RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter

Have you entered the RAIN Viral Marketing Contest drawing for that fantastic prize package that includes the Sony VAIO Music Clip, the wireless-Internet-ready Nextel cell phone, and the Kerbango radio? If so, click here to make sure we've got your name in the hat.

From R&R Online: "Joyner Prepares To Launch 'Black AOL' The ABC Radio syndicated morning host was inducted into the NAB Radio Hall of Fame yesterday in Las Vegas and used the occasion to announce the start of what he calls 'a one-stop link to news, entertainment, and shopping.' Joyner didn't provide any specifics on BlackAmericaWeb.com,

but hoped it would serve as 'black America's on-ramp to the information highway.' Joyner hopes the site's launch would be coupled with a stepped-up effort to place computers in additional African-American households."

Read all of today's Radio & Records Online (subscription required) here.

From FMQB: "Radio groups that create a separate Internet portal for their market can generate

an entirely new and profitable division, if they’re willing to make the necessary investment. That according to Amaturo Broadcasting’s Lawrence Amaturo, while hosting a NAB2000 session with this attention-getting title: 'A Unique Radio Station Web Site Is Out-Billing Half The Radio Stations in the Market.'

"That’s the case with UncleWebster.com, a full-service information site associated with Amaturo’s four Santa Rosa stations. To succeed, Amaturo emphasized, the venture... "

Read full article in FMQB News here.

BY MEL TAYLOR
Before I took off for my trip to the NAB this week, I asked a bunch of my old radio buddies

what they think radio's greatest assets are. Their answers ranged from their FCC license to broadcast, along with the transmitter and studio equipment, to the music, DJs, the ability to reach the masses, theatre of the mind, mobile entertainment, etc. Yet after just a few days here at the NAB 2000 convergence conference here in Vegas, I get the feeling that those answers are getting more and more wrong every day.

So far, I've attended

a handful of panels and seminars, had the honor of spending a few moments with NAB president Eddie Fritts, and spent some time on the those massive exhibition hall floors.

Sad to report, I saw very few representatives from the major radio groups like Infinity, AMFM, and Clear Channel. They weren't on the panels, in attendance, or at the booths. Okay, so maybe a few were lurking, but there is no substantial presence from these three major broadcasters, (outside of engineering) so far as I can see at this point. Funny, the one industry that desperately needs to embrace all the stuff that NAB Convergence has to offer, and they're a virtual no-show.

On a more positive note, the buzz from the NAB MultiMedia World portion of the show continues to dominate. Just 5 years ago, the Internet and Multimedia stuff was off in its own corner, kind of like a side attraction. Now, MultiMedia and all things Internet rule the NAB conference. With all due respect, The National Association of "Broadcasters" may not be the best way to describe our converging industries in the future. (Maybe we have to squeeze the words 'interactive' Internet, digital, or multimedia, in their somewhere…)

Some of these issues were brought up during a seminar called "Save My Website," moderated by Peggy Miles from Intervox. Peggy chose five different audience members to become panelists that would critique various radio and music related sites. We rated them based on a series of parameters; download time, ease of use, stream quality, station brand awareness, etc. I made sure I got myself onto this panel that included Bob Case from StreamAudio.com. Most of the sites that we picked apart were for the most part functional, yet all exhibited varying degrees of need for web upgrades and tweaks.

While over at the Microsoft pavilion, I got a peek at the pre-beta version of Windows Media Player 7.0. …Wow!…. Some very cool skins, great interface, plus you'll see how Microsoft was influenced by some popular features of competing products like Apple QuickTime and Real Player and Jukebox. It goes beta very soon.

Talk from the exhibition floors has digital pioneers like XM and Sirius satellite radio, MP3, Real Networks, and Napster looking as if they're poised to create further havoc among the traditional music marketplace. (Attention all radio broadcasters! Low Power FM is the least of your problems!)

Mel Taylor has a 16-year career in radio that spans everything from Programming, Sales, Marketing, and on-air, including stints at WYSP, WDRE, WJJZ, and WIOQ in Philadelphia. Recently, he has joined digital design firm AXIOM Studio in Philadelphia as Director Of Client Services. Watch for follow-up NAB reports from Mel later this week in RAIN.

There aren't a lot of traditional radio people here at the NAB 2000 Convergence convention (as reader Mel Taylor points out below), but there are quite a few of us who are involved somewhere in the convergence of radio and the Internet. And I thought it might be nice if we had a chance to get together.

So, after considering the Hilton's "Star Trek Experience" as a venue and looking around for a good pizza place, I've found what I think is an even better meeting spot: How about the Las Vegas outlet of Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant at 6:30PM tonight?

This small

Palo Alto-based small chain features great food (much better than the typical brewpub; see seared tuna at left), superb beer, good wine (I'm told), and the best garlic fries in America (their signature dish).

The Las Vegas location has two outdoor patios, too, at which I've reserved a medium-large table at 7PM. (Drinks at 6:30, dinner at 7.) It's at Paradise and Flamingo, just south of the Hard Rock Hotel and I'm guessing just a few dollar cab ride from the convention center.

It would be nice but not necessary to RSVP to me at 1-312-656-KURT. I believe RAIN has a big enough marketing budget for the beer, so my thinking is that we'll go dutch on the food but the beverages are on RAIN. Since this is short notice, if you're here in Las Vegas, please spread the word!

Hope to see you there!

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Last chance!
Contest entries close at 5PM CDT today!

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

this 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. (NOTE: WEEK #3 NAMES ADDED 4/10/00 AT 2PM CDT.) 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 right now?

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 this 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.)