Thanks to all the fine companies (including those listed below) who agreed to be part of our recent "RAIN Vendor Guide (Ver. 2.0)" issue. If you didn't have a chance to spend time with it yet, you can access the issue here.

Clear Channel Radio CEO Randy Michaels will resign that post to head the company's newly-formed New Technologies division, according to a statement from Clear Channel Chairman and CEO Lowry Mays late yesterday.

Michaels told the press, "I am excited about the opportunity to once again look out in to the future and help shape the way we will adapt to it. I enjoy the challenge and stimulation of breaking new ground and look forward to this newly created position."

As chief executive of the new unit, Michaels will focus on interactive, wireless broadband and satellite technologies, said the press release.

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... Say what you will about the "Clear Channelization" of broadcast radio, but Randy Michaels is a classic example of the showmanship that made radio's competitive battles exciting and fun in the 60s and 70s. Being as Randy's a radio guy through and through -- this is certainly a wild development. But it would be great if we see him bring that energy and enthusiasm to the Interactive side. We'll be interested to find out more details of this development. -- KH ...

From Knowledge@Wharton: "If you have ever listened to your favorite radio station online or surfed one of the many web-exclusive streaming audio sites around the world, you have probably experienced Internet radio. Web radio stations come in all shapes and sizes; some boast niche-specific playlists, others promote independent artists, and still others simply stream simulcasts of traditional radio programming...

"But the days of independent radio on the Net could be numbered, say some experts. A recently established royalty fee payable to record companies may price many small content providers out of the market, leaving some with no choice but to shut down...

"(Wharton public policy and management professor Gerald) Faulhaber [pictured left] isn’t sure that the Internet radio business model will survive. 'If it’s not sustainable, there will be wholesale bankruptcies in the Net radio space. The content providers won’t shoot themselves in the foot; if they’re wrong and Net radio players are not able to pay them, they might change the rates or lose the medium. But then, it’s not like the music business really is in need of new channels of distribution. There are plenty of ways to distribute music – MP3s, AM/FM, satellite, CDs, etc...'

"Michael Mazis, a Wharton graduate and professor of marketing at American University’s Kogod School of Business, conducted a survey a few years ago for webcasters and radio broadcasters to determine whether Internet radio use encourages the eventual purchase of music.

"'The survey found that among heavier users – those who listened to Internet radio several hours a week – there was a pretty strong effect. It did promote the sale of CDs and worked much the way traditional radio works,' he explains. The majority of those surveyed at the time, however, were not heavy users, so the overall results did not show any effect on purchasing habits...

"What’s going to happen depends on whether the royalty ruling is reversed or modified. 'It’s hard to tell in the long run where this will go,' says Mazis. 'Even if the economy picks up and there are more advertising dollars being spent, it will be difficult for webcasters to survive. Because of the low startup costs associated with these Internet radio stations, there are a lot of them. All can’t be profitable; there are too many in the market.'"

Read the article from Knowledge@Wharton here.