Trying to cover everything
that's been happening in the realm of radio and the Internet lately,
yet still 
maintaining
a manageable size, has certainly been a challenge. Yet just as
important as the actual news are the creative insights and opinions
of RAIN readers. And the feedback has been piling up!
In the interest of giving some much-deserved exposure to
what you had to say, and hopefully invoking even more discussion,
today this page belongs to you. Thus, today shall
be known heretofore as the second (in a somewhat irregular cycle)
"RAIN Reader
Feedback Day!"
We'll start it out this morning with feedback pieces we've
received over the past couple of weeks, and we'll publish a follow-up
next week with new comments
and opinions that are contributed today. Of
course, we welcome your opinions, too! (To send
us an e-mail, simply click
here.)
It just keeps coming, more Reader Feedback following news
that Activate had cut off the streams of former GlobalMedia (now
SurferNetwork) stations (see RAIN coverage here
and here,
with previous feedback here
and here)...
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"Sounds
like another good offer..."
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I want to respond to Rich Potyka of KRXS in Globe, AZ
("
RAIN Reader Feedback
here)
with, as Paul Harvey says, "the rest of the story."
KRXS has probably received over $50,000 worth of streaming services
over the past few years, paid for by struggling streaming companies
that did their best to serve very
demanding stations, no matter how small. True, KRXS never received
much e-commerce revenue - but it was because KRXS listeners never
bought anything!
Magnitude collapsed despite great efforts by dedicated employees.
Activate finally cut off service after a desperate Global Media
stopped paying the bills for stations like KRXS.
And by the way, it IS in Surfer's contract that that they will pay
the streaming fees for stations cut off by Activate, until the Surfer
solution is in place.
SurferNetwork has a business plan that might continue to provide
streaming for stations by selling web-only spots to cover the broadcast
spots, and, by the way, giving stations a share of the ad revenue.
Sounds like yet another good offer for stations like Rich's, which
perhaps need to stop whining about losing free streaming, pay a
company to provide services, and say thank you to the folks who
worked so hard to help their station reach an Internet audience.
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A Former Magnitude Employee |
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"The
best move we could have ever made..."
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When nearing our launch in late August of 2000, we contacted
several streaming providers who either
wanted a large monthly investment or wouldn't service Internet only
outlets. We were very close at one point to signing with BroadcastAmerica.com,
but the deal passed.
We chose to bring everything in house and invested in our own server,
bandwidth deals, etc.
Bringing everything in house was the best move we could have ever
made! We were able to launch debt free and have been in the black
ever since. Plus, we're able to control our stream completely. We
now stream out at a higher bandwidth rate than our competitors and
have one of the best sounding streams on the net.
Hire a consultant and do it yourself. Your product will shine and
your listeners will listen more!
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Scott Hawk
CEO / WebRock.net |
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"I
see none of the other streaming providers doing this..."
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With all of this confusion in the streaming industry
as it pertains to radio station programming, one thing is
very clear. Station programmers still to this day do NOT even talk
or consider
Webradio.com.
The Emblaze technology allows for 'plug-in free' streaming (for
those who do not wish to download a plug-in). As well as an 'Active-X'
player for equal or superior audio quality. They charge $350 a month
and provide ALL the Bandwidth and Unlimited streams. They even pay
the stations on ad revenue, as well as bring to the table more viable
ways to generate revenue, more common to Internet portals. I see
none of the other streaming providers offering any of this.
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Shannon Diem
sdiem@webradio.com |
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Have
an opinion on this article? Share it! Simply click
the headline at left to bring up a convenient "Submit"
form. |
Clear Channel VP/Programming, in an FMQB cover story,
discussed some of his company's plans for the Internet (in
RAIN here).
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"I
think his comments...are
not only insightful, but accurate..."
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Excellent coverage on the Tom Owens interview. I think his comments
on the future of our industry and product solutions like Kerbango
and Sonic Box are not only insightful, but accurate. There are many
companies that could learn/save a lot from today's issue.
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Michael Marks
mmarks01@yahoo.com |
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"Looks
like they're gonna repackage the old stuff for the Internet..."
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In response to the comment from Clear Channel's Tom Owens: "our
ultimate objective is to allow the online
consumer to create completely self-targeted variations of our on-air
brands."
Thank god. I feared that Clear Channel was actually going to CREATE
new and exciting content. Looks like they're going to REPACKAGE
the old stuff for the Internet instead. Good job, Tom - betcha your
listeners can't wait to narrow their FM radio station's 100 songs
down to 20, get rid of all the DJs, and then listen to commercials
they get to pick out. What fun!
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Wanda Atkinson
wanda@3wk.com |
This feedback is in response to our coverage of
the demise of FMCities.com and FMCanada.com (in
RAIN here
and here).
