Radio player

Radio player
Owner / user	Radioplayer Worldwide Ltd.
Introductory year	2011
Products	Streaming software (client-server systems)
Markets	Worldwide
Website	www.radioplayerworldwide.com

The Radioplayer is a non-profit initiative of the radio industry, developed by Radioplayer WorldWide Ltd. in the UK . The task of the radio player is to ensure and further develop the digital findability of the member stations. It represents a technical platform that enables the transmission of radio stations via the Internet in the client-server model , with “smart” devices also supporting the additional hybrid switchover to terrestrial reception. The radio player is now marketed worldwide. In addition to Germany and Austria, it is now also licensed in Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Norway and Peru. The expansion to other countries is planned.

The aim is to ensure and optimize the findability of radio stations in the long term with regard to new technologies. The program competition of the member broadcasters will thus continue and should extend this to the Internet. This is to serve the expectations of the listeners to listen to radio in greater variety on the Internet. Each broadcaster is free to market the radio player beyond the navigation and to equip it with content of his choice, including all forms of advertising.

Logos, information on the title currently being played, personalized recommendations, search results and podcasts from the member stations are offered centrally via an interface (WRAPI, Worldwide Radioplayer API).

Availability

Almost all radio players can be used via the web interface of the country-specific homepage or via regionalized client applications on various platforms. The clients are available for Apple and Android. In Austria they are limited to these two platforms. The radio player can also be used as a hybrid app on DAB + -capable smartphones and then switches between web radio and DAB + depending on availability.

Radio player car

Radioplayer Car was released in February 2017 . It was announced in September 2014 as a hybrid radio receiver that switches between FM, DAB and streaming depending on the signal strength and data settings. It was marketed as the world's first hybrid voice-controlled adapter for car radios.

A small box behind the dashboard is connected to the additional input of an existing car radio. It connects wirelessly to the driver's smartphone via Bluetooth. With the help of the adapter, drivers can listen to their own smartphone music collections via Bluetooth, accept hands-free calls, listen to incoming text messages and receive instant audio travel information that is adapted to the location and the direction of travel via GPS. The hardware is manufactured under license from Connects2 .

International

The subsidiary Radioplayer Worldwide licenses the radio player to various tour operator consortia worldwide.

country	Brand name	Regular operation since	Website
Belgium	Radio player	April 28, 2014	radioplayer.be
Denmark	mereRadio	September 2019	mereradio.dk
Germany	Radio player	April 01, 2015	radioplayer.de
Ireland	Irish radio player	April 2015	radioplayer.ie
Canada	Radio player	1st March 2017	radioplayer approx
Norway	Radio.no	2013	radio.no
Austria	Radio player	Summer 2015	radioplayer.at
Peru	RadioPlayer Peru	unknown	N / A (only via the operator's website)
Switzerland	Swissradioplayer	August / September 2018	swissradioplayer.ch
Spain	Radio player Espana	October 2019	radioplayerespana.es
United Kingdom	Radio player	March 31, 2011	radioplayer.uk

Germany

Radioplayer Germany GmbH
legal form	GmbH
founding	2014
Seat	Hamburg , Germany
management	Caroline Grazé
Branch	broadcast
Website	www.radioplayer.de

The radio player provides its members with the technical requirements for the transmission of live streams, web-only offers and podcasts to various end devices. The radio player in Germany works on a non-profit basis and does not market on the web, on the so-called consoles (desktop players), within apps or in front of or in the stream of its stations. For the operation of the radio player, there are no costs for the broadcasters in the form of an annual license fee, depending on their range as shown in the media analysis , as well as the obligation to use additional advertising for the radio player.

In Germany, the radio player is available next to the homepage and for mobile smartphones and the like. a. Integrated into the Freenet TV connect portal , available for Amazon Kindle Fire and can be controlled with the Amazon voice service Amazon Echo and the Google Assistant. It is also integrated in the "Magenta" smart speaker from Deutsche Telekom. Connections for Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV as well as many other SmartTV platforms are also supported. Since 2017, the data from the radio player has also been providing hybrid radio reception for many Audi AG models. Connections to Sonos and Bose speaker systems as well as the first standalone AppleWatch app followed successively.

history

In September 2014 the representatives of the German radio stations launched a joint IP-based aggregator for FM programs and web channels based on the UK radio player that is widespread in the United Kingdom. In order to keep the effort as low as possible, the radio player and its technology, which has been operated in the United Kingdom since 2011 and also by private and public broadcasters, has been taken over for Germany.

