South African music stepped to the fore as musician Quincy Jones officially launched Qradio.net, his world music, art, and culture Web site, at a New York press conference Wednesday. Qradio.net, as reported in Wired News, is a collaboration between Jones, American Broadband Productions, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), that continent's largest broadcaster.
"Far beyond diamonds and gold, South Africa's greatest hidden resource is its music," said Jones. "It has long been my dream to bring the musical talent and culture of this nation to the rest of the world."
Qradio.net's Radio Now section features live, 24-hour radio programming from the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The real-time feeds of several stations, featuring music, talk show, and news, are available to visitors using Real Audio.
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Music or Infomercial?: The practice of radio DJs being paid by record companies to spin their discs is making a reappearance, but this time there's a twist. Billboard reported that at radio station KUFO in Portland, Oregon, 50 recent plays of a rock band's song were paid for by the band's record company, accompanied by a short acknowledgement that the music was "brought to you by" the record company. That last bit was added to deflect any legal problems.
The KUFO station manager said the new practice was a "more efficient use of money for the record companies." (18.March.98)
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BBC America: The British Broadcasting Corp. and the Discovery Channel appear set to unveil an ambitious trans-Atlantic alliance Thursday that will launch a new TV channel, BBC America, in the United States.
The BBC said Wednesday it would hold a news conference to announce details of a partnership with Discovery Communications Inc., which is owned by Liberty Media Group, Cox Communications Inc., Advance/Newhouse Communications, and Discovery founder John Hendricks.(18.March.98)
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Game Boy to Become Camera: Nintendo of America Inc. announced that it would release its new Game Boy Camera on 1 June. The device is a cartridge featuring a swiveling, big-eye lens that fits into existing Game Boy or Game Boy Pocket units to turn the devices into digital cameras. Nintendo also will release a Game Boy Printer (sold separately) that can be attached to the camera to print photo stickers.
A company spokesman said that the camera will allow users to photograph and insert their own faces in specially designed games. The spokesman also suggested that kids would be interested in producing and collecting stickers of their friends' faces, following a current popular Japanese trend. (18.March.98)
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Gay Serial: Chad's World, an episodic drama about a conflicted teen whose best friend has just committed suicide after telling his parents that he's gay, will launch in May on the Internet.
Executive producer Marc Collins-Rector said the half-hour segments will be sponsored like conventional TV, with 22 minutes of show and eight minutes of ads. But he stressed that only 50,000 Web viewers are required to turn a profit.
"When you consider that there are two million gay young people between the ages of 12 and 19 who spend two hours a day online, that's a big audience to tap," Collins-Rector added. (18.March.98)
