From the website of Adult Album Alternative-formatted Channel 103.1 (KACD)/Los Angeles: "The era of corporate mergers may be good for some, but for Channel 103.1, it means the end of our radio station." (Clear Channel is selling the station shortly, at which time it will be flipped to a Spanish-language format.)

"That is unless you can help. Our parent company, Clear Channel Communications, has promised us that if we can show them that enough listeners will follow us, they will make Channel 103.1 the first-ever radio station to move from the FM dial to a state-of-the-art broadband broadcast over the Internet.

"This will make Channel1031.com a very high quality audio service that you can listen to regardless of where you are, anywhere in the world, and will insure that Channel 103.1 will live on.

"How can you help? Take a moment to fill out a simple registration form so that we can show our parent company that people want Channel1031.com. So, register below and please spread the word to all your friends..."

I'm not sure if this is a sincere request on the part of the staff or a clever marketing ploy, but whichever one it is, that's cool. One interesting point, though, is that the Channel 103.1 website is about as garish as they get -- almost a dozen flashing banner ad-like boxers on the home page, irrationally mixed typefaces, etc.

For fun, visit the site, pretend you're a potential advertiser, and try to click on either of two buttons in the bottom-right corner of the home page -- "Target Your Market -- Advertise! (Click here)" or "Why advertise? Why with us? Why not click to find out?" You'll be taken to a Clear Channel Communications corporate website that doesn't address the question, as near as I can tell, at all. Try following any kind of logical path, and I believe you'll end up back at the Channel 103.1 home page again.

Internet-only webcaster Comedy World, a newly-launched entertainment network (see 6/6/00 RAIN story here), announced last week that it has received $10M in first-round funding from venture capital firm Attractor, and private investors including Daniel Rosensweig (President and CEO, ZDNet), Shelby Bonnie, and Charles Moldow (Senior Vice President, Tellme).

The site also announced a Board of Advisors that includes Edward Bennett, former CEO of VH1, George Schlatter, creator of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," Andy Schuon, CEO of FarmClub.com and former MTV programmer, and Frank Wood, CEO, Secret Communication.

"Comedy World is an independent 24-hour entertainment network created to produce and broadcast original comedy programming. The network will mix live audio, streaming video, animation, interactive features and games that can be accessed via local radio stations" -- I have no idea what they mean by that -- and the Internet. Programming includes original content from nationally known comedians."

The VC firm, Attractor, claims to currently manage more than $750M in funds, investing in the Internet, software and telecommunication sectors, yet somehow can apparently only afford a clumsy-looking signle-page website.

Reprinted from Monday's late afternoon edition:
We're now into our third day of discussion about ClevelandHits.com (see original story here). Numerous readers have contributed, including PD Dave Eubanks...

"We are simply taking our place alongside radio as a New Media..."

In response to the RAIN reader who wrote,"Local radio stations can easily combat this approach..." I would like to submit that Hits Network (Clevelandhits.com) are designed to simply offer the at-home entertainment consumers another choice. We are taking our place alongside radio as a "New Media".

Clevelandhits.com and Hits Network are not format focuesd. We are offering an oppertunity to have your voice heard and participate in the actual programing of the site. In offering a true choice to the consumers they can interact, and have instant results. After all isn't that what the Internet was actually designed to do?

All Hits Network sites will be locally operated and designed for its's respective city. We will also be focusing on the Local music scene. Offering an outlet to the local groups that can't get any exposure on the air, even though they sell out the local venues.

There is SO much music out there that deserves to be heard, no one format/station can handle the load. We are another choice. New Media for the new millenium.

"This RAIN reader needs to...count his/her blessings..."

"Why would anyone think that'd be a good thing?..."

Well, I'd say they have a long way to go. The site design is -- ahem -- a bit hard on the eyes. During the 12PM hour today, they had a grand total of 13 responses to their online request feature (& each listener can select up to 7 songs...). Plus, they make the curious choice to give people who choose the "56k" option better video (of a DJ at a control board) and worse audio than those who choose "28.8". Wait a minute, folks -- this is radio, right?

These are all fixable. But what about the concept itself? There are good reasons why you don't find any broadcast stations playing Offspring, Lipps Inc., and Enrique Iglesias in the same half-hour (as they did during the time I listened). The whole concept is a step backward to the "if it's a hit we'll play it" era of 60s Top 40. Why would anyone think that that'd be a good thing?

The reason that those stations worked is that they were generally the only place you could hear any hit music. You sat through Henry Mancini to hear the new Stones single (or vice-versa) because that's the only place you could hear it. Why would a contemporary listener suffer through Madonna & N'Sync to hear Stone Temple Pilots when they could more easily (by turning on the radio) sit through Nirvana & Limp Bizkit instead? Or, by tuning into another Internet channel, find something that honed in on their personal tastes even more exactly?

Just my $0.02...

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xxx

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