Netflix For Radio Launches Via Amazon Alexa

Netflix did it to television. Is the radio industry the next to be disrupted? Perhaps.

Radio service 60dB is ready to launch on Amazon Alexa. The service personalizes what to listen to next based on what you’ve listened to before. It’s similar to the Netflix model, with a touch of Spotify and TuneIn radio.

It’s a new skill for Alexa and a new skill for radio listeners.

Whether you want content from Bloomberg News, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, Chuck and Josh’s Stuff You Should Know podcast, or Wired magazine … take your pick, using your voice.

60dB pulls content — news stories, entertainment sports — from various sources and allows the user to skip or listen, and then the service tracks that data. It won’t know what you’re interested in right away, similar to Netflix, but ultimately it uses habits and behavior to choose the next thing the user listens to. The listener uses special commands to speak to their Echo or Dot devices in order to use the service.

60dB’s co-founder Stephen Henn told Wareable that the team wanted to design a model focused on audio or voice, and thus “radio is the default medium people turn to when your eyes and hands are busy. You push a button, and you get something.”

Henn is joined by John Ciancutti, who formerly worked with Netflix’s code, as well as another former Netflix executive.

Amazon’s Alex is the first to receive the 60dB skill, but there are plans for extending the service to Google Home and Android devices.

Henn told Forbes, “If we do your jobs right, you won’t hear the same story that I do. And ideally we will soon be on every Internet-connected speaker.”