 RAIN 5/6: NPR takes home Webby Awards for best radio, music sites ·May 6, 12:40 PM NPR WINS BIG WITH 7 AWARDS OVERALLThe 2009 Webby Award winners have been announced, with NPR receiving awards for “Best Radio Site” and “Best Music Site.” NPR.org won as “Best Radio Site,” while NPR Music took home the prize for “Best Music Site.” Nominees for the “Best Radio Site” award included America Aboard Media, BBC World Service, BBC Free Thinking 2007 and World on the Move.
NPR also won in the categories of “Best Mobile News,” (for NPR’s iPhone app) and “Best Music Online Video.” It was chosen as “Best Radio Site,” “Best Music Site” and “Best Podcasts” in the People’s Voice section.
LAST.FM ADDS VISUAL RADIO, MULTI-ARTIST STREAMSLast.fm launched a major redesign of their site today, the biggest change being “Visual Radio,” a revamp of the service’s radio service. Previously, Last.fm’s radio would feature basic audio controls along with album art and other meta data. With Visual Radio, the radio player now includes a video box that features photos of the band currently playing, stylishly zooming in or out. Last.fm hopes the visual addition will keep listeners on their page, looking at Last.fm’s ads. “It appears to be a win for both sides,” observes Wired. “Fans get relevant visuals — if they want them — while advertisers get more attention, and therefore pay CBS a higher ad rate.” Other new features from Last.fm include the ability to create multi-artist and multi-tag stations. Read Wired’s coverage here for more on Last.fm’s update. Last.fm is part of CBS’ newly-formed CBS Interactive Music Group, as announced yesterday (RAIN coverage here).
RAMSEY: SIRIUS SHOULD OFFER PANDORA-LIKE CUSTOMIZATION, “FILTER” SUBSCRIPTIONSThough some have said satellite radio is close to being down-and-out, industry analyst Mark Ramsey isn’t giving up on Sirius XM just yet. He says the satellite broadcaster has a lot of advantages, but still needs to change. Ramsey predicts Sirius XM will “Pandora-cize” their content in the next year, “creating the ability to customize familiar satellite radio channels to your own tastes on the equipment you already have [iPhone, Blackberry, etc.] …This will go far in changing the excruciatingly limited borders we place around ‘satellite radio.’ And unlike the Pandoras and Slackers of the world, Sirius XM will be doing this for a market that actually pays premium dollars for this service,” he writes.
This feeds into his idea that Sirius XM should let listeners subscribe to only “filters,” that is, “content from a particular point of view.” Howard Stern, for example, is a filter. “Listeners could theoretically subscribe to Howard Stern directly whether or not they subscribe to the rest of what Sirius offers.” Read more of Ramsey’s suggestions for the future of satellite radio at his Hear 2.0 blog here. SPACIAL AUDIO PARTNERS WITH REGENTSpacial Audio will be supplying stream hosting and ad insertion services to 59 of Regent Communications’ stations. Regent will also use Spacial Audio’s technology to create 6 new online-only radio channels, including country, classic rock and AC formats. For more, head to RBR 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 |
Other winners include Twitter for Webby’s “Breakout of the Year,” Digg for social networking and Trent Reznor as Webby’s “Artist of the Year.” Find a full list of the award winners 
