It's All About The Experience

9-15-14

What's a typical in-car experience? Just driving along, maybe stuck in traffic, listening to the radio. Right? Nope, not anymore. Drivers still listen to music, but they're increasingly likely to be getting it from an Internet service like Pandora or Slacker. Maybe they're checking the weather report from a built-in app on the dashboard, or getting traffic information from that handy navigation app. And they're still hearing from advertisers, but it may well be by way of branded, dashboard-enabled content and services. For all consumers today -- not just in the car -- it's all about the experience.

At the DASH connected car conference -- presented by Radio Ink, Jacobs Media, and Shuman Consulting Group and coming up October 15-16 in Detroit -- you can hear from a panel of experts on how radio can help create and enhance that all-important in-car experience. Reps from the business-development wings of Slacker and Pandora (don't tune out; you can learn from these guys) and from the head of UIEvolution -- a company that specializes in mobile branding, including a suite in automotive products -- will talk about how to build the partnerships that create a great user experience in the car. You can hear from people who are doing this NOW how consumers interact with content and services as they drive.

More below about the panelists we've confirmed to date. You need to be in on this. Sign up for DASH today.

Panelists

Chris Ruff is president and CEO of UIEvolution, and is recognized as one of the most experienced individuals in the mobile market. Ruff is responsible for leading UIEvolution's growth, setting global strategy, and driving sales and marketing execution, and has grown the company into a global leader of software solutions to over 100 business customers and such major brands as Disney, Princess Cruises, Toyota, ESPN, and ATT.

Michael , director of business development at Slacker Radio, focuses on partnerships with automotive manufacturers, wireless carriers, and consumer electronics companies. With more than 20 years of international experience in the automotive electronics and consumer industries, he leads the coordination of engineering, product development, marketing, and branding for Slacker's broadening presence in automotive. Before joining Slacker, Kasparian served as market development manager at ST Microelectronics Inc.

Geoff Snyder is vice president of automotive business development for Pandora. Since joining Pandora in 2010, he has been instrumental in the extension of Pandora into the vehicle. As consumers demand a better in-car music experience, Snyder has developed and managed relationships with representatives of the world's top automotive brands to work as a liaison between engineering and business development teams to make personalized radio on the road a reality. Today, 26 major automotive OEM brands are on Pandora's partner roster, and over 145 vehicle models with Pandora integrations have been made available for sale to date.

DASH 2014
October 15-16
Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport Hotel
Detroit, MI
www.dashconference.com

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Air Talent Experience The Connected Car

10-1-13

Any connected car event needs to have input from the people who are creating the actual content. At DASH, the connected car conference set for October 23-34 at the Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport, leading Detroit morning radio personalities, Jay Towers (WNIC) and Dave Hunter (WRIF - Dave & Chuck The Freak) will talk with Greater Media's Buzz Knight about how the connected car might affect their approach to their craft.

Session will include candid video of their first interactions with connected audiotainment systems, followed by a roundtable discussion. "The Detroit radio market has an amazing legacy of talent," session moderator Buzz Knight said, "and some of them will be showcased at the DASH conference. Dave Hunter and Jay Towers will join me, and report on the unique vantage point of talent in the evolution of the connected car.
Our Moderator:
In his role as Greater Media?s VP of program development, Buzz Knight is responsible for overseeing programming development for all the Greater Media properties and collaborating with the individual programming teams to build winning content and brand management strategies. Knight has been with Greater Media since February 2002. Before that, he worked as program director at several stations, including: CBS Boston-based Classic Rock WZLX, Saga Communications Rock WNOR in Norfolk, and Great American?s Active Rock WLVQ in Columbus, PJ. In addition, Knight spent three years on air as part of the legendary WNEW-FM in New York City. He launched his broadcasting career at WRKI in Fairfield County, CT, after graduating from the University of Dayton. Knight was named among the Best Programmers in Radio by Radio Ink Magazine in 2007 and 2010.

Dave Hunter is a morning show personality at WRIF/Detroit, with co-hosts Chuck Urquhart and Lisa Way. Born in Ireland, Hunter has been working in radio for almost 20 years. He started at CHUM/CHUM-FM in Toronto as a news writer and in 1997 moved to Brockville, ON, to work as a morning news anchor and morning show co-host. That was the same year Hunger relocated to Windsor to take a job at Windsor based CIMX-FM (89X). After a short time in the newsroom, he became a part of the morning show with Chuck Urquhart ("Chuck the Freak"). Hunter took over as PD in early 2008, helping 89X achieve the highest ratings in the station?s 20-year history. Hunter, Chuck the Freak, and Lisa Way joined WRIF earlier this year.

