• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, October 9, 2014

Wearable technology is just starting to take off, but iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel Communications) doesn’t intend to miss out on the next wave of mobile connectivity. The company's flagship iHeartRadio streaming music and digital radio service will be available for Android Wear, Google’s open-source operating system for wearable devices, which is integrated with Android for smartphones.

Beginning Oct. 15, listeners who have installed iHeartRadio on an Android smartphone will also be able to access the free music service using voice activation on any smartwatch equipped with the Android Wear operating system, including the Samsung Gear Live, Moto 360 and LG G Watch.

The Android Wear version of iHeartRadio offers a number of features for greater ease of use. They include voice search for live streams from over 1,900 radio stations, as well as playlists based on the user’s own library; favorites for saved stations and shows; tailored recommendations based on the user’s preferences and listening habits; and the “thumbs up/thumbs down” option to better tailor future music recommendations.

Over the last few years, iHeartMedia has been aggressively expanding availability of iHeartRadio for new devices and platforms. This year alone, the company announced integrations with Amazon’s Fire Phone and Fire TV, Google’s Chromecast, and Apple’s CarPlay, as well as deals with automakers, including Subaru, GM, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia and Volvo.

On the advertising side, in July the company partnered with AdsWizz, an advertising technology company, to develop a new method to insert targeted audio ads in live broadcast radio streams for the iHeartRadio platform. The new system will enable advertisers to target listeners based on their user profiles, listening preferences, location, demographic and psychographic criteria and devices. Advertisers will also be able to create custom segments using listener data.

Also, iHeartMedia has also been working steadily to raise consumer awareness of the iHeartRadio app, which it claims has already been downloaded by 50 million people. Earlier this month, the company announced its latest iHeartRadio Music Festival spinoff, the iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina, which will bring together leading Latin music stars for live performances at the Forum in Los Angeles on Nov. 22.