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There’s a term with which John MacLeod peppers his thoughts about news broadcasting: “smart audio.” According to MacLeod, the term refers to a type of service in which “listeners select exactly the types of news [they want] – business, entertainment, sports – and hear just that.”
MacLeod is the founder of Rivet News Radio, an audio-news-streaming service that’s attempting to make customizable audio news the digital norm.
“Rivet was founded on the idea that news radio should be built for you,” MacLeod said. “Radio enthusiasts through the decades have been at the mercy of announcers, waiting until the ‘top of hour’ to hear the important reports and oftentimes mindlessly listening to other reports in between. Rivet changes that.”
To start streaming, a user selects the types of topics he’d like to subscribe to (for example, government & politics, arts & entertainment, science). He’ll then have access to a queue of one- to two-minute reports on current events within the subjects chosen, each of which is contributed by a Rivet reporter or one of Rivet’s news source partners, including the Associated Press and more.
Supplementing its news repertory, Rivet also produces original audio features. The service broadcasts a range of non-topical programming that explores facets of technology, humanities, and art via interviews historical and cultural exploration (Ron Litke talks with artists and authors in his “Dialogue” series, for example, while “Soul Closet” with Lee Bey examines snippets of 20th-century African-American pop culture).
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Like podcasts, each story is fully recorded, then made available for streaming, rather than broadcast live. “Our newsroom operates seven days a week, and pushes out stories as soon as they are done,” MacLeod said. “Because of the nature of the customized streams, live broadcasts, like a Presidential address interrupting your regularly scheduled program are not the norm on Rivet.”
The company’s focus on customizability seems to be working in its favor. Since August, Rivet has raised $2.9 million this year from investors including the Associated Press and the Irish Angels. In October, the company inked a deal stating that its programming would be included in Jaguar Land Rovers’ pre-installed entertainment apps in 2015. And earlier this month, Rivet announced a partnership with conference call service InterCall, in which its programming would replace InterCall’s (oft-derided) hold music.
“It gives executives something relevant to listen to before a call, and it gives them something topical to talk about when starting their calls,” MacLeod said of the partnership, which he added has brought Rivet’s user total to over 100,000 since the app’s debut in December, 2013.
How will MacLeod maintain this momentum? Rivet, he said, will continue to extend its playlists to businesses and seek partnerships with auto manufacturers, maintaining a constant goal to “[expand] our smart audio content locally and nationally...We’re very excited to help Chicago become the best place to start a new business.”
