RAIN 5/23: Clear Channel music portal review; Hanson reprises intern gig for "Big 89 Rewind"
May 23 2008

By Paul Maloney

SIMPLE AND STRAIGHTFORWARD: CC LAUNCHES MUSIC PORTAL ‘IHEARTMUSIC’: Clear Channel beta-launched its new music portal last week, (interestingly) named IHeartMusic.com. It’s in the traditional of large media music portals (think AOL Music or Yahoo!Music), with photos, music news, lyrics, ringtones, and interviews (plus there’s a surprising amount of free “on-demand” music). The site also serves as a gateway to the streams of Clear Channel’s massive roster of broadcast stations, easily searchable by format or market (and there’s lots of links to CC’s eRockster too). Edison Media’s Sean Ross, in “The Infinite Dial,” correctly points out (here), that the simple navigation doesn’t convey significant differences among stations with similar formats (“Right now there’s no additional guidance on which Kiss is which, or whether somebody casually scrolling through the Classic Hits pages might want the older skewing WOKY Milwaukee or its newer leaning and very different sister WRIT.”). But IHeartRadio.com does make it easy to “get to the listening” quickly.

WLS MUSICRADIO 89 TO RETURN ON MEMORIAL DAY: For the second consecutive year, WLS/Chicago PD Kipper McGee is putting together a full-day re-creation of “The Rock of Chicago” (primarily of the John Gehron-as-PD era) on Memorial Day, this year featuring live in-studio airshifts by Chuck Knapp, Larry Lujack & Tommy Edwards, Fred Winston, John Records Landecker, Jeff Davis, and others. Former WLS intern Kurt Hanson will be working a request-line shift. Listen live beginning Monday at 5am on 890AM if you’re in the Midwest or at www.wlsam.com.

PIZZI: CREATIVE, COMPETITIVE RADIO PROS IN BEST POSITION TO BENEFIT IN DIGITAL AGE: Skip Pizzi, in a Radio World Online article titled “Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way,” eloquently explains why the digital future needn’t mean certain demise for radio’s old guard, but rather is an opportunity for experts with “considerable experience and existing infrastructure to develop well-crafted new services that cannot be easily matched by less skilled operators or automated processes.” As technology allows consumers to “program” their own music via playlists, “scrobbling” (Last.fm), and user-feedback shaped programming like Pandora’s, some see human radio programmers becoming redundant. But Pizzi suggests that by combining the effectiveness of new tools with their expertise, broadcast professionals can do an even better job (he makes the parallel with electronic drum machines, which didn’t replace human drummers; it helped drummers do more). Read Pizzi’s article here.

CC SUES TRIBUNE FOR “STEALING” ONLINE TRADE SECRETS WITH EXEC HIRE: Clear Channel is reportedly suing the Tribune Company “for stealing trade secrets” by hiring Andrew Friedman, a former CC interactive media VP, according to Tribune Company’s Chicago Tribune (here). Friedman reportedly “helped (Clear Channel’s) radio stations develop their Web sites and other online offerings.” Court papers say Friedman allegedly shared info with Tribune employees regarding business strategies and vendors, which included alleged transcripts of e-mails. Clear Channel also claims Friedman deleted thousands of files from his computer. A Tribune Company spokesman called the suit “frivolous.”

RAMSEY: HD RADIO ISN’T YET AN “EXPERIENCE”: For Mark Ramsey, HD radio needs to get its act together — literally. In an entry to his Hear 2.0 blog, he brings up comparisons (here) to cable television, where equipment, installation, and content are expected to come in one package. If HD radio would adopt this all-in-one strategy, together with offers for free initial service, consumers would be more encouraged to try the service. Ramsey believes this would tackle one of HD radio’s biggest problems, that “to appreciate why you should be a subscriber you have to be one first.”

ZIMBABWE ARTISTS LOOK TO INTERNET RADIO TO ESCAPE CENSORSHIP: After being told her music was “too political and negative” of her native Zimbabwe’s current government to be played on traditional radio, UK’s Viomak decided to turn to Internet radio. She launched Voto Radio Station – Zimbabwe Protest Art on 18 April (Zimbabwe’s Independence Day), and hopes it becomes not only a haven for fellow Zimbabwean protest artists but a source of education for her people. “Instead of protest artists crying foul over the banning of their music and other protest art, they should uncensor themselves by coming up with ways of making themselves heard.”