MUMBAI: Viacom's radio initiative Infinity Broadcasting has announced it would make available streaming audio of 11 of its leading news and news-talk stations from 14 March onwards.
 

The all-news stations to be streamed include 1010 WINS (New York), KFWB-AM (Los Angeles), KNX-AM (Los Angeles), WBBM-AM (Chicago), KCBS-AM (San Francisco) KYW-AM (Philadelphia), WBZ-AM (Boston), and WWJ-AM (Detroit). Legendary news-talk stations KMOX-AM (St. Louis), KDKA-AM (Pittsburgh) and KRLD-AM (Dallas) will also be available via their station websites. Infinity's other all-news station, WCBS-AM, was previously launched online last December, says an official release.
 
 

Making the announcement, Infinity chairman & CEO Joel Hollander said, "The millions of people who tune in to our radio stations are increasingly looking for alternative ways to receive the information vital to their everyday lives. And as more and more listening is being done away from home and the car, we must extend our stations beyond their dial positions to meet the needs of the consumer. We believe streaming our stations online will not only exceed their expectations, but will also create an outlet with which we can target a larger audience and increase time spent listening."

A survey conducted by Arbitron Inc. and Edison Media Research says Internet radio currently attracts 19 million U.S. listeners each week. This was 11 million in 2001.

News Corp has been seriously looking at the convergence possibilities of Internet in the recent times. Though its Internet operations had received a setback in the 1990s, the company is now finding the time far more appropriate to explore the Web. The new development follows a top-level meeting News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch convened last Wednesday in New York to plan an Internet strategy for the global media company.