Reprinted from yesterday's late afternoon edition...
From
the press release: "GlobalMedia.com
today announced planned changes in management and board composition
in connection with its reorganization and implementation of its
new business model. Jeff Mandelbaum
(right) and Barr Potter
(left) will step down as the Company's CEO and President, respectively,
and will resign from the board, on February
1, 2001, in order to pursue other opportunities.
"Two investor representatives will also resign from
the board at that time. Michael Metcalfe, Global's founder, past
CEO/President and largest shareholder, will reassume the roles
of CEO and President, and is presently working to recruit other
potential board members and senior executives.
"On December 29, 2000, Global announced the restructuring
of its business, including the pending sale of its radio station
streaming audio contracts to SurferNETWORK.com
(see RAIN's coverage here).
That transaction is currently scheduled to close on January 31,
2001."
Read the press release here.
From CNet News: "
RealNetworks
shares dropped 8 percent Wednesday after Merrill Lynch analyst Henry
Blodget
downgraded the stock on valuation concerns and on recent data suggesting
the company is losing market share to Microsoft.
"Blodget cut the streaming media company from 'accumulate'
to 'hold,' citing its pricey valuation, around 86 times its projected
earnings for 2001, and the growing popularity of Microsoft's
Windows
Media Player.
"'We continue to believe there is a significant risk that Microsoft
will do to RealNetworks what it did to
Netscape -- take over the market by bundling functionality in larger
products and giving it away for free,' Blodget wrote in a research
note...
"But Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Heath Terry isn't
buying Blodget's Netscape analogy. 'Microsoft's been doing this
for three years, and it still hasn't had any real effect,' Terry
said. 'I'm surprised it still gets brought up. Sure, Microsoft is
a competitor, but the dynamics of streaming media are significantly
different than those of a browser. I think that's a weak argument.'"
Read the full story
here.
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From the press release: "
Interep
National Radio Sales and
FastChannel
Network announced plans to form a strategic alliance between
RadioExchange and
FastChannel Network’s
SpotTaxi.com.
This agreement has established a Premier Partnership between FastChannel
Network and Interep, which will include several areas of exclusive
development to further simplify and streamline the trafficking and
workflow processes of radio advertising sales, both locally and
nationally.
"RadioExchange, developed by Interep in collaboration
with the Katz Media Group (see
RAIN coverage
here),
enables Internet-based communication between agencies and national
rep firms, and between the national rep and their client radio stations...
"SpotTaxi.com enhances this process by providing agencies
with the ability to handle creative, trafficking instructions
and media asset management via the Internet, ensuring fast, easy
and reliable spot distribution...
"The alliance offers additional features to RadioExchange
not offered on any other media exchange, including the ability for
member radio stations to distribute spots and promos within their
radio groups. Other features include the streaming of demo reels
and real time spot delivery status updates. The alliance will also
include co-marketing and cross-promotions."
The press release is available
here.
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Reprinted from yesterday...
BY
KURT HANSON
After over a year of operating in "stealth mode,"
Radio Ink and
Streaming 
Magazine
publisher
Eric Rhoads
(pictured below, center) has debuted his own VC-funded, San Francisco-based
Internet radio business,
Radio
Central, and revealed that he's closed on $7.25 million
in new funding (on top of $5 million he raised last year).
Radio Central intends to provide customized Internet
radio programming to enhance third-party sites.
("RadioCentral combines custom music programming with the interactivity
of the Internet to deepen the user experience of your site.")
Rhoads's partners in the venture include legendary programmer
Steve Rivers (pictured, left)
as Senior Vice President and Chief Radio Programming Officer,
former 99X/Atlanta MD Sean Demery
(pictured, right) as Director of Music Programming, and former
Zapoleon Media Strategies consultant Steve
Wyrostok as Director of Radio Operations.
Rivers
previously served as the Chief Programming Officer
for AM/FM, where he oversaw the programming 465 radio
stations; prior to AM/FM, he held the same position at
Chancellor Media, Evergreen Media and Pyramid Broadcasting.
As a PD, he is best known for his achievements at WXKS/Boston
("Kiss 108").
Participants in the financing include Allegis Capital,
RacRim Venture Partners, and FBR CoMotion Venture Capital. The
latter firm is also the source of the venture capital behind
Measurecast.
RadioCentral offers a product, at least on their two demo
stations, that sounds much more like "real," live radio
than traditional Internet-only efforts -- with segues, talkovers,
professional-sounding jocks, a tight playlist, and more. It's
an impressive sound!
The site offers two demos: Classic Alternative and Classic
Soul. Listen to them here.
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Included in Radio Central's press release (here)
was the optimistic assertion that "one in six Americans
listen to streaming during some part of the day," attributed
to "a recent study conducted by Harris Interactive /
Measurecast."
An examination of that study (third study on the page
here)
reveals no such finding. According to the study, only 16%
of U.S. Internet users (already a subset of the total population)
had used streaming for even an hour in the past 30 days, and
of those, only 20% said they were everyday users.
Overall, the study seems to indicate that about 3%
to 4% of Americans (much fewer than "one in six")
access streaming media on a typical day.
--
KH
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Try
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Internet audio by clicking the screenshot above.
