This week, Rogers has launched a new application called “Rogers Radio”. The app brings all of the radio stations under the Rogers Media umbrella to the iPhone for free.
Rogers Radio brings every Canadian radio station operated by Rogers Communications to your iPhone. Since the iPhone does not have a built-in tuner, Rogers Radio is sort of an alternative.
I say sort of because while the app is free, it comes with a massive restriction; it is only available to Rogers Wireless and Fido customers. When starting the app for the first time, users must be on 3G and not WiFi as the app confirms your device by using the SIM card. On every subsequent use of the app, users may be on WiFi or 3G to use the app.
The app includes over 50 radio stations featuring news/talk, sports, rock, country and multilingual formats across Canada.
As mentioned earlier, after the initial start up, the app can stream radio either via WiFi or the iPhone cellular data connection, but look at that last image above! Yikes!
Sound quality over WiFi or 3G is fantastic and in my experience had no breaks in the stream. Although do note that the app must remain open to stream, which may change with the 4.0 iPhone OS.
Rogers Radio further includes a favorites list where users can tag their most listened to stations for quick access later and also features in-app volume controls and a play/pause button. Organizing the large list of stations is done by genre, station name, city name, or nearby based on your location.
Rogers Radio is available in the App Store for free (for Rogers/Fido customers only).
