BY KURT HANSON
In the world of cable Internet access, there's something called the "last mile" problem -- how to get a fast connection that final mile of distance from the supplier's network to the consumer's house.

In the world of Internet radio, I believe that there should be something called the "last ten yards" problem -- how to get an audio stream from the user's computer to his or her home stereo. When that problem's solved, consumers will have the ability to listen to webcasts on a quality sound system rather than on the tinny speakers that come with most home computers.

One firm that's developing an answer to that problem is a Silicon Valley-based startup called Sonicbox. They're working on a system that allows consumers to listen to webcasts on any stereo in their house -- with the ability to change stations via a wireless remote control.

Last week I traveled to California and met with Bob Visotcky (pictured below), former market manager for AMFM in Denver and Los Angeles and now VP/Sales and Operations for Sonicbox. (See RAIN's story on Sonicbox's hiring of Visotcky in the 2/15/00 issue here.) He gave me one of the first-ever looks at an actual working prototype of the Sonicbox system -- and it was pretty cool.

The hardware comes in two parts -- a small FM transmitter that plugs into the "audio out" port of a PC and the remote control that's I'm holding in the picture above. The hockey puck-shaped transmitter sends the audio output signal via an unused FM frequency so that it can be picked up by any FM radio within the house. (I think that's pretty trivial; I have a pair of Recoton wireless speakers in my home that use the same approach.)

The interesting part is the remote control: If you don't have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse handy but you want to listen to Internet audio, how do you change stations?

Sonicbox's solution is to set up a tuning system with 26 different "bands" (labeled A thru Z) with 32 stations per "band." (Band "R," for example, is for "Rock" stations. Band "Z" is reserved for user presets.) The consumer uses the buttons at left to switch bands, then twirls the large dial on the right to switch among the 32 stations on that particular band.

A pleasing female voice announces the name of the tuned-in radio station during a brief pre-roll before the webcast begins to play. (Visotcky says this may include a brief sponsored message -- e.g., "WPLJ/New York City, brought to you by Pepsi-Cola.")

Other buttons on the remote include a "Tell Me More" button and buttons that can be used for polling or other purposes.

In my opinion, based on playing with it for about a half hour, the 26-by-32-station approach is not a particularly intuitive user interface, but the remote control device itself is so attractive and cool (and would be such a bargain at its expected price point of $50) that it just might work. (It's certainly a better approach than, say, trying force listeners to remember that stations #118, #457, and #723 are their three favorites.)

According to Visotcky, Sonicbox's Mary McCann is searching the Web full-time for interesting content for the tuner and Sonicbox's Rockie Thomas (formerly AMFM's Denver webmaster) is currently signing deals with stations for positions on each of the 25 bands ("A" through "Y").

Does the Sonicbox approach make sense to you? Contribute your feedback here. (Visit the Sonicbox website here.)



From Radio Business Report: "Traffic Station Inc., operator of the TrafficStation.com web site, announced closing of a new round of venture capital financing. New backers Telcom Ventures and Adelphi Fund Partners have joined East/West Capital and Zone Ventures LP in backing the provider of traffic information on the Internet, wireless devices and certain radio stations. The company’s latest announcement noted that Telcom Ventures is also a backer of XM Satellite Radio, hinting that some sort of relationship is in the works."

Read RBR.com here.

Note: I double-checked the press release on the TrafficStation site and, sure enough, there's no mention of a dollar amount of the investment. It did say "The new financing will accelerate the company’s current market deployment to a total of 50 markets by the end of 2000."



From Mercury Center: Online music firm Beatnik Inc., which is looking to bring high-quality audio to the Internet like the kind already found on television and movies, has filed for an initial public offering. `

"' The Internet is still essentially a silent movie,'' the San Mateo, Calif.-based ompany said in an IPO filing on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ''We believe the next step in the evolution of Internet infrastructure will be the proliferation of rich media content across the Web, requiring the integration of audio content into Web sites.'

"Beatnik, which has relationships with MTV.com, Yahoo! and other Web sites, has software, applications and production music and sound content that integrates audio into a Web experience that it called ``sonification.''

Read the full story in Mercury Center here. More on Beatnik later this week in RAIN.



From Time magazine: "Dreaming of radio stardom, or at least a few real-live listeners, Dan Schulz and Scott Wirkus broadcast the first Dan & Scott Show from the basement of an empty retirement home in Jackson, Wis. It was April Fools' Day, 1996, and Schulz and Wirkus, then 31 and 30, had maxed out their credit cards, quit their jobs at an ad agency and printing plant, and moved in to produce an Internet radio show.

"These days, the Dan & Scott Show, a polished but off-color tribute to goofy guys' prank calling from dorm rooms everywhere, airs to an audience of 100,000 on a talk-radio website called eYada.com.

"The site is different from the hundreds of AM and FM stations that now simultaneously stream their programming onto the Web. Schulz and Wirkus describe their show as 'a thumbing of the nose at anyone who smells of authority.' Like all Net radio, they don't answer to the FCC, and they toss the F word liberally in segments like 'Penis Talk' and 'This isn't phone sex, you dumb f___!'..."

Read the full article in Time.com here. (It's part of a cover story titled "Everyone's a Star.com" on how the Internet can make anyone famous. The instructions on "How to be a deejay" are here. A sidebar on the pop duo Fisher, whcih made its name via MP3 downloads, is here.)

Hey, kids! Win swell prizes!

Thanks very much to all of you who helped spread the word about RAIN in Week #1 of the RAIN Viral Marketing contest.

As per the contest rules, "If RAIN gets 100 new subscribers this week, we'll give away the Sony Music Clip to one lucky winner (chosen randomly from those who sent out the e-mail recommendations). If not, we'll roll over all the entries, add something more to the prize package, and try again next week." (Read the full original contest announcement here.)

Unfortunately, the final tabulation is in -- and we ended up with only 94 new subscribers that week:

I believe the problem was that the contest week ended on a Monday -- a day which logically might be difficult to get both (A) a recommendation out to a potential new reader and (B) that new individual successfully converted into a subscriber.

So we'll start Week #2 on a Thursday this time. (That should do the trick!) We'll add another swell prize to the prize package and we'll try again.

If you've already recommended RAIN to your colleagues, you're automatically rolled over into the Week #2 prize drawing and eligible to win -- i.e., your name stays in the hat. (Click here to make sure I've got your name.)

Thanks...and good luck!

More coming soon! Contribute your suggestions here. (Suggestions already in the hopper include RadioWoodstock.com, Nerve Radio, Radio Gogaga, and HotCountryHits.)

RAIN News Archives here.