To read yesterday's issue of RAIN, simply click on the blue arrow to the left of the issue date above.

From CNET News.com: "The National Football League said today (10/3) that it will use Web giant Yahoo's services to broadcast its weekly gridiron games through the Internet.

"The deal signifies another step that professional sports leagues have taken to let Internet users tune into game day events... Football fans can listen to the streams through the league's Web site and individual teams' sites. The broadcast sites will also link to Yahoo Sports, which offers a real-time play-by-play Java window. The deal is multiyear, and the companies will share revenues from advertising sales on the sites, according to an NFL representative.

"Unlike television, where networks have direct broadcasting rights for games, Yahoo will rebroadcast NFL games live through existing local radio stations..." Read the full CNET story here.

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Alert RAIN reader Bob Hudson writes in from San Diego: "All the talk these days is of 'wireless' and how to make it handle streaming media. Well, I've got the solution."

Here's what Hudson's "exciting new miracle device" promises: "The amazing new electronic technology you keep hearing about! WIRELESS STREAMING AUDIO WHEREVER YOU TRAVEL! Listen 24 hours a day to your favorite music - sports - news - talk shows!

"No more buying CD's -- No more waiting to download Napster -- No modems or wires needed -- No monthly service charges -- Works throughout the world -- No special adapters required."

See an exclusive preview of Hudson's "Miracle Device" for wireless streaming media -- "Now available in E-stores everywhere!" -- at http://www.bobhudson.com/streaming.html.





BY BRUCE MITTMAN
Since radio consolidation began, more and more station strategies are being formulated at the corporate level. In addition, managers are being asked to run more properties and manage more people than ever before, barely allowing them time to think -- much less to upgrade their skills...

Read this complete RAIN Guest Essay here.

BY PAUL MALONEY AND KURT HANSON
RAIN published reports last week (here) that New Orleans-based Internet-only webcaster FastBand GlobalCast was on its last legs -- and apparently it is now actually down for the count.

According to a source that RAIN talked to late last week, the staff had been whittled down to a "skeleton crew" of no more than five or six employees. The first batch of staffers were let go as early as June 12th of this year, and the number of employees has been shrinking since then.

RAIN's source told us last week that a glimmer of hope remained that one or two of the remaining financial deals might come through and extend FastBand's life, and last week, the music stream was still being broadcast. (However, it was "live" only during the evening and late-night hours.)

Today, however, the FastBand site offers nothing more than an elaborate Flash animation followed by a "Coming Soon" page.

The fortunes of FastBand were originally in dispute last June, when reports surfaced that the company was scaling back operations (as reported in RAIN here). Those reports were at least partially refuted by CEO Andrew Spanswick (here) but have apparently turned out to have been correct.

FastBand Globalcast was featured as a RAIN "Internet Audio Site of the Day" earlier this year (here) -- with some reservations about the business concept.

...

... In retrospect, what might have gone wrong with the FastBand GlobalCast concept? For a webcaster that wanted to broadcast indie rock from studios in cool cities around the world, New Orleans might not have been an ideal choice for their first city, as it is not popularly thought of as a hotbed of indie music. (Jazz, yes; indie music, no.) Names are important, and the while the name "FastBand" is cool-sounding, it does not really describe either indie music or the "GlobalCast" concept. ("GlobalCast" might have been a good URL, but it was already taken.) FastBand's executive team was trying to do many things simultaneously -- run a radio station, launch an indie record label, run a production studio in L.A., and send reporters around the world for a video series. Their efforts may have been spread too thin. Obscure indie music is more fun to play -- particularly if you know the bands personally -- than it may be to listen to. (And if your basic concept is to broadcast from cool cities around the world, was it the right format of music to choose in the first place?) The air personalities did LONG talk breaks between records. Again, this was probably more fun for them than it was for the listener. RAIN heard virtually no audio ads on the station. Their sales staff, such as it was, may have been trying to sell the wrong thing. Did they do any marketing to build listenership? The elaborate Flash animations that FastBand featured on their site may not be what consumers want to wade through. None of executives involved had significant commercial radio experience. ("Kids, don't try this at home!") On the other hand, FastBand did many things well -- lots of great songs, nice artist bios accompanying the songs, nice use of webcams in the studio, an attractive-looking website, professional-sounding air talent, and lots more. Have any thoughts on this issue yourself? Is there anything we can learn from it? Use the form below to share your opinions with other RAIN readers. ...

