Recording Web Radio, TiVo Style
Want to take your favorite radio shows with you on your portable music player? A few new software packages that record Internet radio make that possible. They all aim to be "TiVo for radio," but the comparison is not quite deserved -- none of them is as easy to use as a TiVo.
AP tech writer PETER SVENSSON does some testing on new products.
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, September 29, 2005,
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Internet Surpasses Radio As Preferred Music Medium Among Youth
So tell me why again radio hesitates investing and innovating their websites and breaking down the digital re-broadcasting/streaming rights bottleneck? If you are marketing and targeting, don't you want strong presence where your audience actually consumes?
Hmmm, this just in...
A new study from Yahoo! and OMD Worldwide finds that globally, youths far prefer to get their music fix from the Internet than the radio. The study, entitled "Truly, Madly, Deeply Engaged: Global Youth, Media and Technology," looks at 13-24 year olds in 11 countries and their media habits. The researchers conclude that today's youth expect their media experiences to be highly personalized and tailored to their individual tastes.
The study finds that globally, the Internet has shot past traditional radio as the place to find music, especially outside of the U.S. Among American respondents, 47 percent prefer to hear music online, with 27 percent saying they choose radio. In other countries, roughly 60 percent chose the Internet, with only 20 percent preferring radio. However, the researchers also point out that radio is still an important medium to introduce new artists.
Additionally, music is no longer solely associated with radio or CD buying, with personalized playlists, downloading, podcasting and ringtones becoming commonplace.
"We've moved from broadcasting to podcasting in just a short period of time," says Wenda Harris Millard, Yahoo! Chief Sales Officer. "The My Media Generation increasingly filters the flow of advertising messages -- letting in only those that are relevant, entertaining, or delivering value. While that raises serious challenges for marketers, it also brings the promise of new, more powerful channels for reaching youth and having them willingly and enthusiastically engage with brands."
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, September 28, 2005,
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Broadband Households and Presidential Preference Parallel
Leichtman Research Group, Inc., in their updated report, Broadband, Cable and DBS Across the US 2005, found that at the beginning of 2005 broadband penetration of households in the US stood at close to 29% nationwide. Significant state-by-state disparities in broadband penetration remain, however. While these disparities are largely related to variations in household income across the states, these differences are strikingly similar to the state-by-state splits in the 2004 presidential election.
* Eight states had broadband penetration over 35% - all voted for John Kerry in 2004
* Eleven states had broadband penetration at or below 20% - all voted for George Bush in 2004
* Cumulative broadband penetration in states that voted for Kerry was 33% - compared to 25% in states that voted for Bush
Overall Broadband Penetration
States voting for Kerry in 2004: 33.0%
States voting for Bush in 2004: 25.1%
US Overall: 28.6%
(Sources: Federal Communications Commission and Leichtman Research Group, Inc.)
Meanwhile...
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, two in five U.S. residents have broadband at home (42% as of last month) -- a 16 percent increase from the beginning of this year.
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, September 28, 2005,
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News From The NAB
RAIN, the Radio and Internet Newsletter, covered the NAB 2005 conference in Philly last week, including discussions on WiFI, Netradio and how radio can still capture more listening through smarter Internet strategies.
Joint Communications' John Parikhal was there with a couple of speeches as well as an executive panel looking at the near-horizon; this RAIN article captures the story.
posted by Unknown @ Tuesday, September 27, 2005,
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Study: Metro Papers' Sites Build Following
(contributed by Adweek's IQ Interactive) A new report by Internet media and market research firm Nielsen//NetRatings finds that the country's major metropolitan newspaper Web sites have built up a loyal following in their local markets.
On average, the top local newspaper Web sites reached 19.5 percent of a city's active Internet audience across the top 10 local markets studied during July 2005.
WashingtonPost.com led the way with a 30.1 percent reach of its local Internet users, followed by Boston.com (28.3 percent) and AJC.com (26.4 percent). NYTimes.com and ChicagoTribune.com round out the top five, attracting 21.9 percent and 21 percent of their area's Web users, respectively.
Out of the top 10 local markets studied, Philadelphia was the only exception to the trend of local newspaper dominance.
USAToday.com reaches 9.6 percent of online news readers in Philadelphia, barely edging out Knight Ridder's Philly.com, the Web site for the Inquirer and Daily News, which attracted 9.2 percent of the same audience.
"City newspapers have successfully built an effective online presence as the source for local and national news," Charles Buchwalter, Nielsen//NetRatings' vice president of client analytics, said in a statement. "Newspapers have broadened their reach by growing their audience's news consumption from a print-only readership to an online edition, knowing that Internet-savvy users are sometimes only consuming news online."
Additionally, the study found that NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com and LATimes.com had the greatest national reach out of the No. 1 local market newspapers. NYTimes.com has a national reach of 9.3 percent, followed by WashingtonPost.com's 5.7 percent and LATimes.com's 3.1 percent. USAToday.com reaches 7.1 percent of the national audience.
