 |
 From
Inside.com: "The profoundly, breathtakingly evil-genius
part of the project is that audience members will be able, via AOL
-- 'the exclusive distributors of this Big Brother online area,'
according to the press release -- to watch streaming video webcasts
from the 28 cameras 24 hours a day, ogling the voluntarily caged
contestants, live, whenever they want.
"This will be huge.  This
will be epochal. This will be the moment that 'convergence,' the
wishful catchall buzzword for the interweaving of entertainment
and the Internet, finally becomes real. This summer, the ground
shifts..."
Read the full essay, "Evil Genius in the Age of Anything
Goes," by Kurt Andersen in Inside.com here.
Tom Shales: "Thus does 'Big
Brother'
threaten to desecrate..."
From the Washington Post: "'Big Brother,' the latest thing in
crank prank programming from  CBS,
stars 10 supposedly ordinary people who agree to live together in
a house for up to three months and give up all contact with the
outside world. No phones, no computers, no television. So there
is a bright side for them. At least they won't have to watch
CBS...
"'The Early Show's Julie Chen...is not acting as a journalist
on the program, she is acting as a shill: 'Wow, that was in-tense,'
she gushed of the inmates' arrival via SUV caravan. Thus does 'Big
Brother' threaten to insult and desecrate not only the memories
of CBS founder William S. Paley and the still-alive former CBS president
Frank Stanton...but also that of CBS News patron saint Edward R.
Murrow..."
Read Tom Shales's column in the Washington Post here.
CBS's server was busy last night. (Part of
the "Big Brother" concept is that Internet users can monitor
the action in the house 24 hours a day.)
Germany's "Big Brother"
website allowed surfers to select from 16 webcams to watch the action
live.
In a surprising vote of "No
confidence," CBS's webmaster didn't feel that "Big Brother"
deserved a featured link at the top of the CBS.com home page (shown
above). (Either that or they were too disorganized to get the link
up in time.)
|
 We'll
send you RAIN's e-mail news updates on a regular basis,
plus bulletins when important news breaks. (In addition, we'll
appreciate knowing that you're reading our efforts -- and
you'll hopefully appreciate reminders to read RAIN.)
You should be receiving
a confirmation e-mail from us shortly.
Thanks!
|
 |
"If
you'd like to write more about Big Brother, here's a radio
link..."
|
Big Brother
hasn't got anything to do with "radio," but if you'd like to write
more about Big Brother, then here's a "radio link."
Here in the Netherlands the concept was being "developed" and the
Dutch TV station "Veronica" had the world premiere last year. Big
Brother became an instant success, which was repeated by similar
shows in Germany and Spain. The big initiator of Big Brother, Endemol
co-owner John de Mol (or at least: he co-owned the company till
recently, when Spanish Telefonica bought it ), started his carreer
as studio-engineer on offshore pirate radiostation Radio Northsea
International , broadcasting off the Dutch coast in international
waters, beaming popmusic to the Netherlands and Great Britain. His
father was the Station Manager.
From The Cincinnati Enquirer: "Funny how times change.
The hottest technology in the first part of the 20th  century
was 'wireless,' the ability to broadcast words, music or (gasp!)
pictures through thin air. One hundred years later, it's a wire
— the Internet wire — that everyone is talking about.
"Anyone on the planet who has a computer with a modem, sound
card, audio-player software and speakers, can hear Cincinnati stations
simulcasting, or 'audio-streaming,' their programs..."
The Cincinnati Enquirer checks in with its version of
the obligatory piece on Internet radio here.
(The piece, by TV/radio critic John Kiesewetter, takes an
interesting local slant; avoiding the standard cliche, it ignores
KPIG entirely!)
| Excerpts... |
| "WVXU-FM's
Web site, recently overhauled by General Manager Jim King,
has 'hundreds of hours of archival programs, some of it for
free,' he says. Samples of Red Barber and Ruth Lyons documentaries
produced by the Xavier University station will be offered to
Web site visitors, with an option to purchase the entire compact
disc by credit card, he says..." |
| "Infinity
hasn't ventured onto the Net nationwide. But the future
is coming, says Chuck Finney, operations director here for Infinity's
WGRR-FM, WKRQ-FM (101.9) and WAQZ-FM (97.3). 'We'll be there
eventually,' Mr. Finney says. [Meanwhile,] Tristate radio operators
with Web sites can't imagine a business model without a Web
component. Commercial stations market their prizes, promotions
and personnel on their sites..." |
| "In
an ironic twist of history, the World Wide Web fulfills
the dream of WLW-AM founder Powel Crosley Jr., who wanted to
reach the world with a 500,000-watt signal in the 1930s. 'At
the inception of its 500,000-watt signal, WLW-AM called itself
"The Nation's Station," and we're really going back
to that. Powel Crosley probably has a smile on his face in the
grave,' Mr. Parks says. 'We know the people are listening to
us all over the world...'" |
Broker
Todd Hepburn
joins website design firm SiteShell
From Radio
& Records: "Todd Hepburn joins Siteshell Corp. Hepburn
will serve as affiliate representative for the company,  which
licenses audience-specific website content packages to local radio
stations. He spent the last 20 years as a VP with the Ted Hepburn
Co., a media brokerage firm."
 |
"I guess if I was starving to death I would eat a
dog. But not a collie, because I don't like the taste of collie."
Buy this fine
book from Amazon here.
(RAIN doesn't have an affiliate deal with Amazon or
anything. But it's a great book.)
|
 "RAIN:
Radio And Interent Newsletter" -- the leading web-based publication
devoted specifically to the subject of Internet radio -- is establishing
a summer internship program and is now accepting applications.
If you or someone you know is looking for an interesting new
opportunity in the exciting dotcom world, this may be just
what you're looking for!
To learn more about RAIN's Summer 2000 internship program,
click here.
(Note: This
link is working today!)
| xxx |
 |
|
Try it
out! Explore
the wide world of Internet audio by clicking the screenshot above.
Miss an issue?
Visit the RAIN News Archives here.
|
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