Beasley Partners With SonicAi For Smart Speaker Support

Beasley Media Group has  announced the company is making it easier for listeners to play its radio stations’ streams and access on-demand content at home and at-work with innovative multi-command skills for Amazon Echo smart speaker systems.

SonicAi, the partnership between mobile developer jācapps and Amplifi Media, is designing these skills in collaboration with the Beasley’s programming team. These skills represent more than just a way to play the station stream, highlighting specific station features. They will be heard across most of Beasley Media Group’s 63 stations over the upcoming months.

Beasley Media Group has enjoyed recent success with the launch of the Amazon Echo technology at WMMR-FM in Philadelphia, providing voice access to station content when Echo users simply say, “Alexa, open MMR”. After a welcome from station morning team Preston and Steve, users can listen to the station live, hear that day’s Preston and Steve podcast, or the popular “Bizarre Files” segment with just a simple voice command.

“Alexa and the Echo device have taken off quickly, providing a huge opportunity for radio to get back into the audience’s home listening environment,” said Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs. “Our latest Tech survey shows that 11% of those surveyed already have an Amazon Echo or another smart speaker device in their home – and it’s growing.”

Amplifi Media’s Steve Goldstein noted, “SonicAi is thrilled to start right at the top with Beasley Media Group Vice President of Programming Justin Chase, Executive Vice President of Digital Steve Meyers, Vice President of Digital Operations Kimberly Sonneborn, Vice President of Programming Buzz Knight and their incredible talent in creating a multi-level listener experience that goes beyond the stream. Our focus is audience retention and creating more listening occasions.”

“Innovation in the smart speaker device space is critical for Beasley and our industry as a whole,” said Meyers. “I’m excited to be partnering with SonicAi to extend the reach of our brands across the company and open up new opportunities in this space.”

“Beasley is a company that ‘gets it’ when it comes to digital,” stated jācapps Chief Operating Officer Bob Kernen.