eMarketer projects that this year there will be 193.9 million US Internet users, two-thirds of the population. By 2012, 217 million Americans will be online, about 71% of the population.

Those are huge numbers. But by breaking the US Internet population down and focusing on demographics—size, gender, age, race and ethnicity, income and education—this report will help marketers make better targeting decisions.

~fonte: eMarketeer «US online population, fevereiro 08,

«In our content analysis, we found that many radio station Web sites do not include the features most desired by Web site visitors. Radio station Web site visitors were asked to rate their interest in different features on radio station Web sites. As we can see in the table below, the most popular radio station Web site feature is the “ability to listen to the radio station”; however, less than 60 percent of the Web sites stream their audio and allow people to listen to live broadcasts. “Information about local concerts,” the second most wanted feature, was found on only half of the Web sites. A mere six percent of the Web sites gave the “title and artist of songs recently played on the station,” which is the third most desired feature.»

fonte: ROSIN, Larry e SHUL, Janet S., Radio Station Web Site Content: an in depth look, (2000), Arbitron

A. Komarova (The content of music radio websites, by Komarova, Anastasia, M.A., University of Missouri - Columbia, 2004, 112 pages; AAT 1420925) lembra contudo que «what one most frequently finds there is information that is interesting from the point of view of the people working at the radio: DJ's bios with photos, music news, requests, and stations events» (pag 12)

Dana Hall, Executive Editor da página/empresa Radio-Info.com, diz o que deve ter um bom site de rádio e dá tres bons exemplos:

«1. Consistent branding of your station.
2. Usable and effective advertising opportunities
3. Interesting and Interactive content for your Website user
4. Efficient and easy tools to use
5. Give them more than what they get on the air
6. Have a dedicated person to oversee and run the site
Three websites that I particularly like are CBS Rocker WXRK “K-Rock” New York, Radio One Urban WPHI “Philly 103.9” Philadelphia, and Clear Channel’s “alternative” Country KZPS “Lone Star 92.5” Dallas, each for different reasons. K-Rock is a great branding site, while WPHI’s advertising opportunities including effective advertorial, is impressive. Lone Star is simply a very non-traditional approach to a radio website (kind of like its format) and that’s what may make it so appealing to users. Check them out for yourself»

fonte: What makes a great radio station website?

«The BBC's iPlayer web catch-up service will include video streaming for PCs and Macs when it is launched at the end of the year. The broadcaster is to use Adobe Systems' Flash Player software to deliver on-demand streaming, which will be accessible to users of Macintosh, Linux and Windows. The relationship with Adobe will also allow the BBC to standardise most of its streamed video and audio content on bbc.co.uk. The BBC is to launch the iPlayer as a downloading and streaming service to consumers in time for Christmas. The platform will also include radio. It currently enables registered users to download and view around 400 hours of programmes up to seven days after their TV broadcast, and to store them for up to 30 days. The BBC has also become the first UK broadcaster to make all of its online content available for free via wi-fi at 7,500 hotspots operated by The Cloud. Users will be able to access bbc.co.uk via an interactive video, highlighting a range of content available or via a BBC logo. A further deal with Telegraph Media Group will see telegraph.co.uk offering visitors the chance to click through from its TV listings to iPlayer to watch BBC programmes.»

fonte: «BBC iPlayer to include video streaming»,Robin Parker, Broadcastnow, 16/10/07 

«Spring 2007 data shows less than 1% of diaries contain listening to Internet radio. But when listeners do tune-in online, they seem to favor local stations. In Fall 2006 66% of diary-keepers went to a webcast from a station they could also hear over the air. But they’re not replacing FM or AM with online —78% say they listened to the station via both mediums. According to Arbitron, 45% of stations are now streaming»

fonte: «Internet radio: Potential is great, listeners are few» Inside Radio 9/10/07
 

Ramsey: «(...)are you as alarmed as I am that so few radio stations actually have an online stake in their future? Granted, streaming the audio is not the only way to plant a flag online. But if distributing your content online isn't a main reason to BE online, then you need to go back to square one.»

«Internet radio has certain social strengths, because it is possible to create services even for very small and scattered groups all over the world without large initial investments. Although it has become the main delivery system for thousands of web-only radio operators and an important supplementary platform for practically all radio broadcasters, it has still problems with copyright  issues. When compared to broadcasting, perhaps the main economic disadvantage of Internet radio is that every new listener means more expenses for the program operator. This is why BBC is probably going to prevent foreign users to listen its domestic channels over the web. (Laven 1998, 6-8; Bagharib & Tan 2004, 2; Ala-Fossi 2005, 40-41; Colker 2005) Another disadvantage of Internet radio has been it's weak mobility and portability. While mobile phone approach may still be too expensive to use, a wireless broadband network with fixed rates can become a practical solution for listening live or streaming Internet radio outside of your home or office.» (Ala-Fossi, 2005: 23-24)

«"The hybrid or the meeting of two media is a moment of truth and revelation from which new form is born. For the parallel between two media holds us on the frontiers between forms that snap us out of the Narcissus-narcosis. The moment of the meeting of media is a moment of freedom and release from the ordinary trance and numbness imposed by them on our senses." » (Understanding Media, pág. 55)

«(...) what podcasting represents, and it is a moving trend rather than a finished product, is ‘hybrid energy’ – as McLuhan would term it – when one medium, radio crossing into another, the Internet. In this case it moves beyond the classic Internet radio forms, live-streaming, which simply used the Internet as a distribution platform and allows the meeting of radio and the Internet to create something new through a software marriage. The RSS is the facilitator or enabler which is allowing old media, whether newspapers, radio or television, to become something new in the Internet.» (Shaw, 2005: 15) 

Mark Ramsey elogia a nova criação da Clear Channel: um portal para vender e comprar carros, chamado DFWAutoplex.com:

«(...) it is an example of a new form of connection linking a station's audience to that station's advertiser so as to generate revenue results and happy customers without depending solely on a station's airtime in an ever-more-cluttered ad marketplace.