The study's findings, released Thursday, were derived from the new Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Local service, which combines survey results with actual surfing habits.
posted by Unknown @ Friday, September 23, 2005,
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A Look Back to Last March's CRS Conference For Radio's Future
With this week's NAB conference in Philadelphia discussing "The Future of Radio", a look back at the March 2005 CRS in Nashville is worthwhile to remember for its recommendations (as reported by Billboard's Airplay Monitor):While terrestrial radio is faced with increasing competition from satellite radio and iPods, not to mention DVDs and video games, there are measures that can be taken to stem the tide. That was the message that came out of March's "Country's Crystal Ball: What's Next and What Can You Do About It," a panel at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville.
Moderator and media strategist John Parikhal, Saga Communications' Steve Goldstein, Rainmaker Media's Beau Phillips and Rene Global Associates' Richard Rene, while acknowledging the challenges, agreed that there were steps that could be taken to win the battle for listeners' attention.
Among the good news for country radio that Parikhal offered was that country has a "built-in bounceback," meaning that the children of people that listened to country during its peak in the early '90s are now in their mid- to late-teens. He says that the country music they heard as children will be a preponderate influence on them now.
Parikhal's advice for radio was "more convenience, more contact, more control." He later added a fourth "c": "more context" and used VH1's "Storytellers" and "Behind The Music" as examples.
In the context arena, Parikhal believes that country radio has an advantage because of the close ties between artists and fans and radio.
Parikhal urged radio stations to simplify their Web sites by reducing the clutter and making them user friendly. He pointed to the MTV Web site as an example of a user friendly space and suggested that programmers take a look at their own station Web sites from a listener's perspective.
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, September 22, 2005,
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John Parikhal: Website Is Radio's Best Weapon For Future
During a NAB Radio Show panel entitled "The Future of Radio," all agreed that distribution of product on multiple platforms -- especially the Internet -- is radio's best immediate option to compete in the changing media world. "Radio needs to get into the Internet as deeply and as quickly as possible," said Joint Communications CEO John Parikhal. "Make your station's website a go-to destination. If radio can become a primary website medium along with its already dominant position as an in-car medium, we really have a shot at the future."
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, September 22, 2005,
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Can Bloggers Strike It Rich?
Wired News explores the question and talks with the founders of several top bloggers to discuss $$$ potential to let you decide.
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, September 22, 2005,
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Religion On Demand: "Godcasting"
Church and radio broadcasts have partnered together since the birth of radio more than 80 years ago,.
Just as some Christian organizations embraced radio and television, podcasting has quickly caught on with religious groups. Since the beginning of July, the number of people or groups offering spiritual and religious podcasts listed on Podcast Alley (podcastalley.com) has grown to 474 from 177.
"Basically, every church can have its own radio show," Batterson said.
Podcasting, or "Godcasting" have the potential to bring new parishioners to the church while catering to the congregation that can't attend every Sunday.
Watch for Godcasting to be a hot buzz item for 2006...
Meanwhile, from Podcastingnews.com:
Godcasting: The Podcast's Killer App?
GodcastingPodcasting, using portable MP3 players to time-shift audio broadcasts, is the latest Internet buzzword. There are already hundreds of podcasts, including news programming, political discussions, music and comedy. Based on the number of religious-themed programs being distributed, though, it looks like Godcasting may be the podcast's first killer app.
Podcasting lets users subscribe to an audio program and have it automatically downloaded to an MP3 player. Once it's on your portable audio player, you can listen to it whenever you like. The beauty of podcasting is that it takes care of keeping your MP3 player current automatically.
Though the technology is still very new, it's being embraced by Christians, Buddhists, and Hare Krishna to help distribute religious messages:
* Pitts Baptist Church in Concord, NC, is using podcasts to distribute weekly sermons.
* Hare Krishna in Denton, TX use podcasts to share audio recordings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
* LamRim.com uses them to deliver Tibetan Buddhist Internet Radio.
The technology is a good match for religious content. Many religious groups generate new audio content in the form of sermons, music or services every week. This content is often recorded for sharing with shut-ins, people in hospitals and others that can't attend services.
Podcasting can be used to automate the distribution of religious audio programs.
It's sometimes said that technology adoption is driven by pornography. In this case, it looks like the combination of frequently updated audio content and dedicated listeners is making religious broadcasting one of podcasting's first killer apps.
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, September 22, 2005,
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Men are Media Hogs
Media consumption habits of men and women differ, particularly on the Internet. A report from Forrester Research called "Men are from CNET, Women are from iVillage" identifies the divergence in men and women's behavior online, as well as with other forms of media.
In a typical week, men spend 10.2 hours on a PC, 6.7 of which are spent on the Internet. Women spend a total of 8.5 hours using a computer, 5.3 of those are online. Media consumption across all categories, except reading magazines, is higher among men by an average of seven hours per week.
On the Web, men tend to surf for news, magazines, finance, job and career information. They also visit discussion boards and comparison shop. Online activities for women skew more toward utility; they get movie information, play games, share photos, and use online phone directories.
For the full Forrester Research report, click here: http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,36985,00.html
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, September 22, 2005,
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New Google Search Engine Boosts 'Blogging'
A new Google specialty search engine sifts through the Internet's millions of frequently updated personal journals (just like what you're reading right now), a long-anticipated development expected to help propel "blogging" into the cultural mainstream.
The new tool was unveiled Wednesday at http://blogsearch.google.com...a blog, 'natch.
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, September 14, 2005,
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