March 18th, one week from today, is the deadline to submit a "Petition to Participate" in proceedings to determine webcast royalty rates through 2010. For the details, see RAIN coverage here.

BY PAUL MALONEY
There was little movement among the top-rated webcasters in the February Webcast Metrics ratings, save for a small dip in monthly cume nearly across the board (understandable given a 28-day month).

One notable exception was the leap by Dance multi-channel webcaster ClubFM Radio. The service, which offers 8 free channels of dance, electronic, and hits (plus 128kbps stream versions of 6 of the channels for $2/month), ranked 11th in January with a 89,430 cume and 786 AQH. In February, the webcaster jumped to the 6th slot by almost doubling its cume and tripling its AQH (to 173,165 cume and 2,183 AQH).

There was no change in the top five rankings (DigitallyImported Radio, AccuRadio, RadioIO, Air America Radio, and EnergyRadio.fm) over January. New to the top 20 in February are Super80s.us, Super70s.us and ClassicalMusicAmerica.com.

Webcast Metrics defines "average quarter hour," or AQH, as "the average number of persons who listened to a station for a minimum of five minutes within a reported day part." Cume, or "cumulative audience," is "the number of unique persons (defined as the number of different IP addresses) who listened to a station for a minimum of five minutes within a reported time period."

See RAIN's coverage of the January Webcast Metrics ratings here, and comScore/Arbitron's Online Radio Ratings here. You can also access our coverage of both companies' latest ratings by clicking the corresponding links under "RAIN Resources" in the left-hand margin of this page.

Top 20 Stations (February '05)
Rank	Station	Name (Format)	Monthly Cume (M-Su 6a-12M)	AQH 6a-12M
1		DigitallyImported Radio (Electronic/Dance)	n/a	18,992
2		AccuRadio (Multiple formats)	768,020	11,798
3		RadioIO (Multiple formats)	243,826	5,111
4		AirAmerica Radio (Political talk)	218,817	3,500
5		EnergyRadio.fm (Multiple formats)	190,377	2,522
6		ClubFM Radio Network (Dance)	173,165	2,183
7		Wolf FM (Hits radio)	84,753	2,108
8		Beethoven.com (Classical)	93,335	1,910
9		BoomerRadio (Multiple formats)	73,372	1,803
10		3WK Underground (Alternative rock)	76,700	1,466
11		90s FM (90s Hits)	83,112	1,047
12		80sFM.com (1980s Pop)	74,881	696
13		Howlin' Oldies (Classic Rock/Soul)	16,300	666
14		MVYRadio.com (Adult Alternative)	34,927	565
15		Choice Radio (Multiple formats)	17,812	526
16		Super80s.us (1980s Pop)	16,536	495
17		GotRadio** (Multiple formats)	76,168	472
18		Country Gold 56k (Classic Country)	18,935	367
19		Super70s.us (1970s Hits)	10,565	337
20		ClassicalMusicAmerica (Classical)	15,292	198

From the BBC: "Virgin Radio is making highlights of its breakfast show available for digital audio players in what it says is a first for 'podcasting.'

"The station began making its Pete and Geoff show available to download on Wednesday. It says it is the first UK station to podcast a daily show.

"Podcasting is where a show is delivered to a player, such as an iPod, after the broadcast to be listened to on the go...

"The Virgin Radio podcast is an half-hour edit of its four-hour breakfast show with all the music, news, weather, traffic and travel cut out. After signing up to the service and downloading free software, listeners will get the latest package every time they synchronise their iPod or MP3 player with their computer.

"The podcasts will be free thanks to sponsorship that has been dubbed 'podvertising.'

"Virgin Radio sales director Lee Roberts said: 'Radio stations have to adapt to the changing market and new platforms in order to create new revenue channels. We're proud to be the first with podvertising.'"

Read the BBC's entire account online here.

James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, told us, "RAIN has covered a lot about podcasting over the last few months, and probably because of this, we've had a large number of requests to make our breakfast show available via Podcast. One of our techies worked a 25-hour day to get this to work... and I'm delighted that we could get it launched."

From yesterday's Investor's Business Daily: "It was another beautiful day as Friday dawned five years ago. The day before, the Nasdaq composite rose 3%, closing over 5000 for the first time. Internet, software and telecom gear stocks led the way. But it was already the beginning of the end. The tech-laden NASDAQ stayed above 5000 on Friday, March 10, 2000, but it would be the last time.

"The Internet bubble was about to burst...

"How hot was it?

• Of 240 companies that came public in the second half of 1999, almost half had no revenue and almost 90% were not profitable, according to Anthony Perkins, author of The Internet Bubble.
• In October 1999, the six biggest tech stocks — Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies and Dell — were valued at $1.65 trillion, or 20% of the gross domestic product.
• A one-day record for an initial public offering was set in December 1999 when VA Linux Systems rose 698% on its first day of trading...
• Investments in new companies by venture capital firms doubled to $54 billion in 1999 and doubled again in 2000. Before that, the average annual investment was $5 billion...

"In perhaps the mother of all acquisitions, America Online announced in January 2000 that it would acquire Time Warner in a stock swap worth $182 billion.

"'That acquisition highlighted the absurdity of the whole situation in a significant way,' said Perkins, who at the time was editor of Red Herring magazine, which covered the venture capital business...

Ingredients for crash similar to 1929
"According to (Eric Janszen, who chronicled the events leading up to the bubble at the time on his Web site, iTulip.com, taking its name from the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s), the essential ingredients for mania in the stock market, using history as a guide, were all there.

"Starting the rise was a positive event that led to euphoria: the end of the Cold War in 1991. Similarly, the stock craze of the 1920s started after the end of World War I. The second ingredient was an invention that sparked imagination: the Internet... Likewise, an industrial revolution and the invention of radio opened the door for expanded commerce and innovation in the 1920s. The third ingredient was a new source of liquidity to get markets running: the peace dividend of the post-Cold War era. That resulted in 30-year Treasury rates falling sharply and made it easier for companies to finance debt. Another effect was that huge sums of money shifted out of bonds and into stocks...

"By 1999, the stock market's momentum was too great to ignore, even though many were sure the end had to come some time. 'Market participants had to either sit on the sidelines, find another career or play in the game,' said Janszen. 'There is nothing quite as disconcerting than to see your neighbor make a lot of money when you aren't.'"

Read this entire article from Investor's Business Daily online here. The graph is a screenshot of the NASDAQ index from March 22 through March 31, 2000. The vertical range is about 5100 down to 4350.