Here are links to all five parts of last week's RAIN series, "Internet radio's next frontier: Real, significant ad schedules!" Monday: Millions of listeners, but no advertisers Tuesday: Why Internet radio isn't selling ad schedules Wednesday: How big is the medium? (Audience size estimates) Thursday: The idea: One advertiser buys ENTIRE MEDIUM! Friday: Proposed game plan We continue to get good feedback on the idea, and ideas are starting to come in for a clever and catchy name for the initiative (please see reader feedback below). We're working the phones on this project today and hope to have a progress report for you in a couple of days.. Meanwhile, here's a likely prospect for a industry-wide spot schedule on Internet radio: SoBe Beverages! They're a cutting-edge product, they're a radio advertiser, and they've got a great website that I assume they'd like prospects to visit. They even archive their radio spots on their website (here)! Want to discuss this project in more detail? Write feedback@kurthanson.com. Thanks!

BY PAUL MALONEY
A flap about a Congressman's possibly improperly-funded trip is raising its head again as groups of webcasters publicly take stands on the issue.

Las Vegas-based Webcaster Alliance, which last week threatened the recording industry with an antitrust suit unless they reopen webcasting royalty negotiations, is now aiming at House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) (pictured right).

The group, which represents small webcasters unhappy with the terms of the negotiated Small Webcasters Settlement Act of 2002, has joined the efforts of the Congressional Accountability Project (CAP) in calling for an ethics investigation to look into an overseas trip taken by Sensenbrenner funded by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). (A May AP story on the matter is here). Another group, called Boycott-RIAA, is also backing CAP's efforts.

Sensenbrenner, his wife, and an aide traveled to Thailand and Taiwan at the behest of the RIAA to pressure the governments of those countries to enforce US intellectual property laws.

But Congressional rules forbid House members and staff from accepting expenses "from a private source for travel the primary purpose of which is to conduct official business." CAP contends the trip may be in violation of this rule.

At the time, Sensenbrenner said he could have paid for the trip with Committee funds, but hoped to save taxpayers some money.

The Digital Media Association (DiMA), which represents the largest and most high-profile webcasters, however, is publicly supporting the Congressman for his efforts in webcasting legislation.

"Throughout his chairmanship, and in the midst of leading the Congress on critical and complex legislation related to terrorism and national security, Chairman Sensenbrenner has been fair to all interests, and been open-minded and gracious toward digital media companies, webcasters and DiMA," wrote DiMA executive director Jon Potter (pictured right) in a letter published by industry news source Mi2N (here). "Plaudits and appreciation are in order from our industry, not spurious accusations."

From today's New York Times: "Is the Wi-Fi boom about to bust? Even though that has lately become the fashionable view, the answer is probably no.

"Critics argue that there are too many competitors trying to deliver high-speed wireless connections to the Internet. Prices for most commercial Wi-Fi services are too high, they say, and free or subsidized operations abound, including those like the one McDonald's started rolling out last week at its fast food restaurants in San Francisco...

"The Intel Corporation in particular is betting a lot of money on Wi-Fi. And that may be exactly what the new technology needs to succeed...

"The industry and analysts have focused their attention on the current frenzy to build wireless Internet locations, known as hot spots, at airports, coffeehouses and hotels. But Intel has a much bolder wireless plan: it wants to close the so-called last-mile gap between homes and the Internet backbone with cheap, super-fast connections so that businesses can deliver interactive entertainment and a host of other digital products and services right into America's living rooms and dens...

"The data rate is high enough to comfortably stream high-definition television video broadcasts, and the range makes it possible to quickly deploy a system in a large urban or suburban area."

Read this entire article in today's New York Times, or online here.




From USA Today: "As big players such as McDonald's bring wireless Internet to the masses, smaller companies are taking Wi-Fi technology to quirky spots.

"Take the Truck Pride Travel Center in Chicopee, Mass., where truckers check e-mail from their rigs. Or the Club One gym in Pittsburgh, where fitness buffs log on after workouts. All they need is a laptop set up for Wi-Fi (most new laptops are) and a credit card to pay fees of about $5 an hour.

