'Innovative' online radio service to launch this year

Radioplayer will stream dozens of stations, including those provided by the BBC and commercial broadcastersA new service seeking to revolutionise the way we listen to online radio will launch in December, it has been announced.Radioplayer will stream dozens of stations, including those provided by the BBC and commercial broadcasters, from one site. The service, which has been dubbed "iPlayer for radio" was unveiled at the Radio festival in Salford yesterday.The service will initially feature 50 stations, with 200 set to sign up when it becomes fully operational in February next year, according to the BBC. Content will be searchable by station, programme and genre.Radioplayer UK managing director, Michael Hill, said: "This is a defining moment for UK radio."Lending his support to the project, BBC director of audio and music, Tim Davie, added: "It is a result of genuine collaboration across the music industry and is the sort of innovation we need to make digital radio a reality."Meanwhile, Radioplayer chairman, Andrew Harrison, said the innovation would "create significant opportunities for the commercial radio sector".Around 4.7 million people listen to radio online every month, but it has yet to take off in the way many industry figures had hoped.Radioplayer's website describes the service it will provide as a free and consistent way of streamlining the way we listen to radio. "Online listening is seen as complex, inconsistent and fragmented," the statement reads. "We've settled on a model that achieves simplicity, consistency and enables users to switch stations ? while leaving the streaming and serving of the player in the hands of each broadcaster."RadioRadio industryInternetDan Martinguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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