Legendary Webcaster Unable to Sustain Life Via Commercials -- Becomes Listener-Supported

In an unprecedented move, mvyradio (www.mvyradio.com) - one of internet radio's pioneers - is following in the footsteps of public radio stations across the US and is changing its business model to become supported by listeners' donations and corporate underwriting instead of relying upon advertiser-driven revenues.

Martha's Vineyard, MA (PRWEB) June 1, 2007 -- In an unprecedented move, mvyradio (www.mvyradio.com) - one of internet radio's pioneers - has discarded its advertiser-driven business model in favor of being supported by listeners' donations and corporate underwriting.

While internet radio continues to grow at an impressive rate, advertising support for the medium hasn't. Given mvyradio's constant audience growth,the associated escalation of bandwidth and music licensing costs made it necessary to make the most of its enduring relationship with the station's listeners and move to a public radio-styled model called "Friends of mvyradio".

Assisting mvyradio in the creation of "Friends of mvyradio" is Public Radio Capital (PRC) (link). "As PRC's first Internet radio-only project, mvyradio and its special focus on diverse music fit perfectly with our goal to provide people nationwide with greater program choices for in-depth information, unbiased news, music, and cultural programming.", said Marc Hand, Managing Director of PRC.

Joe Gallagher, President of mvyradio, confirmed that. "This partnership with Public Radio Capital and the Friends of mvyradio is an exciting step that we hope will form the foundation of a new direction for us as we navigate the new paradigm of the music industry We have listeners all over the world, far more than in our local broadcast area, yet there is not a proven financial model to support the costs of distributing our programming via the internet. The costs involved--between bandwidth and music licensing--are staggering so we have opted to let our listeners get even more involved with mvyradio by supporting it directly, as we continue to seek out sponsorships for our various programming initiatives."

The shift does not affect any of the station's programming nor will it affect the commercially-supported model for the terrestrial version of mvyradio, WMVY-FM. However, it will provide the station the opportunity to play more music on its streams and continue groundbreaking initiatives like "On the Road" where the station has recorded and streamed more than 200 exclusive performances from artists as diverse as Elvis Costello, K.T. Tunstall, Doc Watson and The Meters recorded at different venues across America including SXSW, MerleFest and the Newport Folk Festival.

About mvyradio
Heralded as one of the first Adult Album Alternative (AAA) stations with its beginnings in 1983, mvyradio was among the first to stream its signal via the internet, in 1998. It boasts a worldwide audience that listens more than 400,000 hours a month. The station has been cited in Rolling Stone, TIME and other publications for its independent spirit and is a perennial front-runner for industry "Station of the Year" honors.

http://www.mvyradio.com

Note: The station should be referred to as "mvyradio" (one word, all lowercase).

For further information, contact:
Gary Guthrie, CMO
1904 Dorothy Ave., Ste. 2, Louisville KY 40205
Telephone : 859 215 2728 (w); 502 836 9000 (c)
www.mvyradio.com

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