From InternetNews.com: "Interactive financial media company MarketWatch.com has lured another $86 million in financing from its two major shareholders.

"The company received about $86 million in cash, advertising and promotion from its two major shareholders, CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Data Broadcasting Corp. in an agreement which closed on Friday and was announced in late March.

"CBS shelled out $13 million in cash and $20 million in advertising and promotion, while DBC paid about $43 million in cash..."

Read the full story in InternetNews.com here. (Clearly, CBS is willing to "spend money to make money" in some Internet-related areas.)




From Radio & Records: "Last November the association launched the first two phases of its e-commerce program, and now 'Level III - Local E-commerce' is available. The newest phase allows stations to offer online shopping to their local clients, providing everything the local retailer needs to sell goods and services through the station's website..."

Read more of Radio & Records Online here (subscription required) or visit the RAB's clumsy and unimpressive website here.

Sign up as a RAIN subscriber! We appreciate hearing from you. And in return, we'll send you e-mail news updates on a regular basis so you don't forget about us -- plus bulletins when important news breaks.   Name:   Company:   E-mail:   Your   comments   and/or   suggestions:     Please add me to your "subscriber" list     I'm already on your mailing list; I just wanted to              send you the comment above.         Thanks!

From Radio Business Report: "March numbers just in from the RAB show that total radio revenues were up 21% for the first quarter of 2000. For Q1, local revenues were up 17% and national spot an astounding 35%. March saw local gain 15% and national 40%, making the month’s overall gain 21% (the same as for the quarter).

“'Examining these numbers reveals that radio’s gains are coming from all advertising categories,' said RAB President/CEO Gary Fries. 'The indication is that this is not a part of a cycle, but rather a total change in the currency value of radio’s pricing platform. When one evaluates the effects of "dot-com" on national business, we find that if it did not exist, we would still be showing a 19% gain across the board for the quarter.'

Read more in RBR.com here.

What does this mean? Does it mean that radio has the resources to invest in its future...or that radio is going to be so self-satisfied that it ignores its future? Contribute your thoughts here.



Austin, TX, calls itself "The Live Music Capital of the World," and it's got a website that's appropriate for a town with that billing in ClubCastLive.com, which features live webcasts of numerous concerts every night from various local clubs, plus an archive of hundreds of past shows.

According to the website, "ClubCastLive is the world's leading Internet broadcaster of live music. Using a technique called 'streaming,' ClubCastLive sets up shop in local venues and brings the music from each one, every night, home to you over the Internet. Concerts are broadcast live, in real time, and then available for on-demand playback within 12-24 hours.

"ClubCastLive's proprietary technologies let users from 28.8k modems to T1 and higher speeds listen to high-quality audio broadcasts. The 'feeds' come in 2 varieties: the first, 'high bandwidth,' is a CD-quality stereo feed catering to users with a broadband connection (Cable/DSL/T1/ISDN); the second, 'low-bandwidth,' sounds similar to FM radio and caters to our modem users.

It's a good-looking, well-designed site, and particularly if you've ever thought of doing anything with archived concerts, it's a site you should visit, which you can do by clicking here. (Comments? Contribute them here.)

May 15-18	Radio Ink Internet Conference, Boston     -- SOLD OUT!
May 22-26	Real [Networks] Conference 2000, San Jose
June 12-14	Streaming Media East 2000, New York City
June 14-17	R&R Convention 2000, Los Angeles
June 14-17	PROMAX & BDA, New Orleans
July 13-16	Upper Midwest Conclave, Minneapolis
August 3-5	Morning Show Bootcamp, New Orelans
September 20-23	NAB Radio Show, San Francisco
October 5-7	Billboard/Airplay Monitor Seminar, New York
November 5-7	NAB European Radio Conference, Berlin
Did we miss a major conference? E-mail us here.

If you're hiring for a position that's radio- and Internet-related this week, we'll post it -- free! Simply e-mail the job description here. If you're looking for new opportunities that involve the Internet, you can take a look at the first three available positions here.

Try it out! Explore the wide world of Internet audio by clicking the screenshot above.

Miss an issue?
Visit the RAIN News Archives here.