This is exactly the type of Internet-based, off-air "connection mechanism" we're going to see a LOT more of in the future, especially when it comes to sales categories of critical importance to the radio industry. It's exactly the kind of stuff I've been talking about on this blog over the past few months. As a radio station, your strength isn't that you have spots. It's that you have listeners.»

fonte: «You're not in the "Radio Business," you're in the business of hand-delivering leads», Hear2.0, 20/08/07

Sempre foi uma das questões com que os animadores das rádios musicais portugueses lidaram mal, a apresentação das canções que se seguem ou se seguiram (genericamente, mais por desleixo do que por incompetência).

Ou não apresentam, deixando os ouvintes pendurados, ou apresentam de uma forma incompleta, ou apresentam todas seguidas, como se tivessemos um lápis para assentar e ficar à espera (e, claro, às vezes apresentam bem!).

Esta manhã, antes das 10, na Antena 3 passou uma música que já tinha ouvido, com a qual simpatizei, mas de que nada sabia. Fiquei à espera, mas no final, Raquel Bulha disse apenas «Closer». Porque o refrão dizia isso mesmo, percebi que se tratava do nome da canção. Mas quem a canta? Felizmente existe hoje a internet e uma busca simples por «Closer» não demorou muito a fornecer uma resposta: «Closer», de Travis.

Não sou dos que defendem a pureza da complementaridade entre rádio convencional e internet, como se elas pudessem coexistir tranquilamente. O que me parece é que quanto mais a rádio convencional desiste de servir o seu cliente, dando azo a que ele procure noutro lado, menos tempo o cliente passará a ouvir a sua rádio. Veremos...

«A Internet é o tecido das nossas vidas. Se as tecnologias de informação são o equivalente histórico do que foi a electricidade na era industrial, na nossa era poderíamos comparar a Internet com a rede eléctrica e o motor eléctrico, dada a sua capacidade para distribuir o poder da informação por todos os âmbitos da actividade humana. E mais, tal como as novas tecnologias de geração e distribuição de energia permitiram que as fábricas e as grandes empresas se estabelecessem como as bases organizacionais da sociedade industrial, a Internet constitui actualmente a base tecnológica da forma organizacional que caracteriza a Era da Informação: a rede» (Castells, 2004: 15).

«A Internet (...) não é apenas uma tecnologia: é o instrumento tecnológico e a forma organizativa que distribui o poder da informação, a geração de conhecimentos e a capacidade de ligar-se em rede em qualquer âmbito da actividade humana» (Castells, 2004:311)

«A Internet é um meio de comunicação que permite, pela primeira vez, a comunicação de muitos para muitos em tempo escolhido e a uma escala global. Do mesmo modo que a difusão a imprensa no ocidente deu lugar ao que McLuhan denominou de 'Galáxia Gutenberg' , entramos agora num novo mundo da comunicação: a Galáxia Internet.» (2004: 16)

«Taking radio to task for not delving more rapidly into the digital space, Zenith Media's Matt Feinberg, who oversees the company's Radio and Interactive divisions, said radio is missing out on money that is increasingly being funneled to digital media. Digital is everywhere," he said at the June 28 Interep Radio Symposium. "There is a digital wave and everyone wants a piece of it, but radio is not there. People want pure digital buys, and radio is not there. Radio is a line item, a nuisance. It's a pain in the butt right now." With a couple of notable exceptions, he also said that radio groups aren't doing enough in the online space, either. "It's not that they're bad at it, they just haven't really done it," he said. "Citadel and Clear Channel have done some good things, but radio hasn't stepped up to digital frontier en masse. There is alack of understanding at the high levels, and they don't see the reasoning for the investment. I believe that wholeheartedly."

fonte: Radio Ink, Radio 'A Line Item' For Agency Rep, 01?/07/07

Um novo paradigma pressupõe saber como lidar com uma nova - e estranha - realidade.

As rádios procuram colocar conteúdos nas suas páginas on line, que prendam a atenção dos seus «ouvintes». Mas qual é o limite quantitativo para essa informação?

Mark Ramsey, assustado com os 150 links da z100 de Nova Iorque, lembra que o Google tem 17 ligações na sua pagina de abertura. E conclui, como os japaneses, que mais pode ser demais: «Before you craft a web page designed to overwhelm and turn off your audience, before you suggest to listeners that when they visit your site it's unlikely that they'll actually find whatever they're looking for, post this note over your webmaster's PC: "Hara hachi bu." (ou seja, «Japanese have a great expression concerning healthy eating habits: Hara hachi bu, or “Eat until 80% full.”)

Kurt Hanson explica porque é que vários grupos com responsabilidades nos EUA não aderem:

«First and foremost, some groups believe the death of Internet Radio is a blessing. They feel that the less Internet radio there is, the better off they will be. In fact, if all Internet radio stations disappeared tomorrow such that terrestrial stations could shut down their streaming efforts, I'm sure many would be glad to do so. (...) Radio will, in other words, be victimized by its lack of vision. Because not only will this rate hike, if it's approved, come back to haunt radio by setting a precedent for what "fair" compensation is, not only will it cause many broadcasters to abandon their streaming efforts (if they had any to begin with), it will also kill most small webcasters leaving room only for the folks with deep pockets and a long view of the future»

A Internet não precisa de ser legitimada cientificamente, dirão, porque todos nós sabemos que a usamos.

Mas há dados que mostram que a Internet não é como ver televisão ou ouvir rádio. «Num estudo efectuado em 2002/ a Datamonitor, uma multinacional especializada em estudos de mercado e líder na disponibilização de informação onine, apurou que a Internet demorou menos de dez anos até ser utilizada por cinquena milhões de indivíduos, enquanto a televisão precisou de aproximadamente quinze anos e o rádio cerca de quarenta». (Chaves et al., 2007: 29)

Putting such political nonsense to one side, the player gives access to every single station in the UK, either in an alphabetical format or by group ownership basis. This means that you can listen live, in real time, for free, to any station in Britain. Whether you are a record plugger wanting to assess a music format (or, more importantly, find out whether a station really is playing your artist's song), or a media buyer checking out the target audience, this is a brilliant tool. It is quick - almost every station buffers and streams live in less than 10 seconds - and there are fewer clicks than going on to the BBC website to "listen again".

