 |
 From
the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "They call the announcers 'IJs,'
for Internet jockeys, instead of DJs or VJs. The music is on hard
drive, so no one spins any discs, and they Webcast on-line instead
of broadcasting over airwaves.
"Program director 'Big Dave' Eubanks said he’s learning
a whole new vocabulary at ClevelandHits.com,
the Internet music and entertainment Web site that  launched
this week.
"It may look like he’s doing the same sort of work he did as
a disc jockey and program director at 'Jammin’
92,' the old contemporary-dance FM, but he sees it as different
from radio as it is from TV...
"Its single audio channel will feature 'any genre of
music listeners want to hear,' Eubanks said, 'from pop Britney and
’N Sync to alternative to rap to house to ’80s,' and the target
audience is ages 18-34.
"About half the music will be programmed by Eubanks and his
staff. The rest will be decided hourly by users clicking their choices,
in a process the site calls 'musical democracy in action...'
"Eubanks, working the midday online shift, leads a 24-hour
young staff including broadcasting school graduates and club DJs.
They work out of an all-black studio, designed to reduce downloading
time for the streaming video from six wall- and ceiling-mounted
cameras..."
"[President and managing partner Mike] Hilber said he
got the idea for ClevelandHits.com from a newspaper story that suggested
Webcasting...would  be
the solution to the homogenization of radio formats caused by ownership
consolidation...
"They started work on the project last year with backing from
Golenberg Schmitz Capital Partners, the Los Angeles venture
capital firm of former Clevelanders Glenn Golenberg and Clarence
Schmitz...
"'This is not some disgruntled disc jockey site,' Hilber said. 'It’s
a huge undertaking.' He and Wilson intend ClevelandHits.com as the
first entry in their nationwide Hits Network, which will
establish separate sites for 82 other cities, each offering
local personalities, promotions and requests...
"[Eubanks] said the Webcaster has a promotional budget
equal to that of the old 'Jammin’ 92,'" and a van with the ClevelandHits
logo sits outside the facility. 'If you want to get your message
out, I firmly believe you have to hit the streets,' he said. 'That’s
why we’ve got the van...'"
Read the full story in ClevelandLive.com, by respected Plain
Dealer media critic Tom Feran, here.
Company
background
Hits Network President Mike Hilber previously spent
16 years as sales manager for Zapis Communications. CEO Tom Wilson
operates Sports Marketing Inc., owns TV stations in Missouri, Illinois
and Las Vegas, and managed and co-owned various Cleveland radio
stations (including WDOK, WWWE, and WRMR).
Hilber told RAIN that his firm intends to put a looped, taped
version of the format onto each of those 82 sites in the near future,
"to plant our flag." The company has registered domain
names for their various target markets that include www.newyorkhits.net,
www.lahits.com, www.phillyhits.com, www.metroplexhits.com (for Dallas/Ft.Worth),
www.bostonhits.com, www.southfloridahits.com (for Miami/Ft.Lauderdale),
www.atlantahits.com, and www.puertoricohits.com.
 The
firm's press release explains, "Users will be asked to vote
on a new set of songs every hour; the top vote-getters will be played
during the next hour. ClevelandHits.com will launch by targeting
a young adult audience with a universal mix of music including alternative,
CHR (Top 40), rock, dance, rap, techno, hip-hop, R&B, jazz, reggae,
or whatever the audience wants to hear."
According to the press release, ClevelandHits is being streamed
by Star-Bak, "pioneers in website hosting and streaming
data technology."
Somewhat oddly, given that it's an Internet venture, neither
the firm's venture capital firm nor its streaming company seem to
have websites.
...
Follow-up questions
(4PM update)
Mike, what's the roll-out schedule for your 83 markets?
"I want to act as a sales manager on this project for the
next 120 days or so, to build a foundation of sales; I just
want to hand-hold that myself. At the end of that period, it
triggers another four or frve stations to be launched in the
next 12 to 14 months. Chances are we'll be choosing East Coast
markets so I can get to them easily -- Atlanta, DC, Boston,
Detroit, Columbus, and Philadelphia are the likely ones."
How many salespeople do you have? And what kind of experience
do they have?
"I have four so far and will eventually replace myself
as a sales manager. They have a little bit of radio station
experience. But actually they're more Internet savvy."
What are your marketing plans? How will people find you?
"Television. I've got a spot that's adjusted from a radio
spot, from Robert Michelson in San Francisco, which will start
somewhere around the second week in July. And interviews are
an important thing for us; we'll interview any young-skewing
artist that sells tickets. And e-mail -- we'll send out an e-mail
every single day, telling listeners what's going to be new on
the site tomorrow.
"And so far, it's going great. We've had 400 people register
as users in three days, just from the newspaper coverage. The
chat room's full, and they're voting... You know, it's amazing
how inexpensively you can build a radio station when there's
not a license involved!"
... |
What do you think? A creative, aggressive, innovative idea...or
a possibly flawed strategy? (And
do you think the station's website is delightfully lively...or astonishingly
garish?) Contribute your thoughts using your own e-mail software
here or using
the form below.
CNET review gives thumbs-up to Sonicbox
.jpg) From
CNET.com: "Listening to radio broadcasts from around the
world via the Internet is great, but being tethered to your PC can
be a drag. We found the Sonicbox
iM Remote Tuner to be a clever, fun-to-use solution for enjoying Internet
radio from the comfort of your living room couch. And best of all,
you get to hear the music over your home stereo as opposed to through
those tinny computer speakers..." Read the full CNET review
here.
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