/EIN Presswire/ NEW YORK: When popular urban radio and video host Troi Torain (a/k/a Star, of Star & Buc Wild) joined Shovio.com as a program host recently, he was awed by the opportunities it presented him with to connect with his audience and fans: “Shovio’s immediate visual interaction with viewers is the future of online broadcasting,” he claims.
On Shovio, program hosts can instantaneously integrate videos, images and graphics to enhance their show topics and guest appearances. The hosts and their guests can be live in Shovio’s midtown Manhattan studios, or, like Florida-based sports talk icon Sid Rosenberg, host their live daily programs from anywhere, via web cam.
Viewers can join their favorite hosts’ programs in real time by spontaneously and instantaneously offering questions and comments via their own web cam or microphone, or by instant streaming messaging. The latter provides an additional social networking aspect, in that it allows viewers to question/comment back and forth with each other about the featured host, topic or guest.
According to Leslie Gold “The Radiochick,” co-founder of Shovio and one of its popular hosts, “It’s just an unprecedented wealth of content opportunity. Viewers can see the hosts, of course, but the host can also see them – their faces, expressions and environments. Everyone watching sees it all, as it happens. The level of interactivity is staggering.”
Fans of Gold, Rosenberg, Star & Buc Wild, and other well-known New York radio hosts – including former Imus in the Morning sidekick Karith Foster, Goumba Johnny and Valerie Smaldone – have quickly adapted to Shovio’s innovative, interactive format.
Regular Shovio viewer Bob Vozzi says, “I feel like I’m really a part of the show, much more than if I was just waiting on the phone to make a comment, like with regular talk radio or TV. It’s now my preferred destination because it provides real, live interaction on topics I care about, whether it’s sports, pop culture or politics.”
In addition to the aforementioned hosts, Shovio has quickly developed an impressive roster of hosts with demonstrated national appeal, including:
– Conservative talker Jeff Katz, based in Miami, is known from his work on WRKO-AM/Boston, WFTL-AM/Miami and KNEW-AM/San Francisco, and has been recognized as one of Talkers magazine’s top talk show hosts and has appeared on numerous CNN and FOX TV shows, among others.
– Former E! Television host Michael Essany is an award-winning broadcaster, author of a bestselling book about reality TV, and lauded for his entertainment business expertise and interviews with celebrity and political subjects, as well as for his appearances on The Tonight Show, Oprah, Extra and Access Hollywood, among many others.
– Hawaii-based Dave Lawrence is known to millions of rock fans from his work on Boston radio stations WBCN, WZLX and WERS, and KPOI in Honolulu, along with his news work on Hawaii Public Radio and his hundreds of interviews with major rock music personalities.
– Joaquin “Jack” Garcia a/k/a Jack Falcone is a retired undercover FBI agent whose highly secretive, dangerous assignments were recounted in his bestselling memoir, Making Jack Falcone, for which he was profiled on 60 Minutes and about which a major motion picture is in development.
Shovio guests are also impressed by the interactivity and include The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead, FOX News host Alan Colmes, Curb Your Enthusiasm actor/comedian J.B. Smoove, sports TV host and author Len Berman, The Office actor/musician Craig Robinson, Life & Style Weekly editor Dawn Yanek, comedian/actor Larry Miller, actress/comedienne Aisha Taylor, rock drumming icon Carmine Appice, award-winning TV news reporter and author Greg Dobbs, and former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, among others.
To experience Shovio, and for complete information, including the full lineup, bios and schedule for Shovio’s professional program hosts and upcoming guests, go to http://www.shovio.com. Media contact: Elise Brown (elise@drummerpr.com), phone 215-990-6955.
ABOUT SHOVIO
Shovio.com is the first company to deliver live, interactive video broadcasts to desktops, laptops and mobile phones. Launched in November 2009 and based in midtown Manhattan, Shovio.com is free, and anyone can log in anytime to join the hosts’ discussions in real time, by using their own web camera or microphone, and instant streaming messaging. For more information, visit http://www.shovio.com.
