From Radio Business Report: "ConneXus Corp.’s *CD, a CD buying tool linking for listeners, has launched its wireless Internet application. Allowing music identification on wireless web devices, users of PalmPilot VII organizers and those with Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-enabled phones select the city, radio frequency and time and are instantly shown the song and performing artist was aired at that time on that radio station...

"*CD’s regular phone service lets listeners find out the title, artist and album name of a song just heard on the radio. If they want to buy the CD, pressing a number on the keypad sends it directly to their home..."

... This is interesting. Even if you don't have a "What's playing" feature on your website, *CD can tell your listeners what songs you're playing -- and then sell them the CD! And, due to the technology they're using (see below), they can do this with or without your cooperation. An indirect benefit to consumers of their approach is that they can show an aggregated list of what's playing on all of the stations in a market! ("Hey, B99 is playing the new Hanson song! I'll go there now!") One problem with the current verison of what *CD is doing is that there's no link from the "What's playing" list to the radio stations -- so a consumer can't simply click through to listen to his or her desired station. The listener would have to know the URL of the station or have it bookmarked to go there...or would have to search for it.

RBR continues, "*CD is currently offered in Philadelphia, San Francisco and San Jose and plans to offer the service in all top 30 markets later this year." Read the full story in RBR.com here.



In the screenshot above, you can see that at 9:40AM today, WBEB was playing Backstreet Boys, WIOQ was playing Toni Braxton, and WYXR was playing Sugar Ray.

How it works (from the firm's website): "*CD uses a patented computer technology to monitor radio broadcasts and identify songs as they air. Before new music is released, a master recording is obtained from the record companies and scanned into the system's computer -- creating a unique digital fingerprint or 'pattern' for that song. *CD's computers monitor local radio stations every second of the day, every day of the week -- processing the digitized broadcast and comparing it with thousands and thousands of patterns. Once a song is recognized, the system records the exact time, date, and station on which it played."

Of course, although radio broadcasters could have designed and built such a site, it was actually put together by young Internet entrepreneurs from outside our industry.


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From Radio & Records: "Lyn Andrews, who exited as President of ABC Radio Networks last month, is now President of Healtheon/WebMD's consumer division. In her new post, she will oversee sales, marketing and business development for Healtheon's consumer-information website and WebMD Television... Andrews...left after having commuted from hometown New York to ABC in Dallas for three years." Read more in R&R Online here.



Executives from Clear Channel, Launch Networks, and Click Radio are scheduled to appear on panels at the upcoming "Plug.In: Jupiter Online Music Forum" conference in New York City.

The fifth-annual event, according to Jupiter's website, "has become the preeminent gathering of the industry elite. This two-day event attracts top-level executives both as speakers and attendees to discuss topics such as record label strategies, digital distribution, music-oriented online content, intellectual property and more."

The two panels that seem to be of particular interest to Internet radio executives are described below. The event will take place July 24th and 25th at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. (Click logo at left to visit the forum's website.)

Programming, Media And Radio:
What Do Users Really Want?
Perhaps more than any other segment of the music industry, online radio is flourishing. Nearly every major music media site has a radio component. But some of the largest radio networks are notably absent from the fray. What will drive these networks online? How will the industry deal with the potential for customizable programming to cannibalize sales? What are the latest developments in royalty payments that Webcasters are required to pay? Are the revenues of media sites augmented by affiliate commerce sufficient? Or should media sites attempt to sell directly?

• David Goldberg, Chairman & CEO, Launch
• Hank Williams, CEO, ClickRadio
• Steve Marks, SVP, Business Affairs, RIAA
• John Martin, President, Website Services Group, Clear Channel Communications
• Frances Preston, President & CEO, BMI
• David Card, Director, Content & Programming, Jupiter Communications

Beyond Downloads:
New Models for Music Distribution
Other industries have proven that traditional off-line business models do not translate to the Internet directly. Why does the music industry remain reluctant to change? Will AOL's entry in the space change preconceived notions and encourage the industry to embrace the plethora of untapped ways to sell music? Panelists will examine key issues including subscriptions, free promotional downloads, bundled media and access, discounted pricing, file sharing and new variations on radio.

• Doug Camplejohn, Founder, President & CEO, MyPlay.com
• Kevin Conroy, Chief Marketing Officer & President, New Technology, BMG Entertainment
• Gene Hoffman, President & CEO, Emusic.com
• Eric Weisman, President & CEO, Alliance Entertainment
• Michael Robertson, Chairman & CEO, MP3.com
• Robert Reid, Founder & CEO, Listen.com
• Mark Mooradian, VP & Senior Analyst, Jupiter Communications

From R&R Online: "Ad Spending Expected To Soar This Year. That's according to veteran ad-spending tracker Robert Coen, who cites the economy's "continued resilience" for the growth expected in TV, radio and print media. Coen tells the AP he expects U.S. ad spending to rise from $215.3 billion in '99 to $235.6 billion this year in 2000 — the biggest gain in 16 years. For radio, that translates to a 15% rise to $4.6 billion. However, growth is expected to slow in 2001, when the Olympics, presidential campaigns and millennium celebration all will have ended. Coen's report adds that national ad spending is expected to rise 7.5% to $12.3 billion for magazines and 12% to $7.1 billion for newspapers."


We've got lots of it -- coming this weekend in RAIN.

Did you miss yesterday's issue (and/or Monday's issue)? Just click on the blue arrow to the left of the issue date at the top of this page to read it.

July 13-16	Upper Midwest Conclave, Minneapolis
August 3-5	Morning Show Bootcamp, New Orleans
September 20-23	NAB Radio Show, San Francisco
October 5-7	Billboard/Airplay Monitor Seminar, New York
October 9-12	QuickTime Live! Conference, Beverly Hills (NEW)
November 5-7	NAB European Radio Conference, Berlin
Nov. 28-Dec. 1	Radio Ink Internet Conference, Santa Clara, CA

xxx

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