One of the radio trade publication websites ran the following item for several hours yesterday afternoon: "According to employees of MP3Radio.com, the Atlanta company will be purchased by MP3.com and the operation will be moved to San Diego where MP3.com is located, at the end of this week.

"MP3Radio.com provides content to radio stations including MP3 recordings of local bands, music calenders, and concert information that’s integrated into a radio station website. It has about 100 radio stations on the roster.

"MP3.com officials would not comment [except] to say that the 'partnership continues' between the two companies.

"The reason for the purchase, according to MP3Radio.com employees, was the competition between the two companies. 'MP3,com wants to play a more active role with radio stations and MP3Radio.com constrains that business plan."

From the company press release: "Stellar Networks announced the appointment of Michael Kakoyiannis as President and Chief Executive Officer. Kakoyiannis brings over 25 years of radio experience to Stellar Networks, an Internet audio broadcaster targeting vertical markets.

"Kakoyiannis most recently founded and served as CEO of Big City Radio, Inc. Kakoyiannis took Big City from inception to a $28 million IPO, then on to an additional $174 million high yield offering, and beyond.

"Leveraging the success of Stellar's first channel, Kakoyiannis will now lead the launch of three new target channels over the next 12 months.

"'The addition of a veteran broadcaster of Kakoyiannis' caliber speaks to the emergence of Internet broadcasting as the next mass medium,' said Brace Young, Stellar board member and former partner of Goldman Sachs. 'Mike's leadership skills and tremendous background in managing m

ajor metropolitan radio stations will have a strong impact in building Stellar's position in the Internet broadcasting space.' In October, the Company completed its Series A round, which was lead by a group of Goldman Sachs partner alumni.

Read the complete press release on the Stellar Networks website here. Mike was previously an executive with Westwood One and before that VP/GM of WNEW-FM/New York.



From their website: "Stellar Networks, a leading Webcaster, creates original broadcast programming for vertical markets and distributes it via the Internet using streaming media technology. With a listenership ranging from 55,000 - 80,000 unique listeners monthly, Stellar has earned the distinction of being one of the top Webcasters in the market today.

"Our mission at Stellar Networks is to provide intelligent, compelling, and entertaining programming for vertical markets in an interactive format. These markets include women, teens, gays, and Latinos. In the spring of 2000, Stellar Networks will launch the women's channel, a full-service network offering news, information, and entertainment.

"Listeners of Stellar Networks' webcasting channels experience a rich array of news, music, live and interactive talk programming led by experienced hosts, and on-demand/archived programming. The topics range from personal finance to travel, health, career, arts and entertainment reviews/interviews, sexuality, politics, and spirituality...

"An exploding market: Today, more than 140 million users access audio and videoprogramming over the Internet using RealAudio® and Microsoft® Windows Media technology, and more than 50% of these users tune in to hear talk programming and music. According to Arbitron, Internet listeners spent over 1.3 million hours listening to Internet audio during the month of October 1999."

Stellar Networks is based in Seattle, WA.



From Radio & Records: "Norm Pattiz Elected InterPacket Chairman: Pattiz is still Chairman of Westwood One, but he'll also lead the board of directors for InterPacket Networks, a satellite-based Internet services network. This isn't Pattiz's first venture into the Web - he already is on the boards of Internet holding company eAngels as well as digital content producer Studiox2." Also...

"Jeff Marcus, Ex-AMFM Execs Join eVentures: eVentures Group is a relatively new firm that will invest in Internet communications companies, and Marcus will serve as its Chairman/CEO. Marcus left AMFM's CEO post last year in a corporate restructuring that left Jim de Castro as Radio CEO; de Castro left the company in February. Former AMFM CFO Tom McMillin soon will become eVentures' CFO, and Dan Wilson and Chad Coben, who had worked in AMFM's Strategic Development department, are now eVentures' SVPs/Corporate Development." (RAIN note: Marcus only briefly held the AMFM positon; his previous background was in cable.)

More in R&R here (registration required).

As promised...

From Monday's Radio Business Report: "A real possibility for high quality Internet streaming in your car or on a cell phone in your future? In order to help speed the delivery of new technologies into the hands of consumers, the FCC is looking at a controversial new technology that could facilitate the next generation of wireless delivery -- 'Ultra Wideband' (UWB).

"Using the UWB transmission scheme, streaming audio/video/Internet, high-speed wireless networks, and data transmission functionality could well surpass that of wireless services out there today, with multiple hundreds of megabits streaming per second.

"[A company called] Multispectral Solutions has been working on developing applications for UWB for 15 years, Dr. Bob Fontana, Multispectral President, tells RBR...

"Bryan Tramont, Legal Assistant to Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth tells RBR, 'Our office believes that Ultra Wideband is a promising new technology and the Commission would be remiss if it weren't to at least conduct a NPRM and some testing to figure out if the American people can enjoy [its] benefits,'

"Is UWB better for, say, taking the net mobile? 'Advantages for UWB include very short pulse widths, so in a multipath environment, they resolve distortion and interference issues. You can get much more kilobits per second through it in the presence of severe multipath, and that lends itself to better audio and video streaming in a mobile environment,' explains Fontana.

