From the Chicago Sun-Times: "Chicago Public Radio has gone online with a new image and a new name...

"The new image is a Web site, Vocalo.org, that provides content for WBEW-FM 89.5, a Chicago Public Radio-owned station in Chesterton, Ind.

"'There is no model for what we are doing — seeking user-generated content from a Web site to determine content at a public radio station,' said Daniel Ash, vice president of strategic communications at Chicago Public Radio...

"Vocalo is the starting point for Web surfers to bring up topics or upload material that's important to them. It is set up as a social-networking site where users can blog, personalize the site and upload video, text and audio pictures...

"'We wanted to think about how public radio can serve more of the audience it is licensed to serve,' Ash said. 'Vocalo may have a completely different sensibility than WBEZ, and we hope it will attract all ages and demographics... This is a social network for... the entire Chicago region,'...

"Vocalo.org went live in June for three hours a day, and went on-air 24/7 on Sunday. The result is eclectic.

"'At times it feels like talk radio, at times like community radio and at times like an arts and music station,' Ash said...

"'We didn't want to be another music station, or do conventional shows, and we won't use programs syndicated from elsewhere,' said Ash."

Read the entire article at the Chicago Sun-Times.

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	There's huge, and growing, demand among consumers for Internet radio (at least during the 9AM-5PM workday), as shown by the rapid growth of our AccuRadio project. AccuRadio features a variety of popular music formats that you simply can't find on the broadcast dial: Swingin' Pop Standards, Brit Rock, Piano Jazz, Broadway and more at www.AccuRadio.com.

From Digital Music News: "CD sales are dropping at an alarming rate, and that has majors entertaining a number of fresh sales scenarios. At Universal Music Group, that includes an experimental stab at DRM-free downloads, a move considered unthinkable just one year ago.

"Now, several sources to Digital Music News have offered details on a new possibility, one that modifies the subscription-based music concept currently offered by companies like Napster and Rhapsody.

"The more comprehensive subscription plan, called TotalMusic, would require buy-in from ISPs and mobile access providers. According to numerous executives familiar with the plan, it would also force opt-in among existing ISP subscribers, a structure that automatically bumps monthly access charges in exchange for a subscription-based music plan... A Universal Music representative confirmed the initiative, but declined to offer any details...

"The forced opt-in may be dealing the most serious blow to the discussions. One source noted that Universal has faced difficulty rallying ISPs around the concept, largely because of the forced bump in monthly access fees and the lack of billing transparency. Sources also noted that other labels would have to agree to various terms, pricing, and contract points, a complicated and difficult process."

Read this story from Digital Music News here.

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x This sounds like the car insurance industry! You and I, law-abiding and safe drivers, pay higher and higher premiums to compensate for the damage caused by scoundrels! So Comcast would raise my broadband bill, for a service I may or may not want, while it's business-as-usual for file-traders (who will still have access to a wider library of music free of DRM and watermarks). Perhaps this will dovetail into ISPs' dreams of "tiered" service, in which they offer a sluggish, crappy data rate connection for one price, then the "premium service" (that is, the only "acceptably usable service"), including TotalMusic, for a steeper rate. If ISPs and labels are actually considering a deal as reported here, I don't see it flying. -- PM x

From Playbill.com: "It was in January 2006 while researching wireless speakers that Playbill President and Publisher Philip Birsh came upon a device that could distribute wireless music from a home computer. One idea led to another, and the notion of Playbill Radio was born.

"'For most of my life,' Birsh explains, 'Broadway music has been the stepchild in record stores... I believed there was a place for theatre music on a digital streaming platform that could be consumed by millions of fans who have been limited in the past by prehistoric distribution systems.'

"That digital streaming platform has been realized in Playbill Radio, which is completely free and can now be accessed... on any computer, cell phone or hand-held device with internet access...

"Three minutes worth of the latest theatre headlines are broadcast at the top of each hour; that news can also be downloaded onto one's iPod for listening at the most convenient time. The web radio station also offers a variety of programs and podcasts...

"'We are entering an exciting arena with this endeavor,' Birsh concludes. 'Niche audiences are being valued in an unprecedented fashion today,... Digital streaming signals will be able to be picked up by a variety of new technologies over the next several years.'"

Read the entire article at Playbill.com.

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