http://legacy.scahw.com.au/72010s_128
It sounds like Totally Radio has added news headlines on the hour.