From the Seattle Times

Headline: "KEXP says it will be the first U.S. broadcaster to stream to phones"

From the Seattle Times: "Seattle is becoming a music capital again, a decade after the city's 'grunge'-rock movement faded.

Only this time, instead of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, a small, Internet-savvy public-radio station is leading the way.

"Seattle's 720-watt KEXP, partly funded by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, last month became the first station in the U.S. to offer a 'podcast' of full-length songs from albums for Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod music players...

"In the next few weeks, KEXP says it will become the first to make its live radio broadcasts suitable for cellphones and handheld organizers.

"The nonprofit station is building an international profile by adapting to the Web faster than commercial rivals such as San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications Inc., whose stations typically broadcast on signals of tens of thousands of watts...

"KEXP has focused on gaining new listeners through the Internet since 1999, when it began live Web broadcasting.

As many as 60,000 people listen through KEXP's Web site at least once a week, in addition to 100,000 terrestrial listeners, says Tom Mara, 41, the station's director... The number of people who tune in to Internet radio weekly has quadrupled since January 2000 to 8% of all Americans, or more than 20 million, according to Arbitron Inc. That compares with just over 6 million subscribers to satellite radio."

Read this Bloomberg News story in the Seattle Times online here.

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KEXP so far hasn't specified exactly how they plan to stream to portable devices

(that is, the technology they plan to use, whether it will be via a partnership with a wireless carrier, etc.). And while it might be that KEXP has some novel, new, innovative way to deliver their programming to mobile devices -- the fact is that lots of radio is already available on wireless devices.

We've been testing some of our AccuRadio streams for PalmOS and Pocket PCs (here). Radioio is also working on delivering streams to "smart phones" and PocketPCs.
Meanwhile, mobile entertainment company MSpot has launched two wireless Internet radio services. AOL says (here) that it will soon put its collection of more than 200 Internet radio stations onto phones. And Motorola's iRadio system, while not true wireless streaming, will record up to 6 Internet radio channels and "beam" the content to your specially-adapted car stereo.

Even if the field is narrowed to terrestrial broadcasters, we think the UK's Virgin Radio was the world's first "radio to mobile phone" streamer, as their programming is now available via 3G. Moreover, terrestrial radio station streams available on the Shoutcast and Live365 networks can be acccessed with wireless-enabled devices with MP3 software.

Nonetheless, kudos to KEXP for their savvy and aggressiveness (and for getting the press on it!). We're looking forward to the roll-out.


	There's huge, and growing, demand among consumers for Internet radio (at least during the 9AM-5PM workday), as shown by the rapid growth of our AccuRadio project. AccuRadio features a variety of popular music formats that you simply can't find on the broadcast dial: Swingin' Pop Standards, Brit Rock, Piano Jazz, Broadway and more at www.AccuRadio.com.

"Very happy customer who can listen to Internet radio in his car..."

Hey guys. I haven't seen much about the new Treo 650, but it's a giant leap in streaming audio. With unlimited broadband access for about $40 per month, listening to streams (up to 64k with no problems) is more portable and inexpensive as it's ever been.

No, I don't sell them -- just a very happy customer who can now listen to Internet radio in his car, and loving it.

Ken Moultrie