This brings me to the BBC, and where some commercial radio executives start to get uneasy. The player features a "search" button, which brings up all of the BBC's national, regional and local stations (http://www.bbc.co.uk/imp/). So imagine if you are tuned to Magic, and the breakfast presenter Neil Fox promotes the RadioCentre Player URL. Listeners are instantly transported to a place where not only can they hear all of Magic's commercial rivals, but the BBC as well. Chris Moyles is just three clicks away.» (http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2094429,00.html)

fonte: «This is the future of radio - and new music», On An Overgrown Path, 08/06/07 

Diz Mark Ramsey (e aplica-se a muitos dos responsáveis por rádios portuguesas):

«Even in 2007 it's not uncommon for the average radio station to view their website as a cost, and usually a nominal one at that. To most stations even today, it's a billboard in cyberspace (remember that term?). A repository for boring details about your personalities, your music, your events, and tons of non-contextual banner advertising, occasionally bonused with a live stream. (...) Your website is a destination for enriching the experience of visitors in ways that entertain and involve them such that your brand is enhanced, usage is stimulated, page views are maximized, and revenues are generated. Start thinking about your website in those terms and recreate your site from ground zero. The trap in our industry is the norm. I can't count the number of times I'm asked for "a good example" of this or that on other radio stations. The best examples of websites for radio stations are generally not on radio stations. (...)The trap in our industry is the budget. Too many stations have volunteer webmasters if they have any at all. Your web effort will soon be as important as on-air programming effort. In fact, I would suggest you picture your website as an entirely separate radio station and budget accordingly. I can easily - easily - foresee your website attracting a larger audience than your radio station. »

fonte: Hear2.0, What your website is, 01/05/07

«One in three people now listen to radio via the internet, according to new research from Sony. Not only are millions listening to radio in new ways, but new technology is changing what people listen to. Some 15 per cent of people now use the internet to listen to shows and stations outside their terrestrial broadcast areas. Another 18 per cent of people have used the internet to listen to a radio show after it was broadcast by downloading from a radio station website.Internet listening is most popular in the 35-44 age group (41 per cent of whom listen this way), and in the 24-34 age group (40 per cent). The ICM poll also found that internet listening is more popular among men (36 per cent of whom listen via internet) than women (25 per cent).

Other findings include:

- 42 per cent of people listen via their television reflecting the growth of digital TV - 36 per cent of people listen via a digital radio (DAB) radio set, meaning more people use a TV than this service - 21 per cent listen via an MP3 or other digital music player, despite many consumers' devices not having an integrated radio tuner - 12 per cent listen via a mobile phone with built-in tuner, as more and more have this facility - 82 per cent listen via a conventional analogue radio set; Steve Dowdle, MD, Sony UK, said: "Internet radio is no longer the preserve of technology enthusiasts. This research shows that it is hugely popular among millions of people from a wide range of ages. “We can see just what an impact the internet is having on radio, changing how millions of us listen, and even changing what we listen to and when. He added, “This trend will surely continue, meaning great news for the millions who love radio, and further opportunities for the many talented people who work in it."Studies of young people found they now listen to radio via television sets, and via DAB digital radio sets. The research also found that a third of young people now listen to radio via mobile phones. (...) The research was released to coincide with the Sony Radio Awards which took place in Central London last night.»

fonte: «One in three listen to radio via Internet». UTalk.Marketing.com, 01/05/07

(os vencedores são conhecidos na terça-feira)

«The results show that listening to news online improves both recall and comprehension of events. Participants were able to retrieve more details and understand developments of actions when they had more control over the pace of information. (...) This physical attachment could translate into more cognitive activity, especially if a user can control the pace of information flow. In return, traditional radio listening is less engaging. This might explain why respondents in the condition of regular radio listening had a poor cognitive performance in the experiment. Nonlinear listening to news had an important role in elaboration on news content» (MESBAH, Hesham M. The Impact of Linear Versus Nonlinear Listening to Radio News on Recall and Comprehension, Journal of Radio Studies 13(2), 2006, 196-197)

«(...) The days when radio station sites could simply function as blinking billboards, showcasing station events and DJ bios are long gone.  Today, sites need to be interactive, focus on the music that listeners love, provide video, and cater to the needs of listeners [Fred Jacobs dá o exemplo de uma rádio dos EUA, a 107.7 The Bone, que tem uma página chamada «Ask th PD», ou seja, perguntem ao director de programas; este responde on line às perguntas dos ouvintes].»

fonte: Fred Jacobs, «MyCandidate», 30/03/07, Jacobs Media

É público que BBC, NPR e outras rádios de serviço público são as menos receosas relativamente ao podcasting e às novas mudanças que a rádio está a sofrer.

