 RAIN 3/29: Stars of web's "Heidi & Frank Show" to appear at RAIN Summit West ·Mar 29, 10:13 AM PIONEERING ONLINE DUO TO JOIN “COMPELLING CONTENT” PANEL IN VEGASRAIN Summit West 2011, which takes place in less than two weeks, will feature Heidi Hamilton and Frank Kramer of “The Heidi and Frank Show.”
Hamilton and Kramer, former Los Angeles morning radio personalities on KABC-FM, launched The Heidi and Frank Show as an online-only program in September 2010. As of January, they had built a subscriber base of over 6,000 customers paying $5 per month (or $50 per year) for on-demand audio and video content — plus a 2-hour live show weekday mornings. RAIN Summits have often featured well-known broadcasters pioneering on the Internet, like Steve Dahl who keynoted RAIN Summit Midwest 2010 (more here). “The Heidi and Frank Show” is also similar to online ventures launched by Adam Carolla and Bubba the Love Sponge. Unlike such nationally-known personalities, however, Hamilton and Kramer’s fanbase was mainly in the L.A. area. But now, the web-based “Heidi and Frank Show” is attracting far more fans than L.A. diehards. Hamilton and Kramer credit “aggressively courting fans via social media“ and “word of mouth” to help them build audience outside of the city and even internationally. Hamilton and Kramer join our “Compelling Content” panel at RAIN Summit West RAIN Summit West 2011 takes place on April 11 in Las Vegas during the NAB Show. Our ninth annual summit, it will feature a packed day of panels, research presentations and speakers — including a special “fireside” keynote with CBS Radio president/CEO Dan Mason. You can find out more about the Summit here and register to attend here. AMAZON LAUNCHES MUSIC LOCKER SERVICEFollowing hot on the heals of now-confirmed rumors (RAIN coverage here), Amazon has launched a cloud-based music locker service. Integrated with the retailer’s AmazonMP3 app for Android devices, users will be able to store and stream up to 5GB of music (up to 20GB if they buy an album from Amazon MP3). You can find plenty more coverage from Billboard here and Engadget here.
This news is particularly interesting because Amazon has essentially beat out Apple and Google in getting a cloud music service to consumers. More on those services here. HD RADIO ALLIANCE LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE HIGHLIGHTING HD OPTIONS FOR CONSUMERSHDRadio.com is a new website from the HD Radio Alliance, aimed at showing consumers the range of HD radio selections in their area. The site shows all the various HD subchannels available in the user’s location and features a “Buyer’s Guide” to easily navigate through HD radio devices. You can find the website here and more coverage from AllAccess here.
COMEDIAN GALLAGHER VISITS “INTO TOMORROW” TECH TALK SHOWDave Graveline, host of the popular radio talk show “Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline,” dropped us an e-mail with some photos of comedian Gallagher visiting the show. Gallagher, who has a degree from the University of South Florida in chemical engineering, talked tech with Dave from the Electronic House eXpo in Orlando, Florida.
Best wishes, by the way, to the comedian, who reportedly suffered a minor heart attack and collapsed while on stage less than three weeks ago in Rochester, MN. Listen to Gallagher on “Into Tomorrow” this week here. share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
alongside Lee Abrams, 
