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Cybertainment: Radio streams flowing online
Sunday, June 15, 2008

The line between online and mainstream broadcast radio gets blurrier every day. In recent weeks, radio giants Clear Channel and CBS have both amped up their online presence with new, easy-to-use ways to connect listeners to their regular broadcasted programming via the Web.

AOL Music and CBS Radio have teamed up for this week's launch of a site that offers streams from 150 CBS stations across the country.

Listeners anywhere can now tune in top stations like KROQ-FM in Los Angeles and WXRK-FM (K-Rock) in New York, including favorite syndicated morning shows, such as Opie and Anthony, Chicago's Steve Dahl, Adam Carolla and more.

CBS's Pittsburgh stations are included in the AOL mix: KDKA-AM, WDSY-FM, WZPT-FM and WBZW-FM, along with two secondary HD channels -- WDSY's new country HD format, which complements its mainstream country format, and WBZW's The Blast, described as "every party song that B94 ever played."

The site also has an "editors' pick" station list and compiles bad lyrics, including the 20 worst of all time, and a worst-of-the-week pick.

music.aol.com/radioguide/bb



An online music portal launched in beta form by Clear Channel is designed to connect both the new breed of online, on-demand music consumer and the traditional radio listener with the music they want to hear.

iHeartMusic features an extensive on-demand library, where listeners can choose and watch videos or listen to streams of songs and entire CDs -- some before they're released. Listeners may be annoyed by the occasional "Music on Demand" voiceover they'll hear while a song is playing, but the interruptions may deter piracy.

The Clear Channel site connects listeners with more than 700 of its stations, including Pittsburgh's WDVE-FM, WXDX-FM, WWSW-FM, WKST-FM, WPGB-FM and WBGG-AM.

iHeartMusic also has a collection of song lyrics for 100 popular artists.

iheartmusic.com



Another new model for music on demand is Lala, which charges a small per-song fee.

It sells what it calls "Web songs": Users pay 10 cents to stream a song or download it for 89 cents. The dime buys unlimited online access to the song. The site's Music Mover tool lets users transfer music from their computer music library to Lala, so that they can access it from anywhere online.

By logging onto Lala and buying Web songs, consumers can build an online collection or, for 79 cents, they can buy an MP3 downloadable version of the song to transfer to a portable player. New members get 50 free Web songs for signing with the service. Visitors can browse the site's library and listen to songs for free.

It has a social networking aspect, too: On the home page, you can see who else is online and what they're listening to.

Lala offers a diverse selection of music and formats, and the song streams load almost instantly.

www.lala.com

Adrian McCoy can be reached at amccoy@post-gazette.com or at 412-263-1865.
First published on June 15, 2008 at 12:00 am
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