De acordo com a edição de 2007 do State of the News Media, a rádio do Washington Post, WTOP, estará ainda mais à frente:

«Washington-based WTOP represents an entirely different look at radio online, one which is simultaneously local and national in scope. The homepage features an obvious lead story; an invitation to visitors to listen to WTOP radio news; weather and traffic information for the day; and a prominently featured local news section. Advertisements also have a heavy presence. WTOP.com ranks in the top tier for offering customizable options. Users can subscribe to both RSS feeds and podcasts, and its RSS feeds are relatively varied (totaling 12 different feeds, all of which are different categories of news). WTOP also goes further than NPR in providing on-demand listening options: visitors can sign up for content delivery (headlines, weather, traffic and breaking news) to their mobile phones. WTOP.com is still largely about narrative text (it makes up close to three-quarters of the content with still photos the second-most common form). Still, it did make some effort at multimedia forms (falling in the mid-level range of all sites studied) with some presence of video stories, slideshows, interactive graphics and yes, live streaming audio. Listening makes up only a small though prominent part of the Web site’s homepage with a section called “ Audio Center” that is devoted to live streaming of the WTOP radio station content.The site puts less emphasis on its own original branded content, relying mostly on the A.P. The heavy use on wires reflects the larger reality of radio today — even in Washington, D.C., national and international news comes heavily from sources other than the station itself. And even for local stories, only some had WTOP staff bylines; most came from the A.P., along with a few contributions from the Washington Post. Economically, WTOP seems to emphasize revenue streams from its Web site, as opposed to simply leaning on its radio station for cash-flow. It averaged close to 20 different ads on its home page, only one of which was self-promotional. Ad eyeballs, it seems, are the way users pay for use of the site. All the content is free and there no registration is necessary»

«Web radio may be the biggest threat to radio since the advent of TV», diz-se neste artigo do Globe and Mail. «Without facing regulatory restrictions or a need to fight for space on a fixed radio dial, the Internet may just be the biggest threat to the radio industry since the advent of television -- and the established players, faced with a challenge to their business model, have stood up and taken notice.  Just as telling as Mr. Woost's popularity at the conference is the fact that Internet radio has new enemies -- in particular the U.S. recording industry, which this month proposed aggressive royalties many feel could be the death knell for the industry. For now, there's no question Web radio is taking off. With the proliferation of WiFi as a catalyst, companies have been quietly pumping millions of dollars into developing new technologies. Some of the industry's key players are upstarts, such as last.fm and Oakland-based Pandora. The bigger sites are better-known Web portals, with Yahoo Launchcast and AOL Music topping the global list. Even they started small, but Yahoo Launchcast now draws enough listeners to equal the largest FM stations combined in a major U.S. city like New York.(...)»

fonte: «Everyone's on the same wavelength now», GRANT ROBERTSON, 10/03/07, Globe and Mail Update

«Twenty years later, the Internet became the communications trend du jour, and even wilder predictions were made about its future. We know now that every optimistic prognostication made during the early nineties about the Internet, no matter how outlandish, underestimated what actually happened. No one back then dared to claim that within a decade a billion people would be connected, that many times more e-mails than letter would be sent, that the biggest stores in the world would have no walls (...)» (Levy, 2006: 121)

Mark Ramsey chama a atenção para o site RadioTime «that aggregates content from your station's stream and tons of others.Then, they showcase that content in a form that will be more attractive to a broad base of potential listeners. For example, as I write this I can choose from 237 stations if I want to tune in Bill O'Reilly's "Radio Factor." What? The show's not in right now in your town? Chances are it's on somewhere, and RadioTime can help you find it.»

É mais importante ter os conteúdos ou gerir os conteúdos?

«Do you ever find yourself humming a song whose title, to your frustration, you don't know or can't remember? New search Web site Midomi is designed to actually identify that song for you in as little as 10 seconds. Launching in beta mode on Friday, Midomi allows people to search for a song by singing, humming or whistling a bit of the tune. The site then offers search results that include commercially recorded tracks or versions of the song recorded by others who have used the site. The technology also lets people listen to the exact section of each of the results that matched their voice sample. People also can type in a song title or artist to get results. The system recognizes misspelled words. Melodis, the company behind the site, has licensed 2 million digital tracks that can be purchased and has accumulated about 12,000 more from users. Users, who range from aspiring American Idol contestants to professionals, can create profiles and rate one other's performances on the ad-supported site. »

fonte: «This Web site can name that tune», Elinor Mills, CNET News.com, January 26, 2007, 6:00 AM PT

diz o presidente da Bridge Ratings:

«"Traditional radio should heed this development," Bridge wrote of the latter prediction. "Just because radio has specialized in audio content for 100 years, doesn't mean it can't and shouldn't develop video to complement their brands. And with that will come a new stream of revenue. CPMs are much more lucrative with video on the net." Also, he believes, advertising in digital venues will become more contextual; small-screen devices will have limited appeal as a media platform; and marketers will make some mistakes as they move into new digital spaces.»

fonte: «Bridge: Radio Should Heed Digital Video Online», 4/01/07, RWOnline 

Etiquetas: video, convergência

«Traditional radio is carving out a bigger piece of the Internet radio pie. According to a J.P. Morgan report, terrestrial radio’s share of total unique visitors hit a new high in November, now at 33.1% compared to 66.9% for Internet operators. Overall, the number of unique visitors to Internet radio in the past 12 months is up 44%, according to a J.P. Morgan report, to 55 million. Since November 2005, the Internet audience has grown at a 3.1% monthly compounded rate. Growth in November was driven by sites run by both terrestrial and Internet radio operators, “though terrestrial had the slight edge,” the authors stated. “The terrestrial operators broke a string of two consecutive declines to grow their unique visitors about 5% sequentially, while the Internet operators rebounded after three straight months of declines to grow close to 2%.” The authors state that, “On a year-over-year basis, growth is much stronger, reflecting the terrestrial operators’ recent investments into their digital/online operations. Unique visitors to the terrestrial operators’ sites are up more than 110% year over year, while the Internet operators’ sites are up about 25% year over year.”»

fonte: «Terrestrial Radio’s Share of Internet Radio Listening Hits New High», RWonline, 21/12/06

«Adiós a las radios Am/Fm y al DAB móvil vía satelite. La radio Wi-Fi para internet es la verdadera revolución en el audio doméstico. No tiene rival en cuanto a contenidos, es fácil de usar, versátil, económica y suena de maravilla. La radio Wi-Fi para internet está destinada a ser el dispositivo imprescindible del 2007. Acoustic Energy ha lanzado la primera radio Wi-Fi que permite escuchar mas de 10.000 emisoras de radio online de todo el mundo. Puedes tener la radio en cualquier parte de la casa u oficina y utiliza tu conexión normal de internet via Wi-Fi. Es la primera en dar acceso, desde cualquier rincón del mundo, a más de 10.000 emisoras de radio on-line. La compatibilidad con los 3 formatos más comunes: mp3, Windows Media y Real Player, deja a la radio Wi-Fi de AE sin competencia! Sin tener que pagar cuotas ni subscripciones, sin problemas de recepción, sin ruidos de fondo ni fronteras.»

