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DJ Skee's Dash Radio Emerges From Beta With 1 Million Listeners
June 3, 2015 at 12:17 PM (PT)
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Radio and TV host DJ SKEE's DASH RADIO has emerged from beta to go live, with a reported one million listeners, more than 60 curator-led channels, backed by several celebrity investors and advisors. DASH RADIO is available now at DASHRADIO.COM on iOS and ANDROID.
DASH RADIO is a curator-led digital broadcast platform that replaces radio towers and satellites with smartphones and apps, "drawing on the democratizing power of the Internet to bring radio back to its roots, benefitting both artists and fans alike."
"Both corporate radio and Internet radio alike have made the mistake of replacing the element of human curation," said DJ SKEE, who has hosted his own shows on iHEARTMEDIA Top 40 KIIS-FM (102.7)/L.A. and SIRIUSXM. "Terrestrial radio did so with politics and money, Internet radio with algorithms and playlists. Broadcast radio is meant to be both curated and communal; where real humans dictate the music played for millions of listeners who experience it together, at the same time, in real time. That is the promise that DASH RADIO delivers."
Among those with channels on the new station are SNOOP DOGG, ODD FUTURE, MAC MILLER, ISAAC HAYES and TYLER, THE CREATOR, among others, with 100% control over the music played on that channel.
Unlike most Internet radio services, DASH RADIO uses no algorithms, no playlists, no simulcasts. Each channel, broadcast live over the Internet, is heard by all listeners at the same time, in real time, ad free. It requires no special equipment and has no subscription fee.
Among the network's backers, who have contributed $2 million in seed funding, with a Series A planned, include ex-FACEBOOK exec KEVIN COLLERAN, attorney ORIN SNYDER, football star ADRIAN PETERSON and ex-NBA player RONNY TURIAF. Advisors include music manager and former INTERSCOPE head of marketing CHRIS CLANCY, G.O.O.D. MUSIC Pres. CHE POPE, EAST VILLAGE RADIO GM PETER FERRARO, music publicist KATHRYN FRAZIER, SKEE TV's RYAN TOMLINSON and radio imaging company BENZTOWN.
"Radio is statistically the most powerful way music is consumed and remains the No. 1 way to discover music," said SKEE. "Although 96% of the country still listens to radio, nearly 80% are dissatisfied with the experience. DASH RADIO aims to rekindle radio's power by removing the corporate forces that ruined it and placing control back into the hands of those responsible for radio's early success-the DJ."
DASH RADIO will also become available via the SONOS in-home wireless audio speaker system, in cars through the AT&T DRIVE initiative and other formats to be announced in the near future.
Among the other shows on DASH RADIO are stations curated by GUNS N' ROSES, XXL MAGAZINE, TLC's T-BOZ and the HBO series-turned-major motion picture "Entourage."