SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Salon.com (Nasdaq: SALN), a leading Internet media company, today announced the launch of "Salon.com Radio," a weekly radio show premiering March 1, 2001. The show will be distributed by Public Radio International (PRI), and carried by more than 100 PRI affiliate stations across the country, with plans to expand to 200 stations by the end of 2001. PRI, a public radio network and audio publisher, distributes a variety of public radio programming, including "PRI's The World," "Marketplace" and "This American Life."
Each week, "Salon.com Radio" will take the wry, opinionated personality of Salon.com to the airwaves. Hosted by Stephan Cox, the one-hour program will feature stories, interviews and commentary on current events, technology, arts and culture, with reporting and interviews by Salon.com's writers and editors. Regular contributors include Garrison Keillor, the well-known host of "A Prairie Home Companion" (produced by Minnesota Public Radio and distributed by PRI) and Salon.com columnist, answering letters from the lovelorn.
Says Michael O'Donnell, CEO and president of Salon.com, "With the launch of our first radio show, Salon is further becoming a cross-platform media company. In addition to our award-winning site and the three books we've published to date, our new radio show extends Salon's brand into the broadcast radio arena and opens up a valuable new revenue stream."
Initial corporate sponsors of the show include Safeweb ( http://www.safeweb.com ) and Mercury ( http://www.mercuryvehicles.com ), which will use the show to help launch its new 2002 Mercury Mountaineer.
"Salon.com Radio" will air in major markets including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia, and in more than 100 other cities. Additionally, Salon.com Radio will be streamed each week in its entirety at Salon's popular Web site, Salon.com ( http://www.salon.com/radio ), and on partner sites across the Web. Downloadable MP3 files of individual stories and interviews will also be available.
Gary Hustwit, Salon's vice president of audio and broadband, will serve as executive producer of "Salon.com Radio." The show will be produced in Salon's new recording studio, located in its New York office. Consulting producers include Susan Burton, formerly with the radio show "This American Life," and Ahri Birnbaum, formerly with "Beyond Computers."
Says Hustwit, "Each day, Salon.com brings an intelligent, thought-provoking and entertaining experience to the Internet, and we look forward to bringing Salon's attitude to an even bigger audience offline in radio. Public radio listeners will be excited by our fresh voices and innovative format."
PRI Vice President of Programming and Acquisition Dale Spear adds, "We are pleased to be in partnership with Salon.com, making this exciting new radio program available nationwide. It's a perfect fit for public radio. Visitors to Salon.com's Web site have the same interests, attitudes and tastes as public radio listeners. We're confident that our listeners who aren't familiar with Salon.com will discover a whole new world of great content, and Salon.com devotees who haven't yet discovered public radio will enjoy
About Salon: Founded in 1995, Salon.com is a leading Internet media company that produces 10 award-winning, original content sites; maintains Salon Shop, an e-commerce gateway; and hosts two communities -- Table Talk and The WELL. In May 2000, Salon acquired MP3Lit.com, the pioneering Web company offering quality spoken-word and audio literature recordings. In October 2000, Salon.com launched SalonAudio, a site offering 24-hour music programming, daily downloads and streaming audio from Salon's favorite columnists, as well as hundreds of downloadable versions of short stories, poems and interviews in MP3 and Real Audio formats. Over 530 companies have advertised on Salon.com, including IBM, Lexus, Microsoft, EDS,Hewlett-Packard, MasterCard, AskJeeves, Virgin Megastore Online, Kimberly Clark and Intel. In December 1999, Salon.com announced a content and equity agreement with Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc., a division of Cablevision Systems Corp. and NBC. Strategic distribution partners include CNN.com, Cnet, TheStreet.com, as well as wireless innovator AvantGo. The site had 2.7 million unique visitors in December 2000.
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