Clear Channel will promote NBC website: "The broadcaster will integrate content from NBC Internet (NBCi) -- including personalized home pages, free e-mail, and chat rooms -- on its radio station websites, beginning in the next few months.

"The stations themselves will also promote NBCi on-air. As part of the deal, Clear Channel Chairman/CEO Lowry Mays gets a board seat on NBCi..." Read more on Radio & Records Online here (subscription required). RBR adds additional information about an NBC commitment to buy $3.5 million worth of Clear Channel billboard space. Also, click the peacock above to go to the NBCi home page, or for the MSNBC story on the deal, with audio from MSNBC's interview with key NBC executives, click here.      

RELATED LINK: NBC created NBCi originally by doing a deal with Xoom.com in which they traded some airtime (and contributed their share of Snap and some debt financing) and for a 49.9% stake of a company valued at $1.5 billion at that moment. (Why not 50%+? Because then the losses don't appear on NBC's balance sheet!) An Industry Standard article from May tries to explain that deal here.

EXCUSE ME, I HAVE A QUESTION? DEPT.: Do you know anyone who uses Snap as their portal? Do you know any reason why anyone would want to use Snap as their portal? If you can explain this to me, please e-mail me here. I'd appreciate it greatly. According to an interview on MSNBC, the goal is to be a portal of the caliber of AOL or Yahoo. How? By building on the NBC brand -- as symbolized, they mentioned repeatedly, by the peacock. ("We're starting with the NBC peacock brand for our portal.") Obviously, a portal called "NBC Internet" sounds attractive. But does a portal called "Snap," even if it's supported by $405 million in spots on NBC?                                                                       -- KH

EMusic.com buys Rolling Stone partner: "EMusic.com, the Net music company that sells MP3s from indie labels, today announced it had nabbed Net music company Tunes.com for $144 million in stock. The Chicago-based Tunes.com's most popular URL is Rolling Stone's Web site, which it operates through a licensing agreement with Rolling Stone's publisher and owner..." Apparantly the brand "Tunes.com" will disappear soon, although the employees will be retained. Full story from The Industry Standard here.




BY KURT HANSON
Buried in a story in the news two and a half weeks ago ("Capital Radio FY Earnings Up 3.6%") was a big story -- that I didn't notice at the time -- about a British broadcasting up to something significant in the Internet space.

According to a Reuters article I stumbled onto today, "Capital Radio Plc, Britain's biggest commercial radio company...said it plans to pump up its Internet spending by creating a flagship UK music website.
Capital plans to expand its market-leading position in radio -- the UK's fastest-growing traditional medium -- by spending more on its interactive division and digital radio. Capital expects to invest 5.5 million pounds over the next 12 months in its Internet business as it develops a website with in-depth coverage across musical genres and with features allowing users to personalise the site."

According to the currency converter I found (thanks to Ask Jeeves) at http://www.xe.net/ucc, that's $8.9 million dollars.

It's part of a three-year plan for the company; last year, Capital spent 1.3 million pounds on their Internet activities and earned back 671,000 pounds of it. "Chief Executive David Mansfield declined to comment on the name for the portal or its launch date," the article noted. The full Reuters story is available on MediaCentral here.

Obvious question: Are any radio broadcasters here in the U.S. trying anything so progressive?


Dot Com Advertisers on Radio
Making Waves Everywhere
"There's nothing particularly unusual about the Harvey Electronics' commercials currently being broadcast on three New York AM radio stations, except they should have been broadcast last month. 'We were locked out of all three stations,' said Herb Leifer, president and chief creative officer of Harrison Leifer Miller & Speyer, a Rockville Centre-based advertising agency that developed the commercial. 'It was the first time that I approached a radio station and was turned down...' A story from the Long Island Business News is excerpted in Radio Ink here. (You can also check the status of the the competition between DeCastro, Marconi, and Sarnoff for "Radio Executive of the Millenium.") (Click here for yesterday's story on the race.)


'Net Audio Site To Feature NPR Programs
Audible, which provides spoken audio content for portable Internet audio players such as the Diamond Rio, will feature on its website National Public Radio programming such as All Things Considered and Morning Edition. Read more about it at RRonline.com. (Subscription required.)

Now that you've had a chance to take a look around this web-based newsletter ("webletter?"), please take a second to tell me what you think of it. Compliments, criticisms, and contributions are all welcome. E-mail me here.  Thanks, Kurt

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