Truely Amazing! Not Radio At All!
SHOUT! Radio Services, a major sponsor of VilleRadio.com and MafiaConnections.net, were getting ready to announce the release of ACN (All Countryfied Network) and just out of couriosity I decided to listen to local Louisville Radio Stations on the Internet. The major player in the market is WAMZ with their comercial free Country Music Stream.
I was truely amazed at what I found. They have a GREAT website with tons of information and I was mezmerised by the flash presentations. I thought to myself, why in the world would SHOUT even dare to challenge a presence as huge as the Clear Channel owned WAMZ? Are they out of their minds?
In my excitement I decided to have a listen to their stream and clicked on the listen link and actually had all my questions answered at one time. LOL. The first thing I noticed was they only stream at 32kbps, which is very low quality, but allows them more listeners at one time. Ok, I can agree with that philosphy and figured with the low bandwidth stream I would get a worry free listening experience. I turned on their player and my gosh, the buffering was horrible! I thought maybe it was just a busy time of night so I left the site to return after midnight for a final test. Would you believe I got the buffering again at 2:00 AM?
Why would a company the size of Clear Channel allow their network to be aired in such crappy quality? Don’t they know Internet Radio is the wave of the future?
Well, I clicked on the link in the SRS Toolbar for their new CM Station. Streaming in digital quality at 128kbps, it was crystal clear, commercial free and just amazing quality! SRS is still building the station but I gotta tell ya, it is awesome just the way it is.
I contacted the Network Staff at SRS to get a few questions answered. I spoke with KJ who gave me some great insight into what their network is really about. I was Truely Amazed at what he had to say.
FC: KJ, I listen to your various Internet Radio Stations all the time. The quality is excellent and your streams seem flawless. How in the world do you accomplish this when the biggest names in radio have such crummy quality?
KJ: Actually, we aren’t trying to compete with the big guys. The secret behind our quality is the software we use, and trust me, it isn’t flawless. SRS isn’t an actual radio network, we are a software developement company that specializes in digital quality music feeds. The stations we release are actual test efforts and demos for the bigger picture with our company. We are in a second generation release of our automation software and are getting ready to launch a program geared towards competing with Satellite Radio, not Terrestrial Radio. Terrestrial Radio has its own usefulness in the local market place, where our scope is much larger on a International Basis.
FC: So, you guys aren’t trying to compete with local radio stations at all?
KJ: No. We have no desire to compete and sell local advertising on our networks at all. That is not why we developed our Digital Automation Software.
FC: You seem to be tip toeing around the real purpose of your network, are you going to tell us what is in the works or is that a big industry secret?
KJ: I would rather not let the cat totally out of the bag at this point in time but I will be glad to give you a few tid bits to help curve your curiosity. Once this second generation release is complete we will have a business model we can sell to Entreprenures worldwide. With our software they will be able to sell digital music streams to businesses which include custom promotionals for their products and services. We will be the one stop shop for them. We can provide a very easy to use software, their digital servers and all the music they need to make their business successful.
FC: What do you mean by custom promotionals for their products and services?
KJ: We have teamed with 360ImpactBranding to provide custom voice over promotions at extremely affordable prices. Let’s say a restaurant wants to play music for their patrons. Right now they have to pay high prices to the satellite company for commercial free digital streams. With our program we can provide a music stream of Multiple Genres throughout the day and 4-6 times an hour a promotion (guess you could call it a commercial) comes on telling customers about upcoming events, specials, new dishes or whatever they want to promote. All this is customized to their business. All they need is Internet access, a computer or streaming receiver hooked into their streo system and they are in business. We take care of all the rest.
FC: How in the world did you come up with this idea? It is absolutely amazing!
KJ: Actually, I’m the software engineer. The idea was dreamed up by my partner in Louisville, KY, Wes Simkins. He was outside of a Rent to Own store in a shopping center one day listening to music being played on stereo speakers outside of the store. It was a local radio station being played on the stores stereo system for customers to hear. Out of the blue a commercial came on advertising that stores competitor. Wes was wondering why they would play commercials for their competitor and was told by the store manager there was nothing else available except expensive satellite radio and the store just didn’t have the budget for that. Thus the idea was born. It’s also a way to promote unsigned artists by mixing them in with the big names in music. This basically kills two birds with one stone and everybody wins. We have been adapting and improving our program for almost 2 years now so when we launch, everything is as close to perfect as we can get.
FC: So, if I wanted to start my own digital streaming business, what would I do?
KJ: We aren’t quite to the launch stage yet. We still have some logistics to work out. If someone was curious they could contact us via email for now and we will put them on the list. We are trying to figure out exclusive territories giving all of our affiliates reasonable areas for profit.
FC: What will it cost me to get started?
KJ: Again, we aren’t quite to the launch point yet, but I expect there will be an investment of somewhere between the $2,500.00 to $5,000.00 range. Each affilaite will need a sample streaming device which we will provide pre-programmed for them. There are licensing fees with ASCAP, BMI and Sound Exchange that will be included in the initial investment and the software and server leases, which will be covered for a year. That’s about all I can tell you for now until we can get the whole business model completed and approved by our Legal Department. Wes can let you know more in the near future though. Remember though, the affiliate has practically no work to do. We provide the music streams and do all the production work on our end.
FC: WOW, that’s a very low investment range for starting a new business that is service based and profitable almost immediately. I may be very interested in bcoming the first affiliate on your network!
KJ: Contact Wes and he will put you on the list. We would be happy to have you with us!
Well, all this time I thought SRS was starting radio stations and now I know they are simply getting us addicted to a whole new business model. We will have to stay on top of this and keep everyone informed on the progress.
If you are interested in starting your own business just contact stationmgr@villeradio.com and get on the list. Tell them Fred sent you, maybe they will give me a birdog fee. LOL. This could be the opportunity of a lifetime! Hey, I’m already on the list.
