BY KURT HANSON
One of the most well-liked executives in the radio industry, former AMFM Vice Chairman and CEO Jimmy deCastro has been keeping a low profile since his abrupt retirement last February, revealing only that he wanted to do something involving the Internet.

RAIN caught up with him twice this week -- Tuesday in his Chicago suite of offices and yesterday in Scottsdale, AZ -- and managed to get him to spill some facts about his future plans.

(I had the advantage of our having a long history together. In my previous life as a market researcher, my company did the music research for his very first major-market GM position, -- back in the early '80s at WLUP/Chicago, which became the flagship station of what eventually became Evergreen Media, Chancellor Media, and finally AMFM -- - and also did the "Format Search" studies behind most of his successful big-market format changes, including KKBT/Los Angeles.)

And here's what I learned: He's taken over the former AMFM executive suite in the John Hancock building in Chicago for his new company, which he's named Nothing But Net. He's already hired five people for the venture and is in the process of recruiting others executives now, envisioning an eventual staff of about 12 for what will be a holding company for various 'Net-related ventures.

"We'll be focusing on the convergence of technology and audio/visual content," he told me, "as well as investing in late-stage Internet companies." He's already invested in three such companies, with "more to come," he said, and has formed a number of LLCs (Limited Liability Companies) for Nothing But Net's own start-ups.

One of Nothing But Net's three investments so far is in a New York-based startup called Urban Box Office, which is developing youth-targeted entertainment and community sites for a variety of ethnic subgroups. (Click screenshot at right to visit the site.) His second investment is in a California-based firm that's currently in "stealth" mode but which may be announced next month.

On the state of radio today, he noted, "16 to 18 units per hour is ridiculous; it's going to kill us. We've got to embrace the net...and operators like AMFM and CBS, they don't get it. It's all about the ABC's -- audience, branding, and content. We've got the audience, so we've got to get the branding and content in place."

Finally, on a personal note, I should observe that when I saw deCastro briefly during his final months with AMFM -- as the merger with Clear Channel was approaching -- he looked stressed, unhappy, out-of-shape, and tired.

Now, with his new Internet venture coming together, he seemed energized, tanned, and gregarious again.

In other words, his friends in the industry will be happy to know, the old Jimmy is back!

If you're hiring for a position that's radio- and Internet-related this week, we'll post it -- free! Simply e-mail the job description here. If you're looking for new opportunities that involve the Internet, you can take a look at the first three available positions here.

This story is coming this weekend in RAIN.

Try it out! Explore the wide world of Internet audio by clicking the screenshot above.

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