WWOZ 90.7, a listener supported volunteer based community radio station sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage has released an iPhone app for its listeners.  Other radio stations have streaming apps but usually within an umbrella of a larger group (e.g. iHeart Radio).  But WWOZ looks like they want to have a little more control over their app with a branded background and simple controls.

WWOZ iPhone App

The app is not only well designed and easy to use, but it also loads very fast.  When testing the time it took to load the application and waiting for the music to start on a 2G iPhone with an edge connection, it took us less then five seconds.  You can also stream music in the background so you can go back to checking your e-mail or surfing the web.  Another small but useful feature is that you can set an alarm to wake you up to whatever jazz music is playing at the time.  In the App Store, reviewers expressed the need for a music calendar, scrolling list of events, and making the sound a couple decibels louder.

The WWOZ iPhone app is solid out the gate and leaves us wondering if the radio station has more features planned in the future.  With other radio apps also carrying their stations WWOZ can break away by providing more relevant local content that listeners are interested in.

If your a music lover and want a simple app to stream New Orleans jazz music at work or on the go, download the WWOZ iPhone app and support local jazz at the same time.