fonte: «Llega la Radio Wi-Fi»; Nodos.com, 21/12/06, Jesus Garcia

Etiquetas: segundochoque, wi-fi

«RADIO DJs could become a thing of the past with new technology which can personalise stations for music fans across the globe, experts said today. The University of Edinburgh researchers are developing the world's first "personal DJ", which would offer music commentary on-line tailored to a listener's taste. Instead of a DJ providing a voice-over, millions of nuggets of music trivia would be stored on a database and played to the listener using voice-generating software. Those behind the project believe their work could become a commercial reality by the end of next year. And with one in four people in developed countries thought to be tuning in on-line at the moment, experts say the new system could prove a real money-spinner. (...) Nick Wright "More and more people are listening to music on the internet - whether this means new internet radio stations or traditional radio stations streamed on-line," he said. (...)"For instance, if you like Bon Jovi, we could tell you about other work band members have written or produced.- (...) Although the voice is synthesised, the speech sounds natural. Different accents can also be recorded. (...)»

fonte: «Technology could spell the end for radio DJs» Manchester evening news, 21/12/06

Etiquetas: animadores, streaming

«Cambridge Consultants is preparing to blow wide open the rapidly emerging global internet radio market with a new platform technology designed to massively undercut its competitors. The Cambridge Science Park-based firm believes the low-power internet radio’s sub-$15 (£7.60) electronic bill of materials (eBOM) will rewrite the economics of the sector and create a global market opportunity.
Recent research from radio audience tracker, Bridge Ratings, shows that one in five people in the US – almost 60 million residents – are listening to internet radio at least once a week, a figure that increased 40 per cent in the last year alone.
Head of consumer products at Cambridge Consultants, Duncan Smith, said: “Combined with the existing infrastructure of Wi-Fi and broadband, we believe that the internet radio market is poised to explode as soon as the right product price/performance point is achieved. The Iona platform more than meets that target.”
The Iona Wi-Fi portable radio is based on just two silicon chips and will be launched at CES 2007 in the US at the beginning of January.
Cambridge Consultants believes it could lead to consumer products retailing for around £25 to £30 – under half of most of today’s internet-ready ‘kitchen radio’ type products.
The radio technology is designed to operate without a PC and to be as accessible and easy to use as current portable FM radios.)(...)»

fonte: «Internet radio power play launched», Business Weekly, By Lautaro Vargas, 13 December 2006,

«A internet é a mídia que mais atrai usuários com até 54 anos no mundo. São gastas cerca de 16 horas por semana navegando na web. Os dados fazem parte de um estudo divulgado nesta semana pela União Internacional de Telecomunicações (ITU), o braço da ONU para telecom, chamado “igital.life.  De acordo com a pesquisa, o tempo dedicado à navegação na web é oito vezes maior que o dedicado aos jornais, revistas e cinema, quase três vezes maior que o dedicado ao rádio e quatro horas maior que à televisão»

fonte: «Web atrai mais usuários que a TV, diz estudo», Info online, 5/12/06

Etiquetas: rádio, TV

«New York - Nov 28, 2006 - Clear Channel Radio’s Online unit has added news and video content from Reuters to its News on Demand service. News on Demand combines on-demand video and text feeds from Reuters with Clear Channel’s existing coverage of news. The service also allows Clear Channel radio stations to upload their own local news to their sites.»

fonte: «Clear Channel Online Teams With Reuters to Power News On Demand», radio Magazine, 27/11/06

Se, como diz Passman, «80% de todos os bilhetes [sobretudo para concertos] são agora vendidos através da Internet» (2006: 344), é óbvio que esse capital de notoriedade não pode ser desperdiçado. Os interessados estão lá. É lá que deve acontecer o marketing. E não, como acontecia, até agora, através da publicidade convencional em jornais, rádios e, nos casos mais relevantes, televisões.

PS - o mesmo autor chama a atenção para o facto de, no arranque da Net, muitas editoras terem registado os domínios na net para muitos dos seus grupos (que provavelmente ainda não tinham descoberto esta realidade). Isso teve como consequência que os sites oficiais são hoje propriedade das editoras, que os controlam, gerem e ainda cobram pelos conteúdos («After the predictable shouting, tugging, and gouging, most deals now provide that, during the term, the company will have an exclusive license to set up the artist's website, and the artist is allowed to set up an "unofficial" website. After the term, the rights go back to the artist, although companies keep the right to have an artist section on their website. Companies want to recoup the costs of creating and maintaining the artist's website», Passman, 2006: 135)

Etiquetas: marketing

«Remember when CBS wanted little to do with Internet streaming? CBS Radio said it now broadcasts 100 stations online, or 70% of its stations. The most recent is WRKZ(FM) in Pittsburgh. “Extending its audio content to an online platform is an ongoing initiative that CBS Radio began with the launch of the streams of its all-news stations in March 2005,” it stated. “To date, CBS Radio has amassed close to 4 million registered users of the company's online properties.”»