"Wi-Fi, which sends Web pages through the air as radio waves, works well in any spot people spend a lot of time sitting around, entrepreneurs say. They're setting up Wi-Fi service in:

"•RV parks. At the Austin Lone Star RV Resort in Texas, campers can surf the Net for $3 an hour, or $45 a month...

"•Marinas and beaches. Sunbathers at Newport Beach, Calif., can surf the Web before they surf the waves, thanks to start-up Beach Wireless...

"•Laundromats. Customers of Bar of Soap in Dallas can check e-mail while waiting for their clothes...

"Big players are pushing Wi-Fi, too. McDonald's, one of the latest, plans to equip several hundred stores in the New York, San Francisco and Chicago areas with Wi-Fi by year's end. Bookseller Barnes & Noble will start testing Wi-Fi in 24 stores in Seattle and Atlanta next month, with plans for a nationwide rollout next year...

"More than 53,000 Wi-Fi networks will blanket the USA by 2008, researcher Gartner says."

Read this story in Friday's issue of USA Today, or online here.




From InternetNews.com: "Emerging technology researchers say Ultrawideband (UWB) will eventually beat out the current Wi-Fi wireless networking standard...

"If those bold predictions from the Mountain View, Calif.-based WTRS ( West Technology Research Solutions) come true, then they promise that standards battles for wireless networking will continue into the next decade...

"UWB works in what is sometimes called the 'garage door spectrum,' the unlicensed frequency of the spectrum commonly used for garage door openers, portable telephones and baby monitors. But its high speed data transit capabilities of 40 to 60 megabits per second, in some cases nearly ten times as fast as Wi-Fi, low power requirements, its ability to penetrate walls, and use of GPRS information make UWB an attractive option for all kinds of handy machine-to-machine communications...

"UWB's impact could be just as dramatic on technologies used in personal area networks and, eventually, even the CDMA cellular networking standard that is deployed by many U.S. cellular carriers, the report continued."

Read this entire article in InternetNews.com here.

...

... The first two of these three stories sound like great news. A wireless solution to the "last-mile" would bring an explosion of use of Internet radio in the home (where now, it's predominantly a workplace phenomenon). Places like beaches, RV parks, and laundromats would also seem to be ideal spots for the wireless consumption of online media (like Internet radio). It seems logical that if someone is using wireless Internet at the beach or laundromat, it's more likely they're listening to the radio than uploading sales projections. The final story, however, indicates a few clouds on the horizon. But it's not because UWB may replace Wi-Fi... but, as the article states, an emerging technology may prolong the wait for an established technology standard (which all but the most forward-thinking providers may do). -- PM ...

Last week in a special five-part series (see links at the top of today's issue), we proposed what we think is a revolutionary tactic to kickstart ad sales for the Internet radio industry:

Let's put together a national road show, visiting top national and network radio advertisers and agencies, pitching them on the concept of one advertiser buying THE ENTIRE MEDIUM of Internet radio!

But an initiative as "sexy" and "high-concept" as this needs a good, catchy name, right? Our first thoughts, "BEM: Buy the Entire Medium" and "MIRAC: Massive Internet Radio Ad Campaign" somehow miss the mark. So here was the idea: A free 10 Gb iPod (pictured) for the clever RAIN reader who comes up with the best name.

Here are a few submissions already. When your gears begin to turn, please submit your ideas to feedback@kurthanson.com, or simply use the feedback form on this page. Thanks!

"When their results are huge..."

Kurt and Paul,

It would be great if you only pitched the idea to relatively unknown companies, then when their results are huge (as we know they will be), it makes it even more impressive. Just like the empires of Oreck Vaccuums and Motel 6 grew when they did exclusive radio-only campaigns years ago.

Anyway, here are catchy name ideas for your iPod competition:

1. O-AIR (One ad -- All Internet Radio)
2. BIRD (Build Internet Radio Directly)
3. HIP (Huge Internet Purchase)