James Cridland

Apple's radio stations now everywhere

Listening to Tunein on a Google Nexus One in 2011, in London

Apple’s radio stations caused a stir when the first was launched in 2015 - not least because one of the broadcasters to make the leap over to Apple was Zane Lowe, a well-regarded host on BBC Radio 1. I listened, and I didn’t think much of it.

Back in 2020, I noted that Apple had launched a set more, including a rather more accessible station (“Apple Music Hits”), as well as a country station. They now have six.

Until now, you’ve needed an Apple Music subscription to listen. But as of this week, you can now listen to all of them for free, because they are now available in TuneIn. This is the first time anyone has been able to listen; and TuneIn - for all its flaws - powers almost every radio connected device out there, so it means the stations are now available on smart speakers and everything else.

I tried using Apple Music for a little bit, and one of the differentiators of the service is, in fact, these stations. I enjoyed a great documentary with Paul McCartney talking about his songwriting process, when all I really had searched for was Paul McCartney. I also heard a great hour of “rare cuts” from The Beatles. It’s a service that adds significantly to the benefit of Apple Music.

But as a radio station you’d listen to? It doesn’t sound live (twelve hours of it isn’t, I believe - just a rerun of the previous twelve). It doesn’t sound as if it’s built for listener feedback. But it’s interesting that Apple - of all companies - has realised that it needs to make its radio services as open as possible.

(Someone, somewhere, has worked out how the music licensing works for this. Apple Music is a paid-for streaming service, and these stations have no ads, so presumably this has required a brand new licence for TuneIn - and since this is global, presumably there are specific licences in each territory? Wouldn’t want to be like the BBC and have to remove these services…)

RCS

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  • I notice with delight that ACMA is consulting on a move for ABC Radio Perth, ABC Radio National and ABC News Radio to be moved to FM in the city. I intend to write a response agreeing with the proposals (and to call for two things - the same to happen in other capital cities, and an amendment to the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946 that allows the ABC to broadcast parliamentary proceedings online, rather than force them to be specifically on AM. Which, I appreciate, has nothing to do with ACMA.)

  • I was interviewed by Alice Matthews on ABC Radio Canberra (on what the station calls “triple6” on AM) talking about the CRA’s call for radio to be prominently available in cars. I enjoyed, particularly, talking about the benefits of DAB+ for listeners to the station, for the presenter to then “reset” by telling listeners that this was “ABC Radio Canberra on triple6 or the ABC Listen app”. (“And on DAB!”, I interjected.) You’ll note that I also called for the station to get an FM frequency in Canberra. It’s not easy to tell an AM broadcaster that AM is dying, but I’m afraid I may have done that. It was an enjoyable twenty-minute interview.

  • I’m off to Radiodays Asia in Jakarta, always one of the highlights of my conference year.

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