fonte: «CBS Says 70% of Its Stations Are Now Streaming», 30/11/06 Rwonline

Etiquetas: streaming

«phones, headsets, and speakers getting Bluetooth, it was inevitable that alarm clocks would get them too. iHome's iHC5 dual-alarm clock radio has wireless capability that lets you both stream music from your PC/phone and act as a speakerphone for your cell. The upside? You won't need both an alarm clock and speakers. – Jason Chen»

fonte: Gizmodo

Etiquetas: bluetooth, despertador, convergência

«UBC Media plans to launch a new service that allows radio listeners to instantly download songs to a computer or mobile phone, allowing for impulse driven media purchases. The company said that it would launch its Digital Music Downloading (DMD) service in London early in 2007. The service will be available throughout the UK in March. The DMD service will initially feature five streaming radio stations. Users can download songs in real time to both their home systems and specially-equipped mobile devices. The service uses prepaid credits and charges ₤1.25 per song. Apple's iTunes store charges 79p per download. The company said it has secured licensing deals with all four major record labels, as well as the PPL and MCPS licencing organisations. Currently, the only mobile device that is equipped to support the DMD service is Virgin Mobile's Lobster 700 TV. The company hopes that manufacturers will begin selling more devices that support the service next year. The music download service sends each song as an ecnrypted audio file alongside the radio broadcast over an internet connection. Because of the limited mobile bandwidth and associated costs, UBC at launch will offer only five radio stations.  The company plans to grow out its station line-up through software that transmits downloads directly through a home internet connection rather than a cellular network. The DMD service was first demonstrated in November of 2005 at an event in London. In August, the company conducted a month-long trial of the service with Birmingham radio station Heart 100.7.»

fonte: «Downloadable radio service prepares for takeoff» Shaun Nichols in California, vnunet.com 27 Nov 2006

Etiquetas: iTunes, downloads, streaming

A internet oferece uma panóplia de oportunidades para os músicos se promoverem, encontrando os seus fãs muito mais facil e eficazmente do que através da rádio.

A existência de páginas que recriam/constroem uma realidade virtual é mais um contributo: o Second Life ou o Habbo Hotel são disso exemplos. O Habbo Hotel, «a 3D online world popular with teens which is being targeted by record companies desperate to find new ways to reach this crucial audience. Next month U2 will become the biggest band yet to insert themselves into this virtual world, with cartoon-like representations of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr appearing within the game to host a pub quiz and promote their new album. In the UK, more than 800,000 users regularly meet in the sprawling virtual hotel to chat, play games, decorate their rooms and hang out in a variety of locations from pizza joints to swimming pools and nightclubs to burger bars. Globally, more than 66m Habbo characters have been created, there are communities in 29 countries across five continents, and it now has 7 million unique users a month. When they sign up, new users, typically aged between 11 and 18, create their own digitised versions of themselves and are then free to roam around and interact with others online at the same time.»

fonte: «Pop music moguls home in on the hotel with 66 million guests», Guardian Unlimited, 21/11/06

Etiquetas: SecondLife, HabboHotel, virtual, internet, música

«A rádio online do portal MSN, da Microsoft, não é mais a mesma. É que nesta semana o serviço incorporou a tecnologia do Pandora, um popular serviço de música online onde os usuários podem ouvir músicas por gênero e similaridades, seguindo o ´projeto genoma da música´, como o serviço se descreve. O acordo, dizem analistas do setor, foi feito para barrar a perda de ouvintes do serviço da Microsoft, que teve uma queda de 9% no número de usuários mensais no último ano, segundo a empresa de pesquisas ComScore. Um levantamento da companhia indica que o Pandora tem cerca de 1,1 milhão de visitas mensais, enquanto o serviço do MSN tem 2,5 milhões de visitas. Ao entrar no endereço da rádio online da Microsoft, o usuário acessa uma interface customizada do Pandora, onde tem as mesmas funcionalidades do serviço original. Basta digitar o nome de uma música, músico ou banda para ouvir um trabalho do artista preferido e, em seguida, conhecer canções de outras bandas ou músicos similares. Dentro do site, há ainda um serviço de recomendação em que o usuário pode dizer se concorda ou não com a seleção proposta pelo serviço, auxiliando a filtrar as recomendações propostas pelo Pandora. »

fonte: «Rádio online da Microsoft incorpora tecnologia do Pandora», Estado de São paulo, 23 de novembro de 2006 - 09:48

Etiquetas: Pandora, MSN, streaming

«Escuchar cadenas de radio digitales a través de la televisión o del ordenador incrementa en gran medida las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero, ya que estos aparatos tienen un consumo de electricidad mucho más elevado que un aparato de radio convencional, según un estudio publicado por el Gobierno británico, informa el diario The Guardian.

Los británicos que sintonizan estas emisoras con sus ordenadores y televisores digitales incrementan las emisiones de CO2 en 190.000 toneladas al año. Los daños medioambientales provocados por estas emisiones están valorados en 12,6 millones de euros. El incremento en la utilización de pequeños electrodomésticos, y la sustitución de los aparatos de televisión analógicos por digitales podría incrementar en un 60% el consumo eléctrico de los hogares británicos. Blair augura una gran crisis económica y humanitaria por el cambio climático»

fonte: «Sintonizar la radio con el ordenador dispara las emisiones de CO2»,Internacional, 15/11/2006 La Crónica Social • Laura Vallejo.

«1. Is the purpose of your website just to put online what is already on the air, or is it something else?
2. Are we investing the necessary resources and talent in the development of our website, or are we having an intern update stuff in his spare time?
3. Are we giving people what they go to our station for in all its shapes and sizes on the web? Or are we offering one stream and a bunch of photos of our personalities?
4. If the content described in this article can generate considerable traffic, can we convert that traffic to revenue? And if so, then why aren't we investing for traffic instead of seeing our websites as expensive necessities?
5. If we keep crowing about how "local" our radio station is, exactly how does our website express that or service that?»

fonte: Mark Ramsey, Hear2.0, A website is not an expense, it's an investment, 17/11/06

«No one thinks radio is going away. But neither is radio any longer just a box with one dial for on-off and volume and another dial for tuning. "Radio" today can come through a subscription satellite service, a multichannel HD unit, a cell phone, a computer and who knows where else. What has changed very little is content. People still want music, talk, news. So the radio companies that offer this content in the most popular places are the ones apt to have the longest, happiest, most lucrative lives. That's why Clear Channel New York has hired Zena Burns to the new position of online program director. On the corporate flow chart, that puts her on the level with program directors Jim Ryan of WLTW (106.7 FM), Bob Buchman of WAXQ (104.3 FM), Sharon Dastur of WHTZ (100.3 FM), Helen Little of WWPR (105.1 FM) and Rob Miller of WALK (97.5 FM) and WKTU (103.5 FM). "Her position indicates the importance this company places on what she'll be doing," says Tom Poleman, senior vice president of programming and marketing for Clear Channel New York. "She'll be on a par with all our other PDs."

