Urban Unrest

27 March 2005 | Business | Ernesto Aguilar

An interesting piece on the development of web radio use beyond feed streams. Well worth checking out for folks wanting to grow KPFT’s web presence.

Clear Channel Preps for Web Radio Push

Sat March 26, 2005 9:24 PM GMT-05:00

By Brian Garrity

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Clear Channel Communications plans to make a big push into Internet radio next month with a new music-performance series that will be syndicated weekly to hundreds of its local-station Web sites across the United States.

The radio giant also is upping its commitment to the streaming business by bringing the programming from all of its stations in the top 25 markets — 300 stations in total — to online listeners by May 1.

Combined, the initiatives represent Clear Channel’s strongest bid yet to hold on to its audience beyond the confines of traditional radio. Streaming radio listenership is growing at work and at home as consumers increasingly gravitate to the PC to listen to music.

Like others trying to build a name for themselves in digital entertainment, Clear Channel is looking to raise its profile through original content. The company says its new series, “Stripped,” was inspired by MTV’s “Unplugged” and music performances on “Saturday Night Live.”

Each week a different act will perform five songs in an intimate, closed-studio setting in New York or Los Angeles. The format combines new songs, reinterpretations of hits and covers.

Atlantic’s Rob Thomas, Columbia’s John Legend, Arista’s Gavin DeGraw and Hollywood’s Jesse McCartney will be among the initial featured artists.

“Stripped” is produced by Clear Channel’s new online music and radio division, headed by executive VP Evan Harrison, formerly GM for AOL Music. Harrison was a key architect of Sessions@AOL — a feature that has emerged as one of AOL’s most popular original programming elements.

Harrison points out that unlike features like Sessions@AOL, “Stripped” is not keyed around new releases. Instead it intends to highlight acts that are already embraced by radio.

Participating artists will do on-air interviews and take listener questions via satellite with stations in 10-15 markets. A general interview with the artist will be distributed to all other participating markets.

Clear Channel is looking for similar high-impact programming such as “Stripped” to rally station, listener and advertiser interest in its online offerings.

“We’re giving our listeners a compelling reason to go to our Web sites and come back to our Web sites,” Harrison says.

FOLLOWING THE RESEARCH

More than 19 million people listen to streaming radio online each week, according to Arbitron/Edison Media Research. Further, Borrell Associates data show that more than 30 million people consume on-demand media on a weekly basis.

Internet advertising is also on the rise. Research company eMarketer projects total online ad spending to grow 30 percent to $11 billion this year — $3.5 billion of which will come from local advertisers.

Last year the four biggest providers of Internet radio services in the United States — AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Live365 — formed an alliance to seek advertising from companies that traditionally advertise on national syndicated network radio programs.

Clear Channel already streams 200 of its 1,200 stations. But without a coherent Internet strategy until now, it has been playing second fiddle in Web radio to the dominant online-only players.

With “Stripped” and other initiatives from Harrison’s team set to debut this summer, including advertiser-supported podcasting programming featuring local on-air talent, Clear Channel thinks it has an opportunity to shift that balance of power.

The company believes that with such well-known radio brands as Kiss, Power, Lite and Z100, it has established franchises to which listeners can gravitate online in much the same way they do offline.

Reuters/Billboard

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