In March, Crain’s Detroit Business reporter Annalise Frank broke the news of the debut of new online streaming radio/video programming via New Media Radio. As summer progresses so too does the look and sound of shows in three different dayparts – all available live online and via the App and through podcast – including former WDET star Craig Fahle (11a-1p) and Sara Fourcare (The Ticket)/Joe Santos’s (WDVD) “Pop That Culture” from 10a-11a. And then there’s the morning show.
I had the opportunity to sit down in recent days with former and longtime 97-1 “The Ticket” Morning Co-Host Bill McAllister, who co-anchors “At Home With The McAllisters” each morning from 8a-10a with wife and former WNIC personality Danielle. And, by all indications, they are having a blast. The name of the show is quite apropos as the two broadcast from their home studio while focusing their banter on raising children (they have young twins), other life and family matters, and hot issues of the day, free of many of the constraints of terrestrial radio that, many have long lamented, limits creativity and on-air artistic freedom. To be sure, the couple broadcasts unencumbered by Portable People Meters that force many program directors to dictate less talk, lest it spur ‘tune out’ and negatively affected ratings.
New Radio Media, McAllister says, allows the opportunity to indulge in a passion for radio and its ‘theater of the mind’ appeal while also being positioned at the forefront of digital and app platforms that many are gravitating to. Three months in, as audience levels continue to grow, Bill and his wife continue to look for new ways to evolve and promote the show, including through social media avenues, on-site, live broadcasts/appearances and a move toward more on-air guests. At the same time there are content constants including a desire to largely stay away from politics and religion. “We basically shoot the shit,” he says, “Without the profanity.”
To view and listen, one can download the New Radio Media app and/or visit: http://www.newradiomedia.com/. All in all, I know I am not alone when I say and write (including on behalf of our firm) that it is good to have some familiar names, voices and ‘friends’ back to listen to each day (with the added bonus of seeing them live on-camera to boot). “I actually have to take a shower now in the mornings before the show,” jokes McAllister. And you know he doesn’t mind one bit.