BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
Arbitron and comScore have released their latest Online Radio Ratings studies for the months of February and March.

Since January, the comScore Arbitron ratings have included a group of independent webcasters that have banded together under the name "RL Select" (represented by the "Ronning Lipset Radio" graphic). The network , which is made up of GotRadio, Big R Radio, and 181.FM, is aggregated by the Ronning Lipset Radio ad rep firm.

The "average quarter hour" estimate, or AQH, is defined as the  estimated average number of persons tuned to a channel  for at least five minutes during a 15 minute period. It can be understood as "the number of people listening to a station at a specific moment."

Numbers formatted in this style denote either an increase or no change compared to the previous month's rankings.

RAIN's coverage of the ratings from the online radio ratings service Webcast Metrics, which covers a different set of webcasters, is here.

February 2007

comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings

Rank	Station/Network	AQH	Weekly Cume
1		175,400	2,219,900
2		174,200	1,436,600
3		85,900	1,191,400
4		51,000	641,300
5	RL Select	20,600	669,800
Total:		421,300	4,967,500

Rank	Station/Network	AQH	Weekly Cume
1		315,800	1,601,000
2		276,700	901,200
3		156,300	1,017,100
4		88,200	436,200
5	RL Select	30,300	330,000
Total:		711,000	3,268,400

March 2007

comScore Arbitron Online Radio Ratings

Rank	Station/Network	AQH	Weekly Cume
1		206,000	1,530,100
2		160,200	2,067,100
3		92,100	1,214,300
4		55,100	661,000
5	RL Select	25,300	733,900
Total:		421,300	4,992,100

Rank	Station/Network	AQH	Weekly Cume
1		317,300	939,900
2		281,800	1,452,400
3		166,800	1,009,700
4		94,600	455,200
5	RL Select	43,000	455,300
Total:		736,800	3,302,800

From an opinion piece in BusinessWeek.com, by Laurie Joulie, director of the Roots Music Association: "...I take great offense at the press campaign by proponents of higher royalty fees to label the movement to save Internet radio as  a cover for the greed of corporate-level webcasters.

"I'm a director of the Roots Music Assn., a group that works for the advancement of the independent music industry and encompasses a multitude of roots-based genres...

"Time after time, artists tell me: 'I just want the people to hear my music,'...

"As I write late on a Sunday night, I have just finished speaking with an independent artist who played no fewer than nine shows this past weekend and has never received a single royalty check in his three decades in the business. He was thrilled that tracks from his new album had just been played four times in two hours on an Internet radio station. What matters to him is the priceless exposure...

"SoundExchange... would like the public to believe this is a battle between the artists and the webcasters. It most certainly is not. Artists inherently understand that when we proactively support the overall viability of the industry, we support them...

"The math is simple. Fewer avenues for airplay equal fewer opportunities for promotion...

"...To insinuate that the current proposed bill is nothing but corporate greed is shortsighted and self-serving. To depict small webcasters and other partners in SaveNetRadio as stooges is disingenuous.

"To imply that the Internet Radio Equality Act... is weighted in favor of large broadcasters is a misstatement. Indeed, it's most likely that the only stations that would survive the proposed rate structure would be big broadcasters. It's the small broadcasters that will have to shut their doors."

Read the entire piece at BusinessWeek.com.

The above opinion piece is a response to SoundExchange director John Simson's own piece in BusinessWeek.com a few days prior. Our RAIN coverage of Simson' article is here.

From the Chicago Sun-Times: "Chicago Public Radio opened a new chapter in local media history with the launch Monday of a unique interactive broadcast and online format.

"Vocalo.org inaugurated its Web site and began live streaming, billing itself as a gathering place that offers a mix of interviews, commentary, music and personal accounts of 'life in our region.'

"Over the air, Vocalo.org will be heard on WBEW-FM (89.5), based in Chesterton, Ind...

"Chicago Public Radio continues to air its traditional news, talk and information format on WBEZ-FM (91.5)."

Read the entire article at the Chicago Sun-Times.

This first feedback item is regarding yesterday's lead story, "Robertson: New generation of webcasters will emerge post-CRB" (here)...

"CRB will kill the webcasters we most need to keep..."

"Ask (Judiciary and Commerce) Members... for a full chamber vote..."

"Bring the big guys up to speed on the basic 'bullets'..."

"Why should SoundExchange have any say one way or the other?.."