Etiquetas: Clear, Channel, internet

Sucedem-se as aplicações que visam reforçar/facilitar a ligação entre a emissão on line e a consulta através do computador:

«If you are a user of the Firefox Browser and a radio fan, you may be missing out on some great radio freebies available which will enhance your browsing experience. Various third-party developers, hobbyists, and programmers have created a wealth of add-ons which put the world of streaming online radio as close as your mouse» (Corey Deitz, «Many Radio Add-Ons Available for Users of Firefox Browser», 12/11/06, Radio About)

«On demand listening to BBC Radio on the internet has reached record levels, with 12.5 million requests logged in September 2006, according to the BBC's latest monthly statistics. The Archers (BBC Radio 4) was the most popular on demand programme (listened to after broadcast) on the BBC Radio Player, with 682,304 listens over the month.»

fonte: «Monthly figures reveal record requests for BBC Radio online», BBC on line, 6/11/06

Etiquetas: BBC

Citações a partir de um artigo do El País:

«Primero fue Orkut y las redes sociales, después Flickr y el intercambio social de fotos. Ahora triunfa la música social, con servicios como Last.fm, Pandora o iRate, que permiten hacerse una emisora de radio a la carta.»

«Cada oyente tiene una web propia en Last.fm, donde se publica esta información, de forma que es posible saber qué tema está escuchando en un determinado momento o ver estadísticas de los grupos que más le gustan. Esta lista de canciones preferidas constituye su emisora de radio personal, a la que puede conectarse cualquier oyente de Last.fm, para escuchar juntos lo mismo, o crear grupos.»  El registro es gratis y existe una versión de pago (3 dólares mensuales), con contenidos extra y sin publicidad. Junto a las suscripciones, el negocio se entrevé en la cláusula de privacidad: "Nos reservamos el derecho de vender o licenciar los datos de la música escuchada para su uso comercial, aunque nunca vamos a vender información personal que pueda llevar a un usuario específico".

«Pandora es otro servicio que comparte protagonismo con Last.fm. Nació en 2005 y no es necesario instalar ningún programa: pueden escucharse las canciones en su web. La novedad de Pandora es que no recomienda la música a partir de grupos parecidos, como Last.fm, sino que usa parámetros más detallados, como el tipo de melodía, ritmo, instrumentos, letras, etc.»

«La diferencia de iRate con los otros servicios es que la música se descarga de las webs de los artistas. La música ofrecida es de grupos independientes que no quieren cobrar derechos de autor o usan una licencia libre. iRate no es un negocio, sino obra de voluntarios.»

LAST.FM: www.last.fm

PANDORA: www.pandora.com

IRATE: www.irateradio.com

JAMENDO: www.jamendo.com

MUSICSTRANDS: http://musicstrands.com

YAHOO!LAUNCHCAST: http://music.yahoo.com/launchcast

Etiquetas: pandora, last, fm, streaming, internet

Pelo menos neste caso:

«(...) That's not a problem for KPLU-FM (88.5), says interim general manager Kerry Swanson. Last year, the station raised more than $200,000 from outside its signal area, from listeners as close as Spokane and from as far away as China and Japan who were "tuned in" on www.kplu.org or www.jazz24.org. In fact, Swanson says, revenue from beyond the region has been sizable enough that "we're recovering (the cost) -- and more." As the non-commercial jazz and National Public Radio station officially celebrates its 40th birthday this month, Swanson predicts the greatest growth in listenership audience -- and revenue from listener pledges -- will come from audiences delivered by those new technologies.  (...) On reason for that growth, Swanson believes, is KPLU's status as a jazz station. Competitive life would be much tougher, he says, were KPLU a Top 40 station competing with several others in that format in every market including its own. Jazz, on the other hand, provides an audience with an intense interest in the music but not many places on the dial to hear it (smooth jazz, a format played by such commercial stations as KWJZ-FM locally is an entirely different entity, he adds). With the advent of streaming a decade ago, KPLU made itself one of the top Internet-radio destinations. Now the station is looking at how to take advantage of new technologies that can deliver wireless Internet service -- and stations like it -- to laptop computers, handheld devices, cell phones, even the dashboards of cars. »

fonte: «On Radio: New technologies deliver listeners and revenue to KPLU», Seattle post intelligencer, November 9, 2006, By BILL VIRGIN

(estamos naquilo que os especialistas designam por web 2.0, a rede da socialização)

Com aparelhos como o RadioShark os meus programas favoritos passam à hora que eu quiser - o receptor, que se liga ao computador, grava como se fosse um video (como o TiVo norte-americano )e faz um ficheiro que eu posso ouvir quando quiser.

Quando toda a rádio estiver em podcasting isto não será necessário. Mas e se não estiver...

(as comunidades de ouvintes funcionam como os novos gate keepers informativos substituindo os realizadores da rádio. Com mais especialização, mais capacidade informativa e mais gente envolvida, pode conhecer-se mais e melhores músicas – do que aquelas que a rádio nos apresenta)

A comunidade de ouvintes do Last FM

«Trata-se do Last.FM, um site que proporciona aos utilizadores criarem a sua rádio on-line. Não uma rádio como normalmente a conhecemos. Aqui, será capaz de ter o seu espaço com as suas músicas predilectas, mostrando o que escutou a, sempre que quiser, iniciar pesquisas por informações de artistas, álbuns e músicas dentro do próprio site. Mas para dar início à verdadeira revolução, necessita de instalar no computador o reprodutor e um ‘plugin’, o Audioscrobber. Com eles poderá criar então a sua estação de rádio e procurar utilizadores que, por norma, ouvem o mesmo género de música. Ao participar nesta autêntica comunidade, o utilizador poderá escutar músicas gratuitamente, por género e com grande qualidade; criar o seu estilo musical; votar nas suas músicas favoritas; discutir sobre música em fóruns; entre outras coisas. Enfim, transforme os seus gostos numa estação de rádio para que outros saibam o que você ouve».

