How Text Groove handles thousands of radio contests without missing a beat

When a radio station gives away Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets, thousands of listeners text in within seconds. Every one of them expects a fast answer. And that’s where Text Groove shines. 

The British Columbia-based company powers audience engagement for more than 3,300 media organizations across North America, including eight of the top 10 broadcast ownership groups.  

Before co-founding Text Groove, CEO Curtis Machek hosted radio shows, too. But the text messaging tools available to stations at the time couldn’t hold up, so he built something that could. 

Text Groove’s platform handles contest entries, listener polls, VIP sign-ups, and on-air interactions in real time. When a host drops an opt-in keyword on air, Text Groove automates eligibility checks, auto-replies, and winner selections. 

But all of this needs to happen fast. There’s no time to log support tickets when you’re running a radio contest and text entries aren’t coming through. 

Text Groove cycled through several messaging service providers, but each platform struggled to keep up with their massive text volumes and time-sensitive support needs. 

“When you’re live on air and the tech isn’t working — and when you can’t get support during a live problem — that’s a major issue,” Curtis said. 

Text Groove now connects radio stations with listeners through Sinch’s Conversation API. So while Text Groove runs the contest logic and eligibility checks, Sinch handles delivery and getting messages through the carrier network and onto listeners’ phones. 

“Our platform provides the interface,” Curtis said. “Sinch provides the messaging backbone.” 

Nothing tested that backbone quite like the Taylor Swift Eras Tour. 

Stations ran ticket giveaways with little warning. A host would announce it mid-broadcast, and thousands of messages would pour in within 30 seconds. Text Groove had to check eligibility and surface a winner in under a minute. 

“These messages need to be delivered fast,” Curtis said. “If they don’t go through, you get angry Swifties…and you don’t want angry Swifties.” 

But Sinch’s infrastructure can handle the pressure. Text Groove has grown 50% year over year for five consecutive years and now processes 10 to 15 million messages a month (and climbing) through Sinch. 

Text Groove is now expanding into Europe and building out new capabilities: RCS for Business, WhatsApp for international markets, and inbound voice handling for radio stations using Sinch SIP trunking.  

Curtis says the goal is to take the busy tone out of radio for good and give listeners a smoother experience across every channel. 

“Every single country has its own regulations and rules,” Curtis said. “Sinch helps us navigate those. They’re able to bring the knowledge to us before we need it, so we can implement and act on it and get ready.” 

And the relationship between Text Groove and Sinch’s teams sweetens the deal. Curtis especially appreciates having a dedicated account manager to chat through ideas. They connect through Slack every day, and Curtis knows he’ll get a quick response every time. 

“It’s professional but casual at the same time,” Curtis said. “If I’m in town and Chet’s in town, we’re going for a beer. We’re hanging out outside of work, but we’re still getting it done.”