Shareholder of Radioplayer Germany

The shareholders of Radioplayer Deutschland are Antenne Bayern , Antenne 1 (Stuttgart), Antenne Thuringia , Dornier Medien (Munich), BigFM , BLW Bayerische Lokalradio-Werbung (Nuremberg), Die neue Welle (Karlsruhe), IR Media Ad (Potsdam), NWZ, Landeswelle Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Radio7 , Radio Regenbogen , Hit Radio FFH , Radio ffn , RPR1 , RTL Radio Deutschland (Berlin), Association of Operating Companies in North Rhine-Westphalia and Regiocast (Berlin) in cooperation with ARD .

Austria

The Austria radio player offers access to most private local, regional and national radio stations. In addition, he links the additional offers of the stations on their websites, such as B. Web channels and podcasts and on-demand content, where available. The only nationwide broadcasting FM station KroneHit sees the internet-based radio player as an addition to the FM broadcast, whereas the digital terrestrial DAB + is perceived as a "frontal attack on FM". The radio player was launched in 2015 together with Life Radio and Antenne Steiermark after KroneHit announced the withdrawal from the DAB restart in Vienna.

Switzerland

The SRG SSR and the three Swiss Radio Associations Association of Swiss private radio stations (VSP), Union non-commerce oriented local radio stations (UNIKOM) and Radio Régionales Romandes (RRR) have decided to launch a joint "Swiss Radio Player" in September 2018 in May 2018th By May 2018, 100 Swiss radio programs had already been registered for distribution via the Swiss Radioplayer. At the beginning of 2019, 135 channels were receivable. The website supports the three most important languages ​​in Switzerland, German, French and Italian. In addition to the usual platforms on mobile devices, there are especially collaborations with device manufacturers, so that the radio player is part of the basic equipment in the new Audi models, for example.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andreas Wittke: Hybrid features with FM, DAB + and web: the hybrid radio in the new Audi A8. Blog at audi.de, February 1, 2018
2. ↑ We about us on the Radioplayer.de website, accessed on January 21, 2018
3. ↑ Christopher Deppe: The radio player is launching a new “Smart Radio Feed” for connected cars. Radio scene, August 31, 2017.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Fuhr: radioplayer.de app: Hybrid with Internet radio and DAB + . In: teltarif.de. May 12, 2016.
5. ↑ media.info
6. ↑ Radioplayer's Michael Hill unveils their in-car product (en-GB) . In: Next Radio . 
7. ↑ Le radioplayer unique maRadio.be, pour les radios belges francophones, lancé le 28 avril (fr-fr) . In: RTBF Culture , March 28, 2014. 
8. ↑ mereRadio er lanceret: All danske radiostreams samlet i én app. Mereradio.dk, October 6, 2019. Accessed November 11, 2019
9. ↑ media.info
10. ↑ Radioplayer Canada: What you need to know about the digital radio app (en) . In: Global News . 
11. ↑ Radioplayer goes abroad with Norway deal - RadioToday ( en-GB )
12. ↑ Radioplayer platform to launch in Austria - Radioplayer Canada ( en-US )
13. ↑ Swiss Radioplayer launches in Switzerland ( en-GB )
14. ↑ Radioplayer adds Spain to list of growing countries using the service ( en-GB )
15. ↑ musicweek.com
16. ↑ Christopher Deppe: No more limits: Radioplayer becomes the first #StreamOn-Radio partner at Telekom Radioszene, April 4, 2017.
17. ↑ Petra Schwegler: Amazon's Alexa controls the radio player. Verlag Werben & Sell (WUV), January 12, 2017
18. ↑ Tom Sprenger: radioplayer.de app also available for Chromecast stick. In: radioszene.de. May 9, 2016.
19. ↑ What is radio player? on the website of Radioplayer Austria, accessed on January 21, 2018
20. ↑ Michael Fuhr: ORF and Kronehit endanger the start of DAB + in Austria by withdrawing. Telariff, March 28, 2015
21. ^ Radioplayer Austria. OTS press release with responsibility for the content of the three named organizers, March 25, 2015
22. ↑ Green light for “Swiss Radioplayer” on: srgd.ch from May 8, 2018
23. ↑ What is radio player. swissradioplayer.ch, accessed on January 20, 2019