Desenvolvimentos deste caso.

«It looks like its back to the "Future of Rock and Roll" again for Cincinnati's popular alternative webcaster WOXY.
A post on the WOXY message boards last week from LaLa founder and Internet entrepreneur Bill Nguyen expressed interest in reviving the recently-defunct WOXY, ostensibly as a complement to LaLa's existing CD trading business.
A "town hall" meeting last night confirmed rumors as Nguyen met with former WOXY staff and various WOXY supporters to discuss their vision for bringing WOXY back (...) fonte: RAIN, http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/092606/index.asp

«Clear Channel Radio has announced the launch of a national roll out of mobile radio programming. New York’s Z100 will stream live radio and new features directly to cell phones across the country. The mobile service is provided by Cingular Wireless and DKNY Jeans is the first sponsor of Z100 Mobile. Subscribers of Z100 Mobile can interact directly from their phones to listen to streamed and on-demand content including podcasts of celebrity interviews and other segments. They can also find the title and artist of the last 10 songs played on-air, make a request directly to Z100 and receive a text message alert 15 minutes before the song is played, get free station wallpapers for their phone, rate listener-submitted photos and obtain real-time reports on local traffic.

“With Z100 reaching 2.5 million listeners each week, and 50 million consumers subscribing to Cingular Wireless, we are creating one of the largest audiences for any radio or mobile phone application in the US, thereby monumentally expanding Clear Channel Radio’s mobile content portfolio,” said Jeff Littlejohn, executive vice president of Distribution Development for Clear Channel Radio. “By connecting listeners to their favorite radio stations via cell phone, and adding interactive features, Clear Channel Radio has found an additional platform to deliver on-demand entertainment to, and drive listening among its active, on-the-go audiences across the country.”  Clear Channel Radio expects to launch similar programs on up to 100 more of its radio stations within the next year.»

fonte: «Clear Channel Radio Launches National Mobile Content Program», Radio Ink, 7/09/06

Era uma das mais conhecidas e elogiadas experiencias de rádio na net, sobretudo pelo que significou: era uma rádio hertziana que passou ao on line (já tratada aqui)

Acaba de anunciar que vai fechar:

«The Future of Rock and Roll" will end in two weeks. Managers of WOXY.com, the Internet-only radio station launched 26 months ago, will cease operation Sept. 15. (...) Bryan Jay Miller, 32, general manager, said the Internet station could not overcome distribution limitations and the lack of advertising revenues to maintain the four-employee operation.  "Internet radio is very cool, but you're still tethered to a computer for the most part. iPods, AM/FM radio and satellite radio are very portable," says Miller, who started at WOXY-FM in 1993."That impacted our advertising growth," he says. (...)

fonte: «WOXY.com to pull plug», Cincinnati Enquirer, September 1, 2006, JOHN KIESEWETTER

RAIN: «Exclusive to RAIN, Bryan Jay Miller adds: "Our problem has never been producing engaging, unique radio. We've been doing that for 26 years. The problem, almost from the very beginning, has been in making the Internet radio distribution and advertising model work for us as a standalone operation.
"On the upside, I'm very confident in the ability for WOXY.com's programming to really work with a more widely accessible and potentially different distribution medium or as part of a larger media play that can leverage what we're doing. There is a need for what we do, and our rabid community and listeners can attest to that. The bottom line is that we'd love to find a new home for what we do and a buyer or a business partner that can make that happen. No one wants to see this disappear." (1/9/06)

«NPR will create a major digital music service to extend the significant role that public radio stations, networks and producers currently hold in music discovery and create a unified place to showcase all genres on present and future media platforms.

This project is tentatively scheduled to roll out in the first half of 2007. It will address growing audience interest in on-demand and non-traditional settings to find music content, and to maximize the enormous music assets of local and national public radio.

"From the start, music in all forms has been a cornerstone of public radio. NPR, public radio producers and our station colleagues are recognized as important music presenters and curators for the public, wherever they are," said Ken Stern, Executive Vice President, NPR. "While this role began with traditional program broadcasts, we have pioneered innovations - independently and collaboratively - including a modular music production and acquisition program service, NPR Music online, live streaming concerts, podcasts and, most recently, digital radio multicast channels. The digital music discovery arena is a new and barely-explored one, and a logical place for NPR and the public radio system to take a leadership role."»

fonte: NPR, 30/8/06, NPR DEVELOPING DIGITAL MUSIC SERVICE

excerto da carta:

«Broadcasters are concerned with the future and viability of Internet streaming of free over-the-air radio broadcasts. Internet streaming offers listeners an innovative and convenient way of accessing radio broadcasts, and it will be a significant source of entertainment, news, and information for our listeners as we move into the digital age. We are committed to securing the future of this new and growing platform for the distribution of free, locally oriented radio.»

fonte: Radio Ink, «Rehr Writes Senators Regarding Internet Streaming Of Terrestrial Radio», 25/7/06

Agora com a Coca Cola...

«Coca-Cola and Clear Channel Radio have recently announced a partnership that will focus on branded venues and streaming concerts. The action begins in Dallas, where two venues - the Tab Energy Lounge and Full Throttle Garage – have opened their doors. Each location, which accommodates a small crowd, takes its name from a high-energy drink from Coca-Cola. Dallas area Clear Channel Radio stations will offer giveaways to various mini-concerts, and the action will also be streamed on station websites. Similar rollouts are expected in other cities across the United States»

fonte: Digital music News. Coca-Cola, Clear Channel Radio Partner on Streaming Concerts, 25/7/06