The Music Flows on WFLO Internet Radio – IM4Radio.com

www.IM4Radio.com - has set its sites on expanding its listening audience to a national level by targeting and attracting listeners of traditional FM radio with a broader range of music formats in the hope of bringing back ‘real radio’.

The DC Metropolitan based Internet radio station has fit in well with the burgeoning Internet radio sector. IM4Radio.com’s twenty-two DJ’s broadcast R&B, jazz, house, neo-soul, spoken word and ‘conscious hip hop’ twenty-four hours a day and Web radio audiences have responded positively. In just eighteen short months, IM4Radio has earned a loyal audience base and garnered numerous mentions in the local press.

“The mission at IM4Radio is simple,” said Michael Lewis, also known as DJ D. Blackman. “We want to inspire our diverse blend of listeners through the eclectic blend of music that we provide every day, all day for their listening pleasure.” IM4Radio and Lewis in particular offer up music that appeals to audiences looking for something more from radio. Lewis (DJ D. Blackman) taps a mix of smooth jazz and slow R&B music on his Sunday evening show "Love Sessions" (7-10 PM E.S.T.) I have different segments of the show including the "back in the day" segment, when I play songs from the 60's and 70"s (Motown, Do Wop, etc.). Towards the end of the program I have a segment called "In the Bedroom", which I'll play songs that are more suggestive (but not vulgar).

While the Internet radio station goes against the grain of traditional urban FM radio stations that play songs on a cycle, listeners can still hear their favorite new songs, and the songs they grew up on that FM radio has forgotten about. And Internet users are listening. According to Arbitron and Edison Media Research, Internet radio is up from a 5% usage rate in January of 2000 to 17% today. And, more people are trying it today (34%) than they did in 2000 (25%). In terms of Internet-only radio (as opposed to Internet radio and off air radio broadcast on the Internet), the current usage figure is 19% compared to 12% in 2002. The medium is being adopted by younger demos with 43% 18-24 and 36% 25-34.

IM4Radio.com is now actively looking to expand in to additional, national markets and become the spot on the Internet dial that listeners go to for good music. IM4Radio.com listeners average a longer listening time than FM listeners, giving advertisers more exposure. "This is not a hobby that we are into," said Blackman. "The internet can reach millions of listeners and we want to show to potential advertisers that we can be a force.