Audacy, the U.S. company that owns hundreds of radio stations (and recently filed for bankruptcy protection) is adding something new to the streams of its music radio stations. It's called HLS+ and they're promising it can change the way you'll listen to radio online. 

So what does it do? According to the manufacturer, it's a new system that incorporates A.I., and will allow you to tune into any of their radio stations on the web, just like you can now. But instead of coming in the middle of a song, you'll be able to hear it from the beginning. Or skip it altogether and go to an entirely different tune. 

Not only that, but it will allow the feed to specifically pinpoint where you are and give you your local weather, even if you're outside the area where the station broadcasts from. 

"When listeners click play on produced radio, they drop into the middle of a song in the broadcast - with no ability to skip to the next song or rewind when listening to produced radio experiences.

Listeners can start at the beginning of a song - with full radio production intact. They can also skip right to the beginning of the next song or right back to the beginning of a fully-produced radio experience with the click of a button.

Listeners can hear different weather and traffic reports tailored to their unique location. Or sports breaks about different sports teams, depending on their preferences."

OK, that sounds interesting but perhaps I'm missing something. How can you possibly listen to live radio, skip a song and still have the station play as normal? Or is this just for canned audio feeds? But according to this article:

"This platform merges live, linear radio broadcasting with elements of interactivity and personalization within a single audio stream."

So I admit to be a tad confused by exactly how this would work. (Confusion should probably be my middle name!) I guess we'll be able to test this out soon - Audacy says it will be available on all of its sites by the end of March.

HLS+