BY KURT HANSON
As previewed in the January 7th issue of RAIN (the third story here), Motorola recently debuted a prototype of an Internet car radio that could theoretically give both local and satellite radio serious competition if and when it arrives

In an item posted last Friday, ZDTV added more details: "The iRadio combines an intelligent radio-- and satellite radio too, if you have that option-- with music and data services from the Internet... The iRadio moves beyond remembering numbers on the dial, and instead groups stations by format types.

"All the country-western stations end up on one screen, while jazz has its own area, and headbanging thrash-punk a third. You simply need to select the format, then pick a station from that format... Better yet, it works all over the country, meaning that your favorite Garth Brooks song is never too far away..."

As for timing and availability, the article only notes that "Motorola's iRadio will be offered by car makers in the next year or two."

Of course, there are clearly some issues involving wireless Internet access that will have to be resolved before the hardware is practical. Read the item (there's an accompanying video piece, but the link was broken this morning) here. Then contribute your thoughts on the subject of Internet vs. satellite radio here.




RAIN readers are continuing to respond to last week's Guest Essay from Bob Bellin on the caliber of the Internet-only radio broadcasters (here), with opinions running about 50/50 in terms of agreeing or disagreeing with Bellin's main points.

The following contributions are from Jeff Vidler, well-known former Canadian radio programmer and now Vice-President/Media Research for the Angus Reid Group, and Jack Messmer, Exeuctive Editor of Radio Busines Report.

Tempting as it is for a radio guy to buy into Bob Bellin's argument that Internet radio stations *suck* because they're not being programmed by radio guys (or girls), I'm afraid he misses the point.

Radio skills of music scheduling, format discipline, audio imaging etc. will no doubt prove helpful in the streaming of Internet audio channels.

But the answer is NOT trying to make Internet audio channels sound like "terrestrial radio stations".

In fact, I would suggest that the reason Internet audio channels suck is that we are trying to impose our precepts of "radio" on what is an entirely new medium. The programmers of Internet audio channels are as guilty of this as anyone else.

You can only apply what you already know. No one really has any idea why someone would, at this point, go through the inconvenience and frustration of tuning audio channels on the Internet. So, we default by giving them "radio," when in fact they're probably looking for a totally different experience.

This hit home for me this week while attending a round-table session where a group of senior managers from various newspaper-owned Internet initiatives were sharing their success stories. The session was titled "On-Line Publishing," which struck me as a little quaint. After all, there's no printing press or newsprint on the Internet, so why call it "publishing"? (Come to think of it, I wonder what newspaper people think about "Internet radio.")

In any case, what I got from their discussion was that newspaper publishers have actually moved far beyond the notion of putting their newspapers on the Internet. Having had a few extra years than radio to work through this, they have developed a pretty confident understanding of how and why people look for information on the Internet. They know that use of the written word on the Internet bears only a faint resemblance to the way people read and use newspapers. Armed with that knowledge, they are re-inventing themselves as an on-line medium that meets this new set of needs.

Sorry, Bob. As tough as it may be for us radio folks to accept, streamed audio on the Internet is not "radio." The sooner we accept this, the harder we work to understand the differences between radio and streamed audio on the Internet, the better prepared we will be to meet the wild and exciting ride that lies ahead.

Bob Bellin certainly is right in his analysis of Internet-only "radio" stations. Most (almost all, actually) do suck because the people running them don't know the programming basics learned over the years by successful radio programmers.

The best of the bunch, in my view (although it's not a music genre I'm interested in hearing), is Salem's Christian Pirate Radio. Why? Because it is programmed like a real radio station. Virtually all of the others are put together by your average music fan who thinks the entire world wants to hear what he wants to hear, to the exclusion of all else.

We all know that many DJs got into radio with exactly that mentality, but either wised up or washed out quickly. The same can be expected of the vast array of Internet-only "radio" stations with their "screw the listener if they don't like what I like" attitude.


   Add your opinions here.

To read others' comments, go to the RAIN News Archives (here) and click on almost any issue from last week.




According to a report issued last week by NYMRAD (the New York Market Radio association), the New York Radio Market X-Ray report prepared by Miller, Kaplan showed that Internet/e-commerce spots were the market's #2 category of advertiser for the full year of 1999 and the #1 category in December, during which they accounted for about 1 out of every 7 spots aired.


The following chart shows total 1999 spending for the top ten categories of advertising in the New York market:

Overall, as previously reported in the press, total ad revenues for New York market radio stations rose 19.5% in 1999 to a record $693.0 million.

Internet/e-commerce advertisers accounted for 9.2% of annual spending and 14.0% of December spending -- i.e., about 1/7 of total December spot revenues.

Read the full NYMRAD press release here.

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Part Two:

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Looking for Part One of the "RAIN Guide to Internet Audio?" Go to the bottom of this page for the latest version.