Stitcher Radio

Stitcher is an on-demand Internet radio service that focuses on news and information radio and podcasts. It provides free online streaming through the website and via native mobile applications such as the Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, and Palm webOS. It has been described as "the most popular alternative to the default Apple podcast app" as of 2016.

The company was founded in August 2008 and is privately held and venture backed.

Stitcher aggregates content from thousands of content providers and organizes the content into "stations" that listeners can browse and listen to. Audio content is delivered from large media providers such as AP, BBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, TechCrunch, and thousands of smaller providers. Content is kept continually up to date via Stitcher's proprietary back-end application, allowing listeners to have access to fresh content while on the go without having to sync their mobile device. However, this access may require costly usage of mobile data in contrast to true podcasts which can be synced through WiFi Internet access and listened to "on the go".

In October 2014, music streaming service Deezer announced that Stitcher Radio would be merging into Deezer, and that by 2015 users would be able to use Stitcher Radio features within Deezer. In June 2016, it changed ownership again, becoming a subsidiary of E.W. Scripps Company in the U.S., as part of Midroll Media. At that time, Stitcher was reported to have around a dozen employees. A representative of Midroll dismissed concerns that it would convert Stitcher into a walled garden ecosystem.

Stitcher streams podcasts to the listener's phone on-demand, rather than requiring the media be downloaded to the device. Stitcher 3.0 for the iPhone (released in December 2009) introduced live streaming to the app, which allowed users to select on-demand shows and live streamed talk-radio programming.