First AI Radio Station

I loathe AI, at least what we're calling AI today.  It's not intelligent as we would normally use the word. But it's definitely artificial. As Joe Slater once wrote "ChatGPT isn’t ‘hallucinating’—it’s bullshitting!"  But stochastic parrots don't know the difference. They don't know anything. It has no self awareness and cannot reason, invent or create. Everything it outputs is a pastiche of things which already exist. It's automated plagiarism at best. But that doesn't mean it's not good at automating repetitive tasks. That's something computers are traditionally good at.

I read an article on Radioworld about 98.7 WPBB in Tampa, FL. The classic rock station flipped to a fully automated "cloud-based" operation. It's using a platform called Super Hi-Fi. [LINK] In some ways the situation resembles an LMA more than just a software license. No matter how much programming input Beasley Broadcasting has, SuperHI-Fi is inarguably the party actually operating the radio station. (It poses interesting legal questions.) Radioworld described it thusly:

"The entire station will now be capable of full remote operations from a laptop literally anywhere worldwide, providing unprecedented flexibility and efficiency.... [Beasley] said humans will program the station music and host, but that Super Hi-Fi's AI-enabled cloud-based system will be used throughout the programming, management, voice-tracking, updating and delivery workflow."

But the end of the article also made clear that "The Shark", was not the first "AI radio station."  Back in October, Front Rang Country let Super Hi-Fi take the steering wheel. They took on less risk, the radio station is just an ancillary service; the HD-2 signal of 107.5 KQKS, which simulcasts on 103.1 FM, K276FK in Denver, CO. It broadcasts at 250 watts on the west side of the metro.  K276FK in Pinecliffe, Colorado. Originally licensed as K269FE, the stick used to broadcast 950 KRWZ-AM which may have been the last oldies station in the metro running that under an Entercom LMA from 1008 - 2015.

Super HI-Fi is not new on the scene. Their website was launched in 2016, but they claim to be founded in 2018. Today it promises all manner of things including Radio-as-a-Service, [RAAS?] a phrase that makes me feel a bit queasy. There is some debate here whether or not WPBB is the first AI station.  We need to define our terms. Electro-mechanical radio automation goes back to the 1950s. ATC, automated tape machines were relatively affordable by the 1960s. Supposedly 107.1 WIRX was fully automated in 1969. So what's the "first" here over 50 years later? 

The first here is that the programming isn't pre-recorded. It is automated, but it's through other means, The AI DJ spontaneously generates it's best DJ chatter impression. There won't be a AI talk show any time soon. (Before you ask, AI in the AM was a gag. [LINK].) Most music radio program was already pre-recorded: the bumpers, liners, ads and music. It's that tiny bit of DJ chatter which is being generated, the rest was already there when you used Selector in the 1990s. So was this the first AI DJ chatter? Not even close, not even for Super Hi-Fi. They had two previous roll outs in February of 2024. Inside Radio got the press release. [LINK]

"Cumulus Media Nashville has partnered with Super Hi-Fi and Xperi to introduce a pair of hyper-localized HD stations, “The Hill” and “Nashville Songwriter Radio.” The two new HD Radio stations are now available to all legacy HD Radio-equipped cars in the market on WGFX-HD2 (104.5) and WGFX-HD3 (104.5), respectively, using Super Hi-Fi's 'Program Director' Radio Operating System."

Prior to that, Super Hi-Fi seemed to focus on streaming in deals with Fubo and Telos. There was a Reuters article in December of 2021 about 88.5 KCSN. Where the voice of long time DJ Andy Chanley will live on, emulated by an AI DJ who can automate music production, introduce songs and talk about them. In 2023, RadioGPT performed a similar parlor trick at 95.5 KBFF in Portland with AI Ashley, who filled in for the very real Ashley Elzinga. They called it the first AI DJ in some press at the time., even though it was over 2 years after KCSN. [SOURCE] That same year RadioGPT announced partnerships with Rogers Radio in Canada and Alpha Media. The focus from Futuri seemed to be scanning the news to generate scripts, but also debuted a Spotify-powered AI-DJ. [SOURCE]

In some ways these moves were to be expected. Automation has been taking jobs for centuries. Radio was never insulated from that. Playing records replaced hiring live musicians. So it comes as no surprise the former Clear Channel corporation —I Heart Radio would lead the charge laying off hundreds of DJs back in 2020. Super Hi-Fi was behind that one too. I'm quoting the Washington Post here.  

"In 2018, some stations on the online iHeartRadio service began testing a music-mixing AI system built by the start-up Super Hi-Fi, which says it can “understand music nuances with the same depth as a human DJ.”

There it is, the founding lie. AI does not understand. It emulates content without any understanding or self awareness. I Heart Radio does though, and they proceeded to writee some really creepy stuff at the time. Stating in an SEC filing that they were in the "companionship" business, because listeners build a “trusted bond and strong relationship” with DJs. Further adding “Consumers listen to the radio because the voice on the other side sounds like a friend.”  At I Heart Radio the obvious move there is to fire that friend and replace them with a robot.