From Bridge Ratings: "The new semi-annual study from Bridge Ratings & Research indicates the number of monthly Internet radio listeners nationwide  has... increased to 72 million monthly listeners from 45 million at the end of 2005.

"In 2005, weekly Internet radio listening was at 15% of the U.S. population 12 and over. This new study shows that as of January 2007 that figure increased 26% to 19% of all persons 12 and older. This translates to 57 million listening to Internet Radio on a weekly basis...

"Last year's study revealed that 16% of those on-line had listened to an AM/FM simulcast on the Internet. This study, completed in January 2007 with a sample of 3000 persons 12+, showed 21% having had listened to an AM/FM simulcast in the last 30 days...

"Internet radio listening is primarily a work-hour phenomenon, with 75% of all on-line listening occurring between 5 a.m. Pacific and 5 p.m. Pacific. This is down from 81% in 2005. Increased at-home listening grew to 25% 5 a.m to 5 p.m. and 79% 7 p.m - midnight Monday through Friday.

"Thirty-five percent of Internet radio listeners were between the ages of 25 and 34. 60% were younger than 35, 33% were younger than 25, and 5% were older than 55."

Read the entire report at Bridge Ratings.

From the Houston Chronicle: "Jimmy Buffett pushed the wrong button... Several hundred pages of the novel he was working on — Where Is Joe Merchant? — vanished from his computer. With no backup...

"I was the manager of customer support for Compaq back in 1990,' said The Woodlands resident Coleman Sisson.

"'Fortunately, I was able to recover his book for him. After that, Jimmy started calling, asking me how to do things on his computer,... Pretty soon I was going out on his tours. Then I was working for him full time.'

"Now Sisson is the chief technology officer and Internet marketing manager for Buffett's Web site, www.margaritaville.com, and Internet radio station, Radio Margaritaville.

"Mostly my job is to help Jimmy connect with his fans through the Internet and make sure the technology is in place to deliver the stuff.

"In 1997 Jimmy called me about helping him with an idea he had for buying an AM radio station in Key West. I told him we should just create our own station on the Internet, and that's how Radio Margaritaville happened... In 2005 we got our own channel on Sirius Satellite Radio and now have over 1 million listeners."

"Sisson said Buffett is hands-on, totally involved with his Internet radio station and Web site...

"Three years ago, Sisson started his own company, Bubble Up, and began creating and managing Web sites for other artists, like Hall and Oates, Big & Rich, John Mellencamp, Gretchen Wilson and, welcome to the Internet Age... Barbara Streisand."

Read the entire article at the Houston Chronicle.

From Third Screen: "Listen up, Frappuccino-lovers — cheap Wi-Fi could be headed to a Starbucks near you.

"Earlier today, Madrid, Spain-based FON launched a campaign called 'FonBucks,' a movement to hand out free wireless Internet routers (for which the company normally charges about $40) to people who live near Starbucks coffee shops...

"FON is one of the most interesting new entrants in the wireless industry, largely due to its unique model. Here's how the  service works: For a small fee, ($2 per day), anyone can use a FON network when near a hotspot, but FON members... must purchase a wireless router and then choose to either give away the extra bandwidth for free, or charge for it...

"Of course, the success of the service relies on widespread growth,... which is exactly what FON is hoping the FonBucks campaign — and more importantly, soon-to-launch strategic partnerships — will help achieve...

"If it sounds warm and fuzzy, it is and it isn't. Like Vonage and Skype, FON is a disruptive company in an industry that, like most others, doesn't like to be disrupted... [T]hey did run through 10,000 free Wi-Fi routers very quickly in a similar campaign they ran recently. After all, who doesn't like free Internet access? Or frothy Frappuccinos, for that matter."

Read the entire article at Third Screen.