BY PAUL MALONEY
Coming on the heels of RadioWave's first Internet radio ratings success, the company has let go 30 percent of its staff.

As first reported in Chicago technology reporter/gossipmonger Ron May's TheMayReport.com, RadioWave Chairman and CEO Bill Pearson said the company is cutting 15 out of its 51 employees. Pearson stressed to RAIN that there has been no change in strategy or its services, and that in fact, they're picking up new customers.

Just this past Monday it was announced by Arbitron that RadioWave, in its first ratings report, ranked among the top 10 "most listened to" streaming channels for the month of February. The company's contemporary music "Hits Happen" channel was the most listened to contemporary music channel in the rankings. Coming in at number eight, the station pulled in 198,400 aggregate tuning hours (ATH). Seven RadioWave channels appeared in the study's top 75.

Ron Smith, the programmer of six of those seven channels (including "Hits Happen"), told RAIN that he is one of the layoff casualties.

Pearson told RAIN that the downsizing is strictly in order to preserve cash. "We want to be as careful with our cash reserves as we can," he said. "Staying power is very important. It's not a great time to get new funding right now. It's always better to go to the market (for funding) when you want to, rather than when you have to." RadioWave cut staff by 15 percent last December (reported in RAIN here).

The Chicago-based firm programs and produces Internet radio for third party sites as the RadioWave Network, including MSN, RollingStone.com, ARTISTdirect and TheWB.com.

The February Arbitron Webcast Ratings are here.

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BY PAUL MALONEY
Microsoft's Windows Media took a step in the wireless direction yesterday as the software giant introduced the Windows Media 7.1 Player for Pocket PC, and began allowing consumers to preview WindowsMedia.com Mobile -- a wireless digital media guide for mobile users.

These "unveilings" come just as the company has announced their collaboration with Intel to develop wireless technology for future higher speed wireless devices.

Users with a network card or wireless network card for the Pocket PC can access digital audio and video -- and play back downloaded content, like MP3s -- with the new media player. The company claims the product also enables easy transfer of digital files to the wireless unit from the user's PC. The Windows Media Player 7.1 for Pocket PC will work for Compaq iPAQ Pocket PCs, the HP Jornada and the Casio Cassiopeia Pocket PC models. It can be downloaded here.

Wireless users can connect and stream media through the new guide over high-speed wireless networks such as Richochet or 802.11 Wireless LANs. Internet radio outlets in WindowsMedia.com Mobile include The Village Voice, Rolling StoneRadio, Radio Free Virgin, House of Blues, KFOG Radio, Cox Radio Interactive, Clear Channel Communications and cablemusic.com.

The service also offers audio or video news from the likes of CNET, MSNBC, and The Industry Standard; downloadable music and music videos; and movie trailers. Pocket PC users can view the site with Pocket Internet Explorer at "http://WindowsMedia.com." It's available for preview with a web browser here.

And as wireless networks worldwide step up to the next generation of standards, Microsoft and Intel hope to have the technology in place that will allow the two-way delivery of high-speed video and audio data. The companies' collaboration will optimize the Windows Media for Intel's "XScale" microarchitecture.

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GlobalMedia.com declares bankruptcy
From Radio and Records: "The Vancouver-based company made the filing voluntarily under the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act yesterday. Just last month GlobalMedia.com announced it would merge with Australia-based Radly Corp. in a cash and stock deal intended to help Global implement its restructured business plan, which would focus on Internet video, website and wireless technologies for the sports and entertainment industries."

Napster still a contender in online music race
From USA Today: "Usage is down and 90% of the songs people were downloading are being blocked, but Napster CEO Hank Barry says reports of the embattled song swap service's demise are greatly exaggerated. Napster, with over 80 million registered users, was seeing some 250,000 daily downloads of its software, a number that's fallen to 150,000 a day. 'That's on par with all the other music applications people want, like Windows Media and Real Audio. There's still tremendous interest in Napster.'"

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