Simply click the headline at left to bring up a convenient pop-up form -- or click here to use your own e-mail software.

Citadel partners with KOZ and RealMedia
From Radio & Records: "Web commerce and community network KOZ has built and will now host sites for 108 Citadel FMs, add community features to Citadel's 30 existing AM station sites and eventually roll out KOZ features to all Citadel station sites. The two-year alliance also calls for Real Media to sell customized online banner ads and on-air radio promos across all Citadel markets, and the three companies will share the revenues." Read more of R&R Online here.

Interep gets RadioWave deal
From Radio Business Report: "Add RadioWave.com to Interep Interactive’s streaming audio client list that includes MP3.com, Sweet16.com, LaMusica.com InternetRadioDaer.com, AudioHighway.com, Diskjockey.com and Kerbango.com. RadioWave’s 'iSpots' system inserts streaming audio ads paired with a coordinated interactive banner ad. RadioWave recently launched 40 branded channels of music for MSN Chat Radio... Interep Interactive will sell the audio and banner ads as packages for these clients." Read more of RBR.com here.

The following is regarding RAIN's piece yesterday (here) on Infinity's long stopsets on Howard Stern's program.

"Not only is the listener being hosed, but the sponsor is too..."

On those interminable Stern stop-sets: Not only is the listener being hosed but the sponsor is too. Can you imagine paying five hundred dollars for a spot that is buried deep inside the pungent bowels one of these nasty "breaks?" In point of fact, most Stern listeners bail out at the first indication of a spot and return ten or fifteen minutes later when the clog is passed into the porcelain bowl of the airwaves.

This is "money-lust" programming at its most flagrant. Stern can expect to continue to slide in the ratings with these fatty blockages.

Michael C. Keith

...

"The GM (would) want to run six 10-second spots instead of one :60..."

In general, station management is responsible for determining the length of stop sets and units per break so, if they're losing audience, it's their own fault. I worked for a news station in a major market that strictly enforced a two-unit break rule while our competitor (who happened to be owned by the same broadcast group) would run as many spots as their sales people could sell... and in any length.

The result? We consistently beat them in the ratings and in billing. Allegedly, our competitor has since had a problem hanging on to their PD's because they would inevitably get frustrated about having the GM yank programming time from them and want to run six 10-second spots instead of one :60.

However, Howard presents a slightly different "challenge" because, it's been my observation that Howard does not appear to make much of an effort to stop his show for commercial breaks... Stations running his show are pretty much forced to go to commercial breaks whenever Howard decides to go to a break. As a result, they've got to squeeze in all of their the commercials when they can. Heaven help a station like WCKG with long breaks AND Howard...

"Deep background only"

"The party is over for these beancounting geniuses..."

After reading the latest numbers on how impossible the record companies and the RIAA are making it for us fledgling webcasters to make a living (reported in RAIN here) I just about fell off my chair when I read the list of commercials on Howard Stern's show. I had to slowly read the list of commercials in one break, and let it sink in -- 18:48.

Overlay this business model with some streaming media company getting hosed by RIAA -- and what has been happening with the DMCA -- and "voila," there it is. Mel and his band of two that own all the radio stations in the country are protecting their "golden goose" -- AT ALL COSTS.

