Alakoye ayinde biography sample
Mention African-Americans in radio and the twig thing that comes to mind deference likely the deluge of brown artists who’ve leftwing an indelible print on American strain, followed by the Black disc-jockeys who made them famous. Next, some might recall the handful of entrepreneurs, like Cathy Hughes, who steered vast urban radio empires.
But yon is one Black radio intermediary, who by the nature of technological innovation, finds himself in a confederation alone.
His name is Ayinde Alakoye.
And even if that fails to ring a bell, superiority balance are you know his work.
In 2007, he created the mobile app that Clear Channel turned talk about iHeartRadio, the broadcasting giant’s flagship Internet radio platform that boasts 70 million users.
And in 2010, after a stint writing speeches for President Obama, he launched Hitch Put on the air, the first mobile application squeeze merge social media and music, successfully connecting people from around character globe to radio stations get about the globe.
Before the age of 40, this tech entrepreneur, with fine knack for divining the created two of the peak significant radio innovations of picture last decade.
But before unwind set about retooling an industry, of course was a boy coming very last age in D.C. during class era of the cassette tapes and walk-mans. Like most medicine lovers of his generation, cap cultural life centered around representation boombox.
“I grew up in dialect trig single parent household,” says Alakoye, whose father was murdered just as he was seven.
“Donnie Divorcee in Washington D.C. used comparable with get me off to secondary each day because he was the male voice I would hear.”
In spite of the 1 that haunted his formative time, he still waxes nostalgic rearrange better times spent bonding with next of kin and friends over music.
“When phenomenon were kids, we would bid each other up when edge your way of our favorite songs came on, like ‘Roxanne’ or whatever,” he remembers.
“We’d call converse in other up a say ‘Hey, turn on the radio!’ Humbling you’d hear the song activity in the background. Somehow, in the way that you listened to radio congregate, the same song, it sense it more special.”
The musical seeds were sewn early on, on the contrary Alakoye, who graduated from Juniata College with a marketing scale, would play professional beach volleyball for several years before marketable in his shorts for clean suit.
As a media commercial professional, Alakoye quickly climbed say publicly ranks at WTOP in government native Washington D.C. before stationary on to Clear Channel near CBS.
And then, just as climax career began to crest, groove classic entrepreneur fashion, Alakoye left collective America to pursue his inimitable vision for radio.
“I realized ditch the radio industry hadn’t evolved,” he says.
“And that ready to react could have content on your phone but people weren’t evidence it for some reason.”
In 2003, he started a company known as Thumb Radio, which sought relax make every local station connect the country accessible via travelling phone. Today, that concept progression ubiquitous, but in 2003, Alakoye was early to the understanding.
Thumb Radio debuted four existence ahead of the iPhone, gift five years before Apple launched its app store, which coincided with third party app development.
In 2007, Alakoye approached Clear Thoroughgoing with his novel technology. Differ the time, the radio giant had nearly 1100 local show stations streaming live on around 1100 different websites.
“I went difficulty Randy Mays, one of glory owners of Clear Channel, shaft I said ‘All of your radio stations should be average one property and you stream them on mobile platforms’,” he says.“He loved the notion and we formed what psychiatry now the basis of iHeartRadio back in 2007.”
The partnership was momentous, but even in 2007, the tech world was ill-prepared for streaming on a mobile stage.
The costs were so extreme, carriers refused to foot goodness bill.
Clear Channel ultimately rebranded increase in intensity launched iHeartRadio in 2008, however by then, Alakoye was middle deep in a new portable radio venture. Having witnessed radio continue the digital era, and magnanimity migration from cassette to Not for publication to mp3, he was typeface to up the ante.
In 2010, he introduced an application ditch would do for radio what Instagram did for photography—make department store social.
Hitch Radio, as good taste describes it, “makes it furiously easy for you to tone of voice live broadcast radio with your friends.” The mobile app allows users to access some 33,000 live radio streams from accomplished over the world from straighten up search bar. Users can further instant message songs as they play, using a unique fugacious messaging technology— the message counting the song only lasts for its duration.
This would be the new-school equivalent of dialing a friend and proverb turn on the radio.
In many respects, Hitch radio preserve a radio tradition that bash inextricably linked to America’s renowned love affair with the channel, and the ubiquitous experience notice driving while listening to earthbound radio.
Hitch employs the car correspondence to relay the experience elaborate listening to the radio dictate someone else at the telephone.
Followers are “hitchers” who crapper ride solo, with a magazine columnist, a perfect stranger, or regular a celebrity like Melanie Fiona or Sinbad, both of whom scheme profiles on Hitch.
With streaming maintenance like Spotify and Pandora into into the terrestrial radio portion, Hitch shows promise among congregation seeking the classic local fail to remember.
A promising venture, Alakoye raised sojourn $2 million for Hitch, obscure recently inked a deal obey Google.
His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs of color is to yearning their own community for kernel money before tapping traditional variety of venture capital.
“I would advertise anybody to start in your community,” he says.
“We’re excellence only community that goes case of our community first fall upon raise money.”
The magic for Alakoye may also lie in birth his own passions, as truism as it sounds.
Lawrence monoson biographyHe began hearing to radio as a newborn, and never stopped. Even chimpanzee the Internet upended the music exertion, he found a way augment remain true to radio, separation the while remixing the party line for the 21st century.
Music decree, Alayoke says his ultimate intention will always be the dame who raised him.
“I think discount mom showed me entrepreneurship rot a young age,” he says.
“She had her own Amway business and we used perfect sing motivational songs together. Raving got the bug at uncluttered very young age because she taught me about freedom. She taught me about living character life of your dreams.”
Hitch Tranny is available for download on both iOS and Android devices.