The CBS Interactive Music Group Creates Last.Fm Radio To Be Broadcast As An HD Multicast Station In New York, Los Angeles, Chicago And San Francisco, And Streamed Online

User Driven Station Influenced By The Prominent Music Website Will Debut On Monday, October 5




The CBS Interactive Music Group today announced that Last.fm, a leading music discovery website which connects users with music fans, bands and artists, will launch an all new station to be broadcast on CBS RADIO’s HD multicast stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco and streamed online beginning on Monday, October 5. This marks the first time a music website has been transformed into its own broadcast entity.



The station will feature an eclectic mix of music aggregated and influenced by the service’s user-generated weekly charts, combined with live performances and interviews from the Last.fm studios in New York, and event updates. The new station will expose audiences to underground, breaking and established artists and songs popular with Last.fm’s more than 25 million monthly users.



Listeners will be able to access the station through multiple outlets including Last.fm and select CBS RADIO station websites; CBS RADIO’s streaming platform including its partnerships with AOL Radio and Yahoo! Music Radio, as well as mobile applications on the iPhone, iPod Touch and select Blackberry devices. Music fans with HD Radio receivers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco will also be able to interact with the multicast station broadcast on CBS RADIO’s WWFS-FM (102.7 HD2), KCBS-FM (93.1 HD2), WXRT-FM (93.1 HD3) and KITS-FM (105.3 HD3), respectively.



“Last.fm’s newest initiative is a novel way for the CBS Interactive Music Group to exercise its radio programming knowledge with a fresh and innovative approach,” said David Goodman, President, CBS Interactive Music Group. “Last.fm has a large and loyal following both here and abroad, and we’re thrilled to be taking this step to expose additional listeners to the world class service. Millions of people have helped create one of the best music discovery sites out there, and the information they provide us about their listening preferences will be at the core of everything we do on this new station.



“Additionally, we believe this is exactly the type of programming that will help bring new listeners to the HD multicast frontier.”



The station’s flagship program, “Last.fm Discovers,” hosted by notable radio personality Sat Bisla, will feature music popular on the site and up-close and personal interaction with the artists themselves. Additional elements on the station include programming devoted to Last.fm’s weekly charts (http://www.last.fm/charts) determined by the service’s users - top tracks and artists are based on total weekly play on Last.fm; hyped tracks and artists have shown significant weekly growth in listenership; loved tracks are the songs most “favorited” by listeners in a given week.



Seth Neiman, Digital Content Manager of the CBS Interactive Music Group will direct the programming for this new Last.fm radio station.



About Last.fm

Founded in 2002, Last.fm is a CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) owned free global music platform. Last.fm offers music fans millions of tracks in every genre for free-on-demand and radio streaming thanks to partnerships with Universal, EMI, Sony BMG, CD Baby, independent aggregators The Orchard and IODA, and more than 280,000 independent artists and labels - without needing to register or download software. Last.fm can intelligently recommend its 30 million monthly users new songs, artists, local concerts and even other members based on their musical tastes. Last.fm also supports unsigned artists by offering them an unprecedented Artist Royalty program through which they can earn revenue directly from Last.fm every time their music is streamed. Learn more about Last.fm at http://www.last.fm/.



About the CBS Interactive Music Group

Established in May 2009, the CBS Interactive Music Group combines CBS RADIO’s digital assets, including its websites, over 150 online audio streams, and its various mobile applications