“OFF AIR” REVENUES CUSHION RADIO’S FALL: The ray of light in yesterday’s RAB revenue report was “Off-Air” earnings, such as those generated by websites and streaming. The RAB yesterday released full-year 2007 and Q4 2007 revenues for radio, and to no one’s surprise, the overall story wasn’t a happy one. But Off-Air (formerly known as “Non-Spot”) earnings showed double-digit growth, up 10% (to $1.7 billion) for the year and 12% in 4th Quarter, now accounting for 8% of radio’s revenue. Inside Radio reports that a potential “focus-shift” towards non-traditional revenue as a result of this growth has some worried. “That’s fueled a debate over whether radio is spending too much time focusing on too small a piece of radio’s revenues,” writes Inside Radio. “Some say recent conventions feel more like technology meetings than radio conferences. How much is too much online?”

RAIN ANALYSIS: Really? REALLY?

Read the RAB revenue report here.

HD-2 ADS MIGHT REALLY BE WEBCAST ADS: Are ads on HD-2 stations actually reaching mostly webcast listeners? Mark Ramsey wonders, “since so many HD-2 stations — especially Clear Channel’s — are also web streams, it really raises the question of what’s actually being sold: The HD-2 channel on the radios which folks don’t own or the HD-2 stream on the Internet which actually draws an audience.” Ramsey points to Z100’s HD-2 channel, which is easily accessible as a stream on the Z100 website, “meaning that what advertisers for Z’s HD-2 channel are really buying is web traffic — which undoubtably dwarfs any ‘radio’ traffic for Z’s HD-2 version.” Read Ramsey’s Hear 2.0 blog here.

CLASSICAL MOVING ONLINE AT CBC: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio 2 will soon be shifting classical music from the airwaves to a new Internet stream. The CBC revealed plans to decrease the amount of classical music it plays on the air during “drive time.” Instead, those dayparts will feature more pop music. In September, Radio 2 will reportedly launch three new music Internet channels, one of which is an “all-Classical, all-day” format (The other two are Jazz and Singer-Songwriter stations.). This is in addition to CBC’s Radio 3 “new music” Internet- and satellite-based service. More details in The Globe and Mail here.

LET LAST.FM MAKE YOU SXSW SCHEDULE: Austin’s South By Southwest music showcase (beginning a week from today) boasts over 1500 bands over a four day period. How’s a music fan to pick what new bands to see? Eliot van Buskirk in his Listening Post blog for Wired.com reports (here) Last.fm users can use the service’s “scrobbling” feature to work out an appropriate schedule. In much the same way Last.fm analyzes the music on a listener’s computer to decide what to stream, it’ll make recommendations of bands to see at SXSW. Check it out here.

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