Get A Life(stream) by Martyn Lee

07Mar

One of the impressive things about working here is the confidence you have to ask for something which makes us better, even if you know it’s going to dump a load of work on someone and cause the boss to open his wallet.

Which is exactly what happened late last year and, after an incredibly short gestation period, our baby is finally born.

The feeling on the breakfast show was that we hadn’t loved our website enough. It wasn’t for the lack of content – the four of us (OC plus three producers) cough up daily and weekly podcasts, each with custom content alongside ‘best of’ audio, a weekly vodcast of content exclusive for online (the stuff we can’t format into breakfast friendly portions really), along with extended videos of every interview we do via custom branded iTunes and YouTube channels.

Add to that daily blogs with pictures, audio and video of memorable stuff from each show, and that we tailor that to relevant social media rather than lazily shoving it out from ping.fm

No, the problem was that all of this grew over time and sprawled across the web with little reason to visit our ‘official’ page. Listeners were increasingly interacting with us and we’d spend all day checking the various platforms.

We wanted a way to bring all that content together to have a conversation with our listeners 24/7 from one point.

We wanted to combine both updates from the show along with listener messages, comments and tweets, both in response to Christian but also each other.

And we wanted to emphasise the sense of community that being a fan brings, rather than just being a radio show that you could interact with for four hours a day.

Which is exactly what the online team have created with the new breakfast show website. It has met all our dreams and much more.  They’ve even given it a name that sounds like we knew what we were doing all along…’The Lifestream‘.

Categories: absolute 0

Posted by dan on March 7, 2010

Live streaming preroll support for all browsers by Simon Ngo

05Mar

If you listen to us through our online player and use a browser other than Internet Explorer, you may have noticed we’ve just introduced an audio preroll to the start of each stream.

So why have we decided to do this? Previously we only streamed a preroll to Internet Explorer users. However, according to our stats, Internet Explorer now accounts for 63% of our website listening – down from 73% the previous year. With the increased usage of other browsers such as Firefox, Safari and Chrome, we thought this was a great way of extending our reach.

Browser visits to www.absoluteradio.co.uk

 

So how does this work? We’ve developed a system that allows any of our content team to simply attach a new preroll to any MP3 and Windows Media live audio stream. It even gives us the flexibility to schedule different prerolls during different shows. So perhaps you’ll hear a ‘Who’s Calling Christian’ preroll during the breakfast show and a different message at other times. Clever eh?

So next time you’re listening to us via our website, keep your ears peeled for our prerolls!

Categories: Technology 2

Posted by paul on March 5, 2010

Absolute Radio iAmp now on the HTC Tattoo

04Mar

The Absolute Radio iAmp has been available for Android smart phones for a while now – but we’ve taken the chance to update it and make sure it’s available on all of the latest handsets powered by the Google operating system, including the HTC Tattoo.

Because the Tattoo has a smaller screen size, any applications need to be QVGA approved before you can find and download them, which required some development work, but now that it has been completed and tested, you can find the new version of the Absolute Radio iAmp for Android in the Android Market via your phone right now.

We also took the chance to upgrade the functionality by including background streaming, so you can enjoy Absolute Radio, Absolute 80s, Absolute Classic Rock and dabbl while you surf the web, check your emails, or anything else you fancy doing with your phone.

Check out the demonstrations below of the Absolute Radio iAmp for Android on the HTC Tattoo (And also on the Google Nexus One).

Check out all the ways to listen to Absolute Radio on your mobile, including Android, Nokia, BlackBerry and the iPhone.

Categories: Technology 1

Posted by dan on March 4, 2010

Playlist: 2nd March

02Mar

The playlist is out now.

Paul Weller – No Tears To Cry (12th April)
This soulful number, which recalls the Walker Brothers, is one half of Paul Weller’s new double-A-side single. Weller’s 10th studio album ‘Wake Up The Nation’ is released on the 19th of April. Its the follow-up to his acclaimed ’22 Dreams’ album – and features former Jam bass-player Bruce Foxton on 2 tracks. Paul Weller plays 5 nights at the Royal Albert Hall in May.

Paolo Nutini – Candy (19th April)
A re-release for the first single from Paolo’s million-selling 2nd album ‘Sunny Side Up’. Paolo was recently nominated for 2 Brit Awards and plays 2 headline shows at the Royal Albert Hall on the 8th and 9th of April.

Categories: Music playlist 0

Posted by carrie on March 2, 2010

Sony Ericsson to Sponsor Absolute Radio’s Baddiel and Skinner Summer of Football Podcasts and Shows

02Mar

Sony Ericsson, the Official Mobile Handset of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, has signed an exclusive deal with Absolute Radio to sponsor our series of podcasts and live shows to celebrate the summer festival of football which will be fronted by none other than Frank Skinner and David Baddiel.

The partnership will generate unique Baddiel and Skinner content covering a mix of chat and analysis and a bespoke micro-site hosted at absoluteradio.co.uk.

Sony Ericsson will also receive further on-air promotional presence aligning the brand at the centre of the station’s summer festival of football activity in the form of a high-profile Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show promotion will give one lucky listener and a friend the opportunity to go to South Africa! The lucky listeners will be writing blogs for absoluteradio.co.uk, recording and uploading video content via a Sony Ericsson handset, which they’ll win as part of the prize, and they will take up a prime-position in South Africa to interact with Baddiel and Skinner.

The daily podcast shows will be available to download for the morning commute every day from 6am and will be broadcast across the national radio station’s network in the evening as football fans enjoy the pre-match excitement and build-up.

Categories: Brands absolute 0

Posted by rhiannon on March 2, 2010