Last week syndicated music radio network Music of Your Life, Inc. announced it was launching a commercial-free premium subscription for listeners. Following a one-month free trial, for $5 a month, subscribers will get the Music of Your Life AM and FM simulcast, featuring rock, country, jazz, pop hits, podcasts and more.

The premium subscription will also offer live concerts streamed from Los Angeles area venues like The Canyon, The Saban, The Rose and The Libbey. A free version, including commercials, is still available to listeners. In a press release, Music of Your Life said that more than 1,000 listeners have already signed up for the new service during its soft launch.

As part of the premium subscription, the Las Vegas-based company is developing celebrity sports and news channels, and it will offer podcasts of celebrity radio shows, so listeners can listen to them at their convenience. Music of Your Life has been around since January 1978, which makes it the longest running syndicated music radio network worldwide.

“Over the coming weeks and months, we will be adding new celebrity DJs such as Peter Marshall, Al Hardee and Lorri Hafer for various shows. Along with them, come their social media followers. These followers, or fans, tend to be very loyal, and we anticipate conversion rates as high as 10% in some cases. Sirius Radio with Howard Stern and others, proved that fans will tune-in to follow their favorite celebrity, and are willing to pay for it,” said CEO Marc Angell in a press release.

New listeners are asked to sign up at MusicofYourLife.com and choose between the free and premium versions. If you choose the free version, your only option is the Music of Your Life live simulcast channel, and you’ll hear music from the 1930s to present day. The other channels – hits by decade, rock bands, celebrity radio, etc. – are only available to premium subscribers.

Insider Take:

Though it has been around for 39 years, Music of Your Life has been slow to react to the changing radio market, and it doesn’t look like its premium subscription product is fully formed yet. If the network has a strong audience already, it might succeed by offering a more robust product in exchange for a second revenue stream.

However, it has strong competition with satellite radio station Sirius and ever-evolving streaming music services like Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, Amazon and others that are constantly changing to keep up with audience demand and to beat rivals. To really make a go of it, Music of Your Life must attract new listeners with unique content like streaming concerts, a blend of music not available elsewhere and perhaps an app to make the music more accessible.