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Since Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, both terrestrial radio and its online competitors have shied away from the intimate anarchy of man-made hip hop mix shows and college radio, toward data-driven, icy, algorithmic perfectionism.
But a number of Los Angeles area startups are bringing the humanity back to the art of the DJ. Along with weeSPIN, an experiment in social networking for music lovers, there's Dash Radio, which boasts 50 unique human-driven channels and has received its own attention and funding.
Dash Radio is run by Scott 'DJ Skee' Kenney, whose industry connections include Peter Ferraro, formerly of East Village Radio, and the record executive L.A. 'Babyface' Reid. Although Dash Radio is only beginning to find its audience and traction, the idea has percolated for awhile.
“Dash Radio actually came from the original DJ Skee app, which was an app consisting of an original live radio station done with no genres, rules, format, or limits,” Keeney said. “We quickly saw incredible success from this side project and realized the future of broadcast radio will look something like this — great content, low cost of entry, available everywhere, and giving listeners great curation and content easily at the click of a button.”
Although Skee's industry expertise helped get Dash off the ground, it hasn't been painless. “The biggest challenge, as with any business, is taking it from concept to reality,” Keeney said. “Going out and getting it live and challenging an entire industry as massive as the broadcast radio industry can be daunting, especially when dealing with tons of licensing rights, programming issues, and launching 50 plus stations. For the product, we put ourselves in the shoes of what a user will want both today and 5 years from now as the landscape drastically changes, and aimed to create the best product for the listener.”
Dash just received a significant investment round. Exact numbers and participants remain undisclosed, but the startup has big long-term plans for how to invest its gains.
“We at Dash want to save radio and make it exciting again while becoming the leading radio broadcaster in the world,” Keeney said. “We have some incredible things planned and already have hit key milestones much much faster than we even imagined. We are super excited about both the near and long term future!”
