 |
For the past ten weeks, I've been writing RAIN from a comfortable,
reliable desktop computer in Chicago. Today through Friday, though,
I'm trying something new: I'm on the road with web-page-creation
software loaded onto a Sony VAIO laptop, visiting Internet companies
and radio stations and journalists up and down the California coast.
Hope this works...
 BY
KURT HANSON
A Los Angeles-based firm that calls itself "an integrated high-tech/Internet
business incubator" -- with companies that include Radiology.com,
MediaEncoder.com, and webMRI.com -- is launching a multi-channel
Internet-only radio network today, debuting with three channels
of streamed audio that feature various sub-genres of Electronica.
 The
incubator firm, IWeb Corporation (OTC BB: IWEB), has established
a subsidiary called EBandRadio.com that has signed a 20-channel
service contract for streaming services with WebRadio.com
EBandRadio's initial three formats are: "e 101,"
a/k/a "Electronica 101," featuring "various styles
of electronic music ranging from techno and dance to jungle and
drum & bass," "e-Trance," a/k/a "Trance
Invasion," which is focused on the trance subgenre,  and
"pro G," a/k/a "Progressive Grooves,"
which is positioned as featuring new styles and creative mixes.
Original comedy and sports shows are promised next.
According to their promotional material, "IWeb Corporation's
philosophy is to be fully immersed in the enterprises they foster,
as a new venture's success is an imperative." Well, all
right, then!
As for Woodland Hills, CA-based WebRadio, its affiliates are streamed
in its proprietary Emblaze format, which, unlike RealAudio or Windows
Media format, does not require a separate plug-in application.
Even if Electronica only sounds like a .1 share radio station
to you -- even if you think all three of the formats together
would add up to a .1 share -- keep in mind that a radio station
with a .1 share nationally could theoretically have more
listeners than, say, a 20.0 share radio station in Milwaukee.
And that could be pretty valuable.
Los Angeles-based trade publication Radio & Records
is holding its fifth annual R&R Talk  Radio
Seminar later this month in Washington, DC, and News/Talk editor
Al Peterson tells RAIN that two of the panels will deal with
the convergence of traditional radio with the Internet.
Speakers from the new media world appearing on those panels will
include CNET Radio's Brian Cooley, XM Radio's Lee Abrams,
and Magnitude Network's Rich Rieman. (For their bios, see
RAIN's "Who's Who" here.)
"The High-Tech Talk Show of Tomorrow" will look at new equipment
and gadgets, new technologies, and new competition from the Internet
and digital satellite radio. RCS's Tom Zarecki will moderate a panel
that include Abrams, Rieman (a former Chicago radio news director),
and KGO-KSFO Operations Manager Jack Swanson.
 "The
Talk Innovator's Summit" is R&R's "annual look at some
of the movers and shakers in the talk radio business who are breaking
all the rules," Peterson said. Consultant Walter Sabo
will moderate a panel that includes CNET's Cooley, Joaquin Blaya,
Andy Economos, Beau Phillips, Paul Jacobs,
and VP of Internet news service APBNews.com John Wasley.
The seminar will run from February 24th through 26th. Click here
for more information on the R&R website.
Santa Monica, CA-based Internet music label Atomic Pop
has cut a deal with Microsoft,  the
firms announced this week, under which Atomic Pop will encode its
catalog of thousands of songs in Microsoft's Windows Media format
in exchange for Microsoft promoting Atomic Pop on the WindowsMedia.com
website.
"They have a very effective platform for site users to enjoy both
audio and video content," Atomic Pop Chief Executive Al Teller said.
"Their platform is gaining consumer acceptance in a rapid fashion,
and it is a high-quality platform as well," Teller said, adding
that it also offered powerful copyright protection.
From San Francisco, CA-based CNET News: "Microsoft today
announced an addition to
its Windows Media Player that enables pay-per-view and pay-per-download
digital content. The company released a preview version of the Digital
Broadcast Manager, software designed to allow secure downloads of
audio and video content on a pay-per-use basis...
"The move is the latest by Microsoft to make its Windows Media
Player the technology of choice for all digital multimedia sites.
Thus far, the company has lagged behind competitors such as RealNetworks,
whose RealPlayer dominates the market..." Read the full story
in CNET News here.
There is real potential here! Imagine if "micropayments"
became standard for small Internet transactions and you could conveniently
charge listeners a small amount -- perhaps $.50 -- if they wanted
to listen to an archived copy of last Sunday morning's oldies show.
The possibilites are mind-boggling!
(Got even better ideas than mine? Contribute them here.)
More RAIN from Los Angeles tomorrow
and from San Francisco on Friday. See you then!
Part
Two:
Radio
stations listed above
include three of the top radio station Webcasts (in terms of different
statistics) in the recent Arbitron InfoStream report -- top-cuming
KPIG/Monterey, top Time-Spent-Tuning station Smooth Jazz WJZW/Washington,
DC, and the apparent top AQH Webcast, ABC's Tom Joyner Morning
Show.
Links are also provided above to two stations that lost their broadcast
status due to format changes but have since been revived as Internet-only
stations -- Groove Radio and KNAC.
BN Radio, Lycos Radio, and Salon Radio are multi-format
operations programmed by third parties. CNET Radio is the station
currently being carried by AMFM's KNEW-AM/San Francisco and
scheduled for a national rollout later this year.
More
to follow.
(Suggest
possible additions here.)
SpikeRadio
hires L.A. music industry execs
From BusinessWire: "SpikeRadio, the world's pioneering
24-hour live Internet radio station,
has appointed two well-known Los Angeles-based music industry executives
to help accelerate promotion of its global music programming: Chris
Monaco as head of marketing and Dave Sanford as head of music programming.
As president of Los Angeles-based PGW Promotions Group and later
as national promotions/media manager for Premier Marketing, Monaco
developed targeted marketing and cross-media planning strategies
for the likes of Universal Studios, DreamWorks, MGM, Paramount and
David E. Kelley Productions. As president of Los Angeles-based marketing
firm Spectre, Sanford worked with The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy
Slim and Portishead among others, helping to re-introduce electronic
music to the USA."
Part
One:
Click on the
logos above to visit various Webcasters. For some screenshots
of various audio players, click here.
For a sample full-page view (about WWW.com), click here.
Department
of Viral Marketing:
If you have
friends or colleagues that you believe might enjoy reading this
newsletter, please click here
and we'll help you them about us. Thanks! |
Lots of Internet sessions planned for RAB 2000 later
this month
Follow-up story on the Hiwire audio tuner/player
Also, more on this story.
...
.
|
|
