KDAY-FM (93.5) mixes “back-in-the-day” hip-hop and R&B hits, but it’s hoping a new strategy will bring it out of the digital Dark Ages.
The Hancock Park station has launched a mobile and desktop app to increase its reach beyond Southern California’s radio waves. Listeners can hear livestreams of the station’s broadcast, purchase and share songs through social media and tap into exclusive content. KDAY plans to hire its first web editor to curate related content sometime next month, when it will roll out a revamped website.
The digital platform could also boost revenue for the station by giving brands a new way to reach KDAY’s young-skewing audience. More than 500,000 millennials listen to KDAY each week, the company said.
KDAY’s first step into digital is a big one. There were no active digital services when Meruelo Media purchased the station last year for $15 million, according to President and Chief Operating Officer Otto Padron. New ownership appears to have done KDAY well. Padron said that the station hit its 12th consecutive month of a million daily listeners, according to early Nielsen Audio PPM results.
That’s a first in KDAY’s history.
Padron referenced Clear Channel’s recent rebranding as iHeartMedia, a moniker the media conglomerate adopted from its mobile radio app, as one way media companies can successfully prioritize digital as they figure out how to monetize its services in a sustainable way.
KDAY’s app has seen 22,000 downloads so far.
“Now we are truly worldwide,” Padron said. “Not to sound like Pit Bull, but I am Cuban.”
Staff reporter Melissah Yang can be reached at MYang@labusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MelissahYang for the latest in L.A. tech news.
