BY
HOLIDAY DMITRI
FOR RAIN: RADIO AND INTERNET NEWSLETTER
Last Thursday it had
been reported by AllAccess.com
that
Cox Radio, one
of the country's largest broadcasting companies, had returned
its streaming to the Internet.
RAIN's crack team of interns
did some research of its own, and found this to only be partially
true.
As of this morning, RAIN could confirm that from a small
sampling of 21 Cox stations, only eight of the stations were streaming.
At the remaining properties, "Listen" links at several
station sites led to the now-familiar "We are working with the
numerous parties involved to resolve this situation" statement.
Contractual guarantees of higher payments for AFTRA (The
American Federation of
Television
and Radio Artists) talent, and the resulting requests of advertisers
that stations not stream certain radio ads, caused many broadcast
companies to abruptly pull down their stations' streams.
Unwillingness to anger high-paying advertising clients (and uncertainty
of their own liability for the hefty supplemental payments) meant
no streaming for hundreds of radio stations.
But it seems that at least some major broadcasters are
returning to the Internet. The
last few weeks have seen stations like
WLS-AM/Chicago
and
WTOP-AM/Washington
DC return to the 'Net. And with the reported news of the return
of Cox properties' streams, the crack team of
RAIN interns
got on the case.
Whether or not any particular Cox station was streaming
didn't seem to be dependent upon format or location. For instance,
News/Talk stations might logically be expected to be returning
to the Internet more quickly than music stations, since the uncertainty
regarding music royalties isn't an issue for these outlets. But
of the three Cox "talk" properties we checked, only
WSB-AM/Atlanta was streaming -- while WOKV-AM and Sports-Talk
WBWL-AM (both in Jacksonville) remain down.
Likewise, the geography didn't seem to play a role. While
the two aforementioned Jacksonville stations are silent on the
'Net, sister Jacksonville stations WAPE-FM and WMXQ-FM are now
streaming.
In every instance RAIN interns found a station to be streaming,
it was through the
StreamAudio
system, which presumably substituted (or at least eliminated)
the AFTRA-spots. (Cox Radio Interactive,
the Internet division
of Cox Radio, announced an exclusive strategic business alliance
with StreamAudio this past January.)
| Station found streaming |
Station with stream
missing |
| WBTS-FM/Atlanta (CHR) |
| WFOX-FM/Atlanta (Oldies) |
| WSB-AM/Atlanta (News/Talk) |
| WODL-FM/Birmingham (Oldies) |
| WAPE-FM/Jacksonville (CHR) |
| WRKA-FM/Louisville (Oldies) |
WFJO-FM/Tampa
(Jammin' Oldies) |
| WDUV-FM/Tampa (AC) |
|
| WEZN-FM/Bridgeport (AC) |
| WDPT-FM/Dayton (Eighties) |
| WJMZ-FM/Greenville (Urban)* |
| WHZT-FM/Greenville (CHR)** |
| KXME-FM/Honolulu (CHR) |
| WOKV-AM/Jacksonville (News/Talk) |
| WMXQ-FM/Jacksonville (AC)** |
| WBWL-AM/Jacksonville (Sports Talk) |
| WSFR-FM/Louisville (Hot AC)** |
| KWEN-FM/Tulsa (Country) |
| KRAV-FM/Tulsa (AC) |
| KJSR-FM/Tulsa (Classic Rock) |
| KRTQ-FM/Tulsa (Active Rock)** |
*Stream not yet operational
**RAIN unable to connect/stream silent |
Holiday Dmitri is a freelance writer in Chicago. She
received her Bachelor's degree in 1999 from Northwestern University's
Medill School of Journalism. She is formerly Senior Associate
Editor of Velocity Magazine and Website Archive Editor
of XLR8R Magazine. This is her first piece for RAIN.
From CNet News.com: "Vivendi Universal, owner of the
largest record company, on Sunday said it has
agreed to buy the online music-sharing site
MP3.com
for about $372 million in cash and stock to gain technology for
selling music on the Internet.
"MP3.com holders would get $5 a share, 66 percent
more than the San Diego-based company's price Friday. They can
choose to be paid in cash, in Vivendi American depositary shares
or in a combination of the two, Vivendi said.
"Vivendi has been working to sell more music on the
Internet since paying $29 billion to buy Seagram, owner of Universal
Music Group. The Paris-based company and rivals
such as AOL Time Warner and Sony are starting their own online
services to combat Web competition that is sapping sales...
"MP3.com's market value has plunged about $4 billion
since the company's stock more than doubled on its first day of
trading in July 1999. The shares, which closed Friday at $3.01,
initially sold for $28 each amid investor enthusiasm for Internet-related
stocks."
Read the entire story
here.
From the Wall Street Journal: "Satellite-radio technology
was supposed to be delivering hundreds of channels
of CD-quality music to as many as a million cars this year, revolutionizing
radio the way cable did TV. It hasn't worked out that way...
"Earlier this year, as skepticism grew about the two
companies' rollout plans, shares of each plunged to their lowest
levels in years. They have since made up some of the ground, thanks
in part to the successful launch of XM's latest satellite but
are still down more than 60% from their highs. In 4 p.m. trading
Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market,
XM
shares were up 71 cents, to $16.42, and
Sirius
shares were up $1.87, to $18.34...
"For the moment, GM is bringing out the service late
this year only on two Cadillac models, the DeVille and Seville
sedans. While Mr. Lee admits that the retiree buyers who favor
these cars aren't the target demographic for a digital-music service,
he says they
are the only two models in GM's lineup with electrical systems
that can handle XM. More models will be equipped for XM around
the middle of next year, but the exact timing depends on whether
the engineers who control what goes into new cars decide to adopt
them.
"No. 2 auto maker Ford Motor Co., which has a deal
with Sirius, isn't saying what models it will offer the service
on. A spokesman says only that Sirius is likely to show up as
an option on one or two higher-priced vehicles sometime next year."
Read the story here
(registration required, or there's a free version at MSNBC.com
here).
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From the press release: "
Everstream
announced today that it entered into a definitive agreement to
acquire
AdAcoustics and its New York-based parent,
The
MusicBooth LLC, an advertising services and technology
company that owns numerous patents for targeted advertising via
cable, satellite, Internet and wireless networks.
"The expanded company unites everstream's experience,
engineering expertise, resources and management team with AdAcoustics'
patents and proprietary technology to create a new standard for
one-to-one targeting of advertisements."
Read the press release
here.