OOPS, wait - trouble is, that "golden goose" (the poor audience) has HAD IT with this kind of forced feeding. They are voting with their ears, and feet. The party is over for these beancounting geniuses that decided that radio was best served by pillaging the pockets of the poor schlub media buyer who has spot number 36 in the cluster, and to hell with the folks that actually listen to the drivel that passes for "entertainment" on little Howie's show.

Tom Jeffries BdB Media Inc.

"People are listening to Internet radio to avoid the gluttony of spots..."

Just another reason why we laugh when radio stations stream their signal online. People are listening to Internet radio to avoid the gluttony of spots being run by the "iron clads". Anyone who is an aggregator of radio station's signals is in for a sad situation if they think they're going to run 35 units of "net spots" to fill up the online broadcasts. No one will sit around for it...

Sal Lepore CyberRadio2000.com

"Short term gain of more revenue is more than offset..."

Managers who know how to manage their inventory take length of breaks as well as clutter (number of impressions) into account. The short term gain of more revenue is more than offset by clutter and tune-out.

A good Traffic manager will make sure the examples you give do not happen if they are given the authority. If management sees Traffic as just a "data entry clerk" then this is the result you will get, and listeners will look elsewhere...and that may not be to another radio station.

Liz Lane

"I-radio could operate with stopsets MUCH longer than 20 seconds..."

Jupiter Communications (see RAIN story here), while it may live up to its moniker as the expert on Internet Commerce, obviously doesn't have a clue when it comes to Internet radio programming.

Your article on Stern shows that I-radio could operate with stopsets MUCH longer than 20 seconds and not only retain listeners-but bill itself as virtually (pardon the pun) ad-free...

Gary Bennett Policast.com

Have a comment? Share it! Simply click the headline at left to bring up a convenient pop-up form -- or click here to use your own e-mail software.

New RAIN feature:
	VoteAuction.com: "Sell your vote online" According to Wired in an article about this site (here), "Vote-sellers on the whole tend to be in their twenties, male and with at least some college education...Vote buyers, on the other hand, tend to be in their forties, affluent and Republican." VoteAuction.com is here.
	Learn2.com: "Jump-start your Know-how" A great site to learn how to work your new PDA...or how to clean your bathroom (I wonder how many of us could use both of those tutorials?) Coming in at #1? How to tie a necktie! Learn here.
Do you know of a website that you believe other RAIN readers would enjoy visiting? Recommend it here.

Reprinted from yesterday's late-afternoon edition:


As we wait for the courts decide on Napster's future, here's some analysis and speculation on the file-sharing software's future.

From CNET News: "While the world waits for a panel of appeals judges to decide Napster's fate, dedicated file-traders already have their eyes on other technologies: Gnutella, Freenet, OpenNap and more.

"But whatever their potential for spurring the evolution of peer-to-peer technology, the alternatives may be poor replacements for Napster if it is deemed illegal by the courts and shut down. A combination of young technology, ease-of-use issues and vulnerability to potential record industry enforcement actions make it improbable that any of these options could ever gain the reach of Napster." Read the CNET News story here.

From Reuters: "Several major universities, including Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have rejected a lawyer's demand that they ban students' use of Napster song-swap software. Los Angeles attorney Howard King, who represents recording artists Metallica and Dr. Dre in copyright infringement lawsuits against Napster, called for the ban earlier this month in letters to about a dozen universities. But officials said Friday they had rejected King's requests. While they don't condone piracy, they don't censor Internet access, they said."

Sept. 29-Oct. 4	MOBE/Internet & Technology, Chicago
October 5-7	Billboard/Airplay Monitor Seminar, New York
October 9-12	QuickTime Live! Conference, Beverly Hills
October 10-12	Streaming Media Europe 2000, London
November 5-7	NAB European Radio Conference, Berlin
November 12-14	Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) "Broadcasting 2000: On-air / On-line," Calgary (NEW!)
Nov. 28-Dec. 1	Radio Ink Internet Conference, Santa Clara, CA, featuring a brand-new national study on Internet radio usage presented by Eric Rhoads & Kurt Hanson