Jay Towers has been a radio DJ since the age of 14. He worked in Atlantic City, Grand Rapids, and Philadelphia before making Detroit his home in 1999. Towers has hosted several radio shows in the Detroit market, including Jay & Rachael in the Morning on 93-1 DRQ for six years and the Jay & Bill show on 97.1 The Ticket. He is currently found entertaining the listeners of Fresh 100.3 as the host of Jay Towers in the Morning. He is also an anchor for Fox 2 News Weekends. He is an ardent people person and most enjoys talking with listeners on the phone during his morning show on Fresh 100 and on the weekends interviewing and interacting with the people of Detroit for his TV work on Fox 2.

DASH
October 23-24, 2013
Westin Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Detroit, MI
www.dashconference.com

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Chevy, GMC, Buick to Offer iBiquity's Artist Experience.

4-16-2012

iBiquity says Chevrolet, GMC and Buick will be the first American automotive brands to offer the HD Radio "Artist Experience" feature standard on the new Traverse, Acadia and Enclave crossover utility vehicles. "Our customers are becoming increasingly familiar with the advantages of HD Radio Technology," said Kathleen McMahon, engineering program manager for Chevrolet, Buick and GMC infotainment solutions. "It makes AM radio sound as sharp as an FM broadcast and it takes FM programming to a level of clarity we've never heard before.

HD Radio broadcasts also introduces fans to multiple formats and new music not offered by traditional radio stations. For music fans, HD Radio Technology is a must."  Jeff Jury, Chief Operating Officer of iBiquity Digital said, "It's an exciting time for us with General Motors launching HD Radio Technology with our latest features like iTunes Tagging and Artist Experience. We believe that digital radio, with new visual and interactive capabilities, is an integral feature in the digital dashboard. And, GM is leading the standardization of these features in vehicles."

HD Radio Technology is available nationwide, with more than 2,100 digital stations on-air, and over 1,350 HD2/HD3 digital only channels that broadcast fresh new content that can only be heard with an HD Radio receiver. HD Radio Technology will be standard on the 2013 Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave later this year.

(4/16/2012 6:25:48 AM)
"Insignia: A Glimpse of Artist Experience"

"Finding an HD Radio station that is transmitting the Artist Experience is rather difficult. Since then I have found a few more stations transmitting album art, but the number of stations encoding it appears limited, the adoption rate among broadcasters extremely slow. Further, your local HD Radio station may be airing Artist Experience images, but you may not notice them immediately. That’s because, according to iBiquity, the album art is only sent once or twice shortly before the next song starts. So, if you tune to a radio station in the middle of the song, you will not see any album art. You will get the Title/Artist/Album text display, but no image until the next song. If the receiver has any data errors during the limited time when the image is being transmitted, the image will not display. In my opinion, this is a big problem."

http://www.radioworld.com/article/insignia-a-glimpse-of-artist-experience/211187

Automakers, have you ever tested HD Radio?

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(AUDIO) Pandora or iHeart. Which is a Better Consumer Experience?

This week Pandora executives will speak at the RAIN conference in Chicago and they, for sure, will reiterate how the Pandora experience is exactly what consumers want. The Pandora curation model is built on the employment of real people to help consumers create playlists. The iHeartradio model is a combination of computer automation incorporated into the product by a company called The Echo Nest and real programmers, according to Brian Lakamp who is the head of digital for Clear Channel. Lakamp tells Radio Ink the iHeartRadio app will be released in beta today. We spoke to Lakamp about the app and why he believes it will be better than Pandora.

Radio Ink Editor Ed Ryan Interview Brian Lakamp HERE

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Volkswagen First to Offer HD's Artist Experience

Volkswagen and iBiquity Digital have announced that Volkswagen is the first automaker to offer the new HD Radio Technology feature, Artist Experience.  Beginning with the 2012 model year, select Volkswagen vehicles will offer HD Radio Technology with Artist Experience on the Premium VIII radio.  Artist Experience enables the Premium VIII radio to display album art and other images broadcast from HD Radio stations on its screen.

19 automotive brands have announced that HD Radio Technology is or will be available as a factory installed feature including Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, MINI USA, Rolls-Royce, Scion, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.

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