Remember When NEW TREND? Commercial Station Eliminates PD and DJs, Radio Listeners Get Say on Playlists With ‘Crowdsource’ Programs

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Welcome to a new era of listener-led radio programming, where you, the listener, get to decide what plays on the airwaves. It’s 2025, and the landscape of radio has dramatically evolved, with stations like CBS Corps(e) radio station KITS in San Francisco leading the charge. KITS, distinctly famous for its alternative rock genre, is at the forefront of a revolution, empowering its listeners with unprecedented control over what music gets airtime. The station is harnessing online radio technology to create an interactive ” target=”_blank”>, where listeners vote for their favorite songs and even get to yank off the ones they dislike mid-spin. Let’s dive deeper into this exciting trend in radio programming.

Image depicting the new trend in commercial radio

The New Wave of Listener-led Radio

For years, program directors have curated the playlists that fill our airwaves, a process heavily influenced by extensive market research, song popularity, and name recognition. However, KITS is breaking this norm. The station experiments with Jelli Radio on Sunday nights, an innovative platform where listeners get to vote songs up or down, dictating what gets played.

The Power to Pull the Plug

What’s even more interesting is that if enough listeners dislike a song, they can yank it off the airwaves mid-spin. For instance, “Sex on Fire” by Kings of Leon was the first song to this abrupt cut-off on KITS’s Jelli Radio, as the chat room participants deemed it overplayed.

Radio Meets Technology

Jelli Radio is not just a fun experiment; it’s a strategic move to leverage online radio technology. This tech has the potential to divert thousands of listeners away from traditional airwaves or, if used effectively, attract even more. The idea behind Jelli Radio was inspired by Google’s search algorithm, which delivers the most relevant results based on user data.

The Brains Behind Jelli Radio

Jateen Parekh, the chief technology officer, and co-founder of Jelli, along with Michael Dougherty, the CEO and co-founder, have been instrumental in bringing this idea to . They pondered on a thought-provoking question, “If Google created a radio station, what would it be?”, which eventually led to the inception of Jelli Radio.

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