But don't look for NetRadio or OnRadio. The twice-delayed public release of the November 1999 InfoStream Webcast ratings is now scheduled for first thing Monday morning, according to Joan FitzGerald, director of marketing for Arbitron Internet Information Services, and Thom Mocarsky, Arbitron's VP/Communications.

The Arbitron executives also revealed to RAIN that the two major players that were scheduled to debut in the November report -- content provider OnRadio and Internet-only broadcaster NetRadio -- will not be represented in the report after all, apparently due to technical problems involving incomplete data in the server logs supplied to Arbitron.

This absence of NetRadio is particularly disappointing to all of us who are curious to know if the "pure play" multi-channel Internet-only Webcasters (like Spinner, SonicNet, and NetRadio) are taking audience away from broadcast radio stations' Webcasts.

RAIN will be publishing multiple editions early next week to cover the release of the data, including analyses of what it means and feedback from RAIN readers.

To read RAIN's coverage of the release of the first InfoStream report, choose from the following stories:

To make sure you stay informed next week, please make sure you fill out the form below -- and we'll send you e-mail updates as appropriate.

BY KURT HANSON
BroadcastSpots.com, the Chicago-based Internet startup that allows radio stations to sell their unsold spots to buyers in a completely Internet-based transaction, has signed the entire Emmis Communications radio station group, according to SVP/Sales John Cravens.

The company has also signed group-wide deals with Liggett Broadcasting, Dick Broadcasting, Trumper Communications, and others, Cravens said. Other major-market affiliates include Greater Media's Detroit cluster and Jefferson-Pilot's clusters in Miami and Charlotte. Syndicators that have been signed include BusinessTalkRadio.net, Global Sports Network, and a number of personality-based syndicated shows.

Here's how the BroadcastSpots.com system works: Affiliate stations post the spots they want to release and the price at which they're willing to release them, uploading that information directly into BroadcastSpots.com's mainframe computer and its proprietary "Matchmaker" software.

Media buyers can then access the site 24 hours a day, call up a market, and see which spots are available on any given date from which stations at what prices. As shown for a sample station in the illustration below, the buyer can simply enter which spots they want to buy -- and can complete the entire transaction via the Internet!

The site launched exactly four weeks ago, on January 1st, after several months of design and pre-launch marketing. Cravens wouldn't reveal precise numbers, but said that "hundreds" of affiliate deals had been signed already and more were being added daily. BroadcastSpots.com is running a trade ad this week that backs up Cravens's claim with the actual call letters of dozens and dozens of signed affiliates.

Cravens also noted that the firm, which is up to 15 full-time employees, has just hired Katy Flanagan as Customer Service Representative. She was previously Traffic Manager at WLUP, WMVP, and most recently WUSN/Chicago. The firm's management team includes radio group head Jeff Trumper, former Chicago and Detroit station VP/GM Cravens, ex-WLS promotion director Linda Waldman, and former RAB EVP Judy Carlough.

Contact information: Cravens can be reached at 1-630-654-0222.





Last week, we introduced you to an elegantly-designed new streaming audio tuner/player from an L.A.-based startup called Hiwire, which almost instantly can search through a database of 3,000 radio stations and is capable of playing streamed audio no matter what format it's streamed in (i.e., RealAudio or Microsoft Windows Media format). (Read that original article here.)

In a heated debate in last weekend's edition of RAIN (here), some readers argued that the Hiwire player constitutes a case of copyright infringement and/or theft of services because it diverts the audio stream from the station's intended player..

We reported on Wednesday that Hiwire president Jim Pavilack had offered to delete any stations from the Hiwire tuner that did not want the extra exposure that wide distribution of his tuner could offering them.

Later that day, I noticed that a couple of my favorite Magnitude Network-streamed stations (specifically, CD93 and KPIG) were no longer available on the Hiwire tuner -- althought they had been a few days earlier.

So I asked Magnitude VP/Operations Richard Rieman for his firm's position on Hiwire. He responded as follows:

"Magnitude Network will decline to have our streaming radio station affiliates (including nine of the top 10 rated webcasting stations in the first Arbitron webcasting report) listed on the new Hiwire streaming audio tuner/player. "Magnitude provides custom audio players to our stations, with links to 'audio gateway ads' that help Magnitude cover the costs of providing streaming services to our affiliates. "We will be contacting Hiwire president Jim Pavilack to ask that all Magnitude affiliates be removed from the Hiwire player listings."

Pavilack response to hearing about Magnitude's intentions was as follows: "The Hiwire tuner does not preclude the operation of gateway ads. We handle the stream in the same manner as it is handled by Real or Microsoft WMP. Each streaming file format is an aggregate of other media files which are interpreted and processed as they occur in the file. In other words, send us the link that includes the gateway and it will play in the tuner.

"What we are really about is providing a way for radio stations to make extra money from their streams with targeted ad spots. We believe that's the real opportunity for the radio business as it moves online."

The debate continues -- now with this new twist. Your opinions are welcome here; we'll publish them this weekend.

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