WFAN New York City host Gregg Gianotti’s frustration with Audacy’s listening app boiled over onto the Boomer & Gio morning show Wednesday. Gregg Gianotti aired some dirty laundry on the show after he was notified that the app was down. Here’s what he said…
Gianotti started off by saying, “We get so many complaints about that app and it never has been fixed. The commercials that get played, the same promos that get played. It’s a really difficult listen. The rewind feature doesn’t work the way you’d like it to, it keeps skipping back and forth. It needs a major overhaul.”
Audacy rebranded the Radio.com listening app, which was part of the deal when Entercom purchsed the CBS Radio stations.
When one of the show’s co-hosts said, “way to trash the company,” Gio went on to say, it’s true. “You want me to pretend it’s OK when all you hear from listeners is how annoying it is. Plus, we’re measured on the success of people listening to us streaming online. It’s a joke.”
Gio said his father, who listens to his show every day, said, “You are my son, I want to listen to you every day and this app makes me not want to listen because it sucks so bad.”
Giannotti ended his app rant by saying the highly touted rewind feature only works 25% of the time. “The app needs some attention. At least once a week there’s some sort of app issue.”
An Audacy spokesperson had not comment about Gianottis’s criticism of the Audacy app.
Listen to the audio of Gianotti’s rant HERE on the WFAN page (at about 29 minutes into hour one)
It’s disappointing to see such criticism from a top host. It raises concerns about the app’s functionality and user experience. Hopefully, Audacy takes this feedback seriously and works on improvements to better serve both listeners and hosts.
It’s concerning to see a respected host openly criticize the company app. It raises questions about internal communication and how the app’s development matches the needs of both hosts and listeners. I hope Audacy takes this feedback seriously to improve the overall experience.
It’s disheartening to see one of the top hosts openly criticize the company app. It raises questions about the platform’s direction and its commitment to user experience. Hopefully, management addresses these concerns and works towards improvements.
His comments are a candid reflection of the growing dissatisfaction, especially considering how crucial streaming is to their success.
It’s disheartening to see a top host feel this way about the app. If the platform isn’t user-friendly, it impacts not only the hosts but also listeners. I hope they take the feedback seriously and make some much-needed improvements!
I don’t use the app but I do listen to a.m. only. There is a commercial asking people to call in to am25886 to keep am radios in new vehicles but all I ever get is ladys answering machine or a message that the number is not a working number. What is the problem?
“When you want to bet on sports, played on fields or ice or courts…” Please shoot me. I counted today. I heard it five times in one hour.
Betrivers commercial is extremely ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will put you in the crazy house!!!!
It is sad what Audacy has done to the once prestigious CBS radio/viacom/Entercom. They owned talent like Imus, Stern, WFAN and WIP, KYW and 1010 wins. I used to be proud of what they accomplished thru the years as I’m in the home market but now ashamed. Oh, and the stock is down 99.9% and recently delisted from NYSE. I disconnected my BetRivers account because of the incessant commercials. One per break all day long. There is a sweet spot for repetitive advertising and then there’s too much and diminishing returns
What happened to the Motown songs, now you play a lot of songs not in their original format. Audacy Sucks! Time to move to other station.
Most of the apps aren’t worth the bother.
If you’re such a “Broadcast Pro” then have Audacy fix their problems which are many and the app is truly unlistenable. I only use Audacy app because my station in DC is exclusive to Audacy. I used to use TuneIn for streaming the station but since they are only on Audacy I had to use the app. Everything is true and why not just fix it instead of putting your head in the sand?
Audacy is terrible. There are alternatives to that crap. Im glad though im not going crazy and it happens to a lot of people. Audacy blows and sucks abd blows some more. Makes me long for the old days.
Audcy SUCKS
I’ll have to follow you since the information you present is really real, reflecting correctly and objectively, and it’s quite useful for society to grow together.
January 20, 2022 and it still sucks and has issues
So I googled Audacy commercials and stumbled onto this page. I guess I am happy it wasn’t just me. I thought I was going crazy from hearing the same commercials on the 93.7 the fan Pittsburgh’s streaming. Repeated commercials are bad enough. But to hear really annoying one over and over makes me want to scream. Ones like KarsforKids, State Farm, GEICO, etc. I know part of the objective in advertising is to get you to remember the product, but I am at the point now where I will never spend a dime on any of thee because their commercials are so annoying!
It got so bad that I actually emailed Audacy to complain. They emailed me back asking questions about when I listened etc. After answering a few of their emails, I finally said the hell with it and quit listening to the stream. Which is a shame because I don’t live in Pittsburgh, and streaming is the only way for me to listen.
Do better, Audacy.
Yeah, we as listeners know, believe me.
If Entercom/Audacy is ruining its stations, it is no surprise, at all, that the company is utterly incompetent with its apps, as well.
But, Audacy, sadly, is not alone. The iHeart app, I’m afraid, can be just as bad, with the same exact technical problems, spot repetitions, spot intrusions into live programming, etc.
Granted that problems go on everywhere and to various degrees, but to handle this problem by airing a huge rant isn’t the right way to handle these kinds of problems.
Talk to engineering, IT, people in management. Running your mouth about such problems over the air is highly unprofessional.
I am afraid he’s on to something. I like listening to WCBS Newsradio online, but lately the commercial breaks loop the same two ads and promos over and over again. Ads will play in the middle of a segment or live report, or drop out to a minute of dead air. I have to restart the app just to get the stream back up, only for it to act up all over again. Recently I have been switching to Washington’s WTOP on TuneIn, which doesn’t have those glitches or problems at all. Mr. Gianotti is simply making public what many otherwise faithful Audacy listeners like myself already know.