{"id":7585,"date":"2015-05-04T12:00:14","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T17:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=7585"},"modified":"2015-05-04T12:25:38","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T17:25:38","slug":"wbez-reveals-plans-for-robust-digital-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/05\/04\/wbez-reveals-plans-for-robust-digital-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"WBEZ reveals plans for \u2018robust digital experiences\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_7586\" style=\"width: 997px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/05\/04\/wbez-reveals-plans-for-robust-digital-experiences\/\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7586\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7586\" alt=\"Chicago Public Media\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Chicago-Public-Media.png\" width=\"987\" height=\"627\" srcset=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Chicago-Public-Media.png 987w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Chicago-Public-Media-300x190.png 300w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Chicago-Public-Media-150x95.png 150w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Chicago-Public-Media-400x254.png 400w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Chicago-Public-Media-800x508.png 800w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Chicago-Public-Media-200x127.png 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 987px) 100vw, 987px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7586\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/a> Chicago Public Media<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Chicago Public Media has announced the hiring of a new chief digital officer to lead the company\u2019s wide-ranging plans to build a \u201ctransformative digital experience\u201d for listeners.<\/p>\n<p>Named to the newly created post Monday was Michel Ballard, who most recently was senior vice president of consumer health and wellness for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.everydayhealth.com\" target=\"_blank\">Everyday Health,<\/a> a digital media company that owns websites and produces content on health and wellness.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7587\" style=\"width: 217px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Michel-Ballard.png\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7587\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-7587\" alt=\"Michel Ballard\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Michel-Ballard-207x300.png\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Michel-Ballard-207x300.png 207w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Michel-Ballard-150x216.png 150w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Michel-Ballard.png 272w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7587\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michel Ballard<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ballard joins the parent company of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wbez.org \" target=\"_blank\">WBEZ FM 91.5 <\/a>weeks after the public radio station accepted a $2 million grant from the Pritzker Foundation \u2014 the largest donation in the station\u2019s history \u2014 earmarked for its digital expansion of news and programming services.<\/p>\n<p>The move will reunite Ballard with Goli Sheikholeslami, who had been chief product officer and executive vice president of business operations for Everyday Health before she was named president and CEO of Chicago Public Media last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe explosive growth of mobile devices has significantly shifted how audiences consume media,\u201d Sheikholeslami said in a statement. \u201cTo continue to fulfill our public service mission, Chicago Public Media must introduce the technological advances that allow us to reach our listeners in new ways. Such robust digital experiences will help us to reach and attract a younger, more diverse audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In what it promises will be \u201ca transformative digital experience unlike anything that exists in public media today,\u201d the company said it will focus on three major trends \u2014 smartphone adoption, time-shifted listening and the connected car \u2014 over the next 12 to 18 months.<\/p>\n<p>According to the announcement, the new digital products will allow listeners to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Access programming on iPhones and iPads, Android phones and tablets, desktops, mobile browsers, and through emerging technologies such as wearables (Apple Watch) and in-dash entertainment systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose between live streaming and on-demand experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Play, skip and scroll through content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Quickly locate and play content through editorially curated lists, by topic or by program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Playback and save content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Receive recommendations and notifications based on usage behavior.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Share content easily through compelling social features.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Donate in new ways and become a station member using innovative donation functions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ballard, a Houston native and graduate of Wellesley College with an MBA from New York University, is a former investment banking analyst in the technology, media and telecom group at J.P. Morgan. In 2008, she joined Everyday Health, where she served in a variety of roles and directed the company\u2019s largest strategic partnerships with AOL and YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>The $2 million Pritzker Foundation grant, first reported last month by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagobusiness.com\/article\/20120808\/NEWS06\/120809806\/sun-times-editor-wants-to-bring-back-political-endorsements\" target=\"_blank\">Crain\u2019s Chicago Business,<\/a> launches the funding of a $5 million strategic initiative to build new digital products and allow WBEZ to track usage and listening behavior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago Public Media has announced the hiring of a new chief digital officer to lead the company\u2019s wide-ranging plans to build a \u201ctransformative digital experience\u201d for listeners. Named to the newly created post Monday was Michel Ballard, who most recently was senior vice president of consumer health and wellness for Everyday Health, a digital media... <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/05\/04\/wbez-reveals-plans-for-robust-digital-experiences\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&#8594;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7585"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7589,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7585\/revisions\/7589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}