NME Radio Launches Direct Buy App on iPhone

NME Radio recently launched its dedicated iPhone app, available from iTunes, which allows users to listen to NME Radio via their iPhone, as well as texting the studio direct.

NME Radio is the first UK radio station to offer a direct buy (via iTunes) facility of tracks played on air. All In Media, a company working in partnership with WRN, developed the application on behalf of NME, and WRN is supplying the streaming of content to the iphone using high quality AAC+ audio coding.

Since it's launch in 2007, WRN has provided NME Radio with satellite capacity for Sky and Freesat and web streaming for the NME website.

Speaking of the new app, NME Radio managing and programming director Sammy Jacob said it will benefit listeners and artists. "This app is great news for the music industry, artists and audience alike as it allows for impulse purchase and download of tracks played on the station. It is, as far as I am aware, the first UK radio station app to have such a facility," he said.

He added: "Apart from providing increased exposure to new and emerging artists, it will contribute to revenues. I believe stuff like this is essential to the future of the music industry."

WRN is able to help any broadcaster wishing to develop and launch their own iphone app. For more information, contact [email protected]

Voice of Truth Radio Launches on Sky

Voice of Truth Radio is a fledgling radio station recently launched onto Sky with the help of WRN. Part of the House of Praise Mission Family in South London, Voice of Truth came to WRN with no experience in radio broadcasting. WRN has provided extensive consultancy work to get the station up and running, including the building of the station facility and sourcing key staff.

Since the closure of the EPG in October 2007, broadcasters have only been able to gain access to the Sky platform through the trading of EPG numbers. WRN was able to help Voice of Truth secure an EPG in a private novation deal, managing both the legal and technical aspects in order to facilitate the launch.

Voice of Truth soft-launched onto Sky on the 16th July and is currently preparing for the hard launch of the station later this month.

Andrew Adeleke, the Director of Voice of Truth Radio and resident Pastor of the House of Praise, said "We have had a 100% positive experience and I highly recommend WRN to would-be broadcast clients."

WRN looks forward to taking Voice multi-platform in the future.

For further information on sourcing Sky EPG slots, contact [email protected]

RNW Launches Arabic Service on FM in Israel

WRN is pleased to announce that, as of the 1st October, RNW's Arabic service is now broadcasting on weekdays on a joint Palestinian / Israeli FM station which covers central Israel, the West Bank and the northern part of the Gaza strip, as well as the west of Jordan. WRN was responsible for securing the broadcast for RNW; it has a long standing relationship with the station, having successfully launched Polish Radio, Voice of Russia and NHK on this platform in the past.

Spanning an area of intense cultural, political and media diversity, the joint Palestinian / Israeli FM station allows broadcasters to inform and entertain the Israeli and Palestinian populations on air. The station features content from international public service broadcasters, music programmes and talk shows in Arabic and Hebrew that touch upon issues of common interest to Israeli and Palestinian audiences.

RNW is the Dutch international service and its Arabic service offers independent information on a wide range of subjects including the Arab community in the Netherlands, issues concerning Islam, women, human rights, etc. RNW's Arabic programme 'Huna Amsterdam' seeks to bridge the gap between the Netherlands and the Arab world.

For more information on how WRN can place your programmes on FM stations around the world, please contact the Sales team at [email protected].

Radio Listening via Digital Platforms Continues to Grow

Radio listening via digital platforms continues to increase in popularity, making up more than a fifth of all radio listening in the second quarter of the year, according to the latest RAJAR results released in the UK in August.

Digital platforms now account for 21.1% of all radio listening, up from 20.1% in the previous quarter and 17.9% in the same period in 2008.

DAB is the most popular digital platform for users and accounts for a 13.1% share of listening, up from 11% last year, ahead of digital TV (3.6%) and internet (2.2%).

Freesat Exceeds 600,000 Receivers

Freesat is a BBC and ITV-backed satellite programming system that provides viewers with the first HD digital TV and Radio with complete interactivity from one box. It was launched 18 months ago in May 2008. The system has now sold about 600,000 set-top boxes in total, and 200,000 were sold during the summer period as more and cheaper receivers came onto the market.

The number of integrated TV sets that are now available with Freesat pre-installed has helped to push the number of sales up. These numbers go some way to showing that, despite the climate of economic uncertainty, the outlook for Freesat remains strong with continuing sales from customers new to satellite TV and radio and from those wishing to make use of their existing satellite dish.

Freesat is free of charge as part of the UK's commitment to make a core number of channels available to the whole population ahead of the nation's analogue switch off, which is already well-advanced but which will see the final regions of the UK go dark during 2012. BSkyB also has a ‘Freesat-by-Sky' product and service but does not reveal those numbers. Sky has some 9.45m paying subscribers.

WRN can guide broadcasters wishing to go onto Freesat through the launch process, having already successful placed eight channels on the EPG. WRN provides its clients with uplink and capacity services on the Eurobird satellite (used to feed Freesat) and EPG services. For more information please contact the Sales team on [email protected].

WRN Streams European Dressage Championships

WRN was recently chosen by the HPower Group to stream audio from live events at the European Dressage Championships in Windsor from the 25th-30th August.

WRN provided a full streaming service, including encoding and publishing the link to the HPower website. WRN was able to provide comprehensive statistical reporting after the event.

Our packages allow free to the end user models, subscription models, content management and digital rights management.

For more information on WRN's streaming services contact the Sales team on [email protected]