Does this make sense to you? And do you have any idea what an NRPM is? Feel free to share your knowledge with other RAIN readers here. (You can read this full piece if you received Monday's hard-copy issue of Radio Busines Report. A good FAQ on UWB from the Multispectral Solutions website is here.)

BY MEL TAYLOR After sixteen years of working deep within the radio industry, everything from being a jock, to programming, to recently as a sales and marketing guy, at places like CBS, Chancellor and AMFM, I recently decided to take a step out of "the box." (Sometimes I looked at radio as 'a box' because it felt like something I was 'in', and I often had to look outside of it for New Economy perspectives and cutting-edge Internet success stories. I once heard someone call Radio a "fluorescent cubicle farm -- with a microphone and a hard drive in the back room." Ouch. That hurts). About five years ago, I started repositioning myself for "digital convergence" -- this hybrid TV/radio/Internet/wireless virtual gizmo of sorts. I also watched in amazement how the financial and automotive industries, among countless others, were, and still are being shaken to their roots by this locomotive called the Internet. It was because of these compelling paradigm shifts, that I finally decided to really understand how these new digital technologies could affect radio, and most importantly, how radio could harness them for business. (Of course, traditional, terrestrial radio won't totally collapse anytime soon, but it certainly will have to fight a lot harder for eroding slices of the pie. The Internet, satellite and wireless people will see to that. To prove this point, blow a call into any network TV executive and ask them if the explosion of cable, satellite TV, and pay-per-view caused them any discomfort over the past 10 years.) As I'm getting ready for my annual trek to the NAB Convergence Conference in Las Vegas next week, I've been thinking about some of the changes that have occurred in my sixteen-year radio career. After losing DJ gigs to satellite feeds a few times, and seeing Internet music sites popping up everywhere, it became obvious that I had to update my skill sets, hang up the headphones, and figure out how I can harness these new digital tools of communication. That's why I love going to NAB Vegas -- to stay current on the various ways of interacting via the Web, and to learn how radio can take advantage of it. So here's the deal: I'll use this trip to NAB to either confirm or deny, that the radio industry is very well positioned to maximize Internet synergies, if and when they decide to. While at the daily workshops, seminars and exhibits, I'll try to be your virtual RAIN correspondent. And if you're there too, come up and say hi. Hopefully, we'll discover some key applications and hardware that show potential in the music delivery and content space. Then it's up to all of us, to figure out how it relates to traditional radio models. Oh and yes, maybe I'll snap a few digital pix of the fountains at Bellagio, before trying to catch that rumored 'Celebrity Death Match' between the NAB's Eddie Fritts and the FCC's Bill Kennard. Wouldn't mind getting stuck in an elevator with those two guys!

Mel Taylor has a 16-year career in Radio that spans everything from Programming, Sales, Marketing, and even using the on-air name of 'Mel Toxic' for most of them. His background includes stints at WYSP, WDRE, WJJZ, and WIOQ Philadelphia. Recently, Mel has joined AXIOM Studio in Philadelphia, a digital design firm that specializes in 'eBranding for the eConomy', as Director Of Client Services, where he services the Radio Industry, and their growing need for more consistant 'station branding' across all platforms; print, web, wireless, e-mail, etc. Watch for Mel's reports from Las Vegas next week in RAIN.

In the most exciting contest in the history of Web-based newsletters about radio and Internet issues -- the RAIN Viral Marketing Contest, Phase Three -- we're giving away next week, to one lucky RAIN reader, a fantastic prize package.

We've previously announced that that fantastic prize package includes a state-of-the-art Sony digital music player and a state-of-the-art wireless-Internet-ready Nextel cell phone. And now this week we're adding something even cooler -- a Kerbango Internet radio!

It's a gorgeous-looking little table-top-sized radio that will be able to pick up hundreds or thousands of Internet radio stations, with no PC required. (Read more about it here and here.) Kerbango's marketing director, Mark Auerbach, has promised that you'll receive one of the very first delivered units -- in fact, you may even get to be one of the beta users!

And all you have to do to be eligible to win this fantastic prize package is to recommend RAIN to friends and colleagues in your address book who you think would enjoy reading RAIN. (And let us know by "cc:"ing kurt@kurthanson.com.

As we've told you before, if you've already recommended RAIN to some of your industry colleagues, then you're already eligible to win. (Check the list here to make sure your name has been put in the hat.) However, it would no doubt be good karma if you could think of a few more people (whether superiors, subordinates, or peers) you could also drop a line to.

So, why not tell a dozen or two
of your industry colleagues
about RAIN today?

If you need sample e-mail verbiage to use in making the recommendation, click here. Although your own words would probably be even better.

That way you'll make sure your name is in the hat for next week's drawing to select the winner of this fanatastic prize package.

Thanks...and good luck!

More coming soon! Contribute your suggestions here. (Suggestions already in the hopper include CableMusic.com, RadioWoodstock.com, Nerve Radio, Radio Gogaga, and HotCountryHits.)

Miss an issue?
Visit the RAIN News Archives here.

You can easily click through previous issues of RAIN by using the blue arrows next to the issue date at the top of the page. (This navigation element has been added retroactively to all of March's issues.)