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"I
think they came into the game too late..."
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I don't think they were ahead of their time. I think
they came into the game too late. If you come into this netcasting
game now be prepared to spend millions to startup and to attract
over 1 million users per month - constantly.
It appears lots of money was wasted. Not due to stupidity but just
not understanding where to put it. Many believe the cost associated
with starting up your own network of channels is cheap. Its not.
When you take into consideration the bad judgment of platforms,
providers, designers and such, then add in what its going to cost
to get enough eyes and ears to your site on a consistent basis...
if you don't spend what you have right the first time [now, in this
day and age] you'll be gone.
No disrespect meant to a [obviously] successful man but in the end
it appears that FMCities came in not knowing what it really takes
to survive and thrive.
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Salvatore Lepore
CyberRadio2000.com |
Saying "Our current revenue model does not show Katz
Interactive Marketing delivering positive results in the foreseeable
future," Katz Media Group CEO Stu Olds announced that his company
is folding the Interactive division (in RAIN here).
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"Katz
is pulling a 'George Bush'..."
|
Regarding Katz Interactive closing down (reported in
RAIN
here):
Our favorite psycho-paranoid theory here at 3WK is that Katz is
pulling a "George Bush" here by telling everyone that Internet radio
advertising doesn't sell, so that big money panics and pulls out
of Internet radio, creating a barrage of broken and bleeding stations...and
leaving a wide open market for the Clear Channel Internet only stations
(Enigma, WorldClassRock). What a way to clear the field. (Told you
it was paranoid... or is it?)
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Wanda Atkinson
wanda@3wk.com |
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"It's
time we stopped reducing everything to a bottom line..."
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I think the ratings, based on total listening hours and other metrics
are continuing the grand tradition of
denial, deception and irrelevance radio has fostered for over half
a century. Hell, our little two-person site would have been number
one in the world in December and between 4 and 5 last week (using
MeasureCast's measurements). Why do these other guys think they
have to spend a fortune on design, graphics, skins and biographical
links to grab and maintain an audience?
Who asked for jingles, promos, traffic reports and irrelevant weather
in their stream? Who asked for numerous jarring, repetitive commercial
interruptions? Has anybody asked the audience? Who asked for personalization
schemes? - Just because technology can provide the solution, it
doesn't mean it has any relevance to the problem. What makes people
think a boring radio personality reading liners off a computer screen
will be any more entertaining on the web? Where is the mountain
of research that says expensive stereo, near-CD quality streaming
is going to get you a bigger audience (our biggest stream on Real
Audio the other week was an Elvis concert from 1961 that sounded
like it came through a telephone)?
For too many years radio and record companies have turned art into
commodity and exploited "product" as such. It's time to listen with
all the senses (especially the common one) once again. Spreadsheets
don't sing, cry, bleed, sweat, fear, dream, have passion or laugh.
We shouldn't confuse a "book" with a story. It's time we stopped
reducing everything to a bottom line, and valued visitors to numbers.
Or we'll only become numb-er and numb-er.
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Don
Goldberg, Creative Director www.RonDiamond.com |
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"The
advertising world needs to rethink what they're doing..."
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I don't understand why advertisers are NOT biting. Instead of the
"unpredictable" world of Arbitron's (traditional radio) numbers,
they can get tangible evidence with Internet radio of "actual" listeners,
versus the "extrapolation" method of weighted diaries, and diaries
being filled out the last minute to get it in the mail in time.
Advertisers are also asking Internet radio to jump through unrealistic
hoops to get a buy, like "click-thru's." I would
like advertisers to start telling terra-radio that they will pay
5 cents per person that actually comes through their doors to look
around, instead of the usual "reach & frequency branding" which
has traditionally been done with terra-radio.
Listeners in the car will punch the button at the first sign of
a commercial, where if a person is listening to an Internet station
at work on their PC, chances are they won't change the station at
a commercial break. They would have to stop what they're doing,
maximize their player, then search for another station. On my Internet
stations, HotCountryHits & HotHitRadio, I do a lot of imaging with
promos and sweepers and even jingles and people just plain do not
tune out. We ran some ads for a credit card company as a test and,
again, no drop off in listenership.
It seems to me that the advertising world needs to rethink what
they are doing with their ad dollars. Maybe by having an Internet
savvy sales rep talking to the ad community about breaking all the
rules and trying something totally different, like fifteen second
audio ads that utilize the TRUE power of the 'Net, maybe THEN we'll
start seeing Internet radio taken seriously.
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Jordan James McKay
jjmckay@jjmckay.com |
| xxx |
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Try
it out! Explore the wide world of
Internet audio by clicking the screenshot above.
