Citadel brings personalization to radio.

Competing in a world where consumers customize their own media experiences, radio has struggled to find ways to involve listeners more in the content creation process.  The announcement Citadel Media will offer Listener Driven Radio (LDR) to stations is another step in that direction.  It's another crowd-source play by radio.

Launched in July in the U.K. , France and Australia , the software enables listeners to impact playlists, request songs and upload or vote for new music through radio station websites, smartphones and social networks. You Pick The Next Song, for example, lets listeners choose from three songs based on clocks and rules set by the station’s PD.  Housed in a widget on a station’s website, the system collects audience feedback and integrates it into the station’s music scheduling and automation systems. Stations can go as far as turning an entire daypart or weekend over to listeners, within specific parameters.

“Radio has been scratching its head about how to embrace and make money from social networking,” says Citadel Media senior VP of programming and distribution Carl Anderson. “With this, programmers can keep their hands on the wheel as much as they want, while endearing their stations to listeners in a whole new way with constant interaction and research to program the station together.”

Listeners can paste the widget into their own site, blog or social networking page. McVay New Media president Daniel Anstandig, who developed the system, says it was built to influence P1 listener TSL and loyalty and allows stations to evolve from broadcasting to crowdcasting.  “It gives the keys to your car to more P1s and gives them the opportunity to shape your programming, while giving programmers more real-time feedback.”  The program includes numerous turnkey sales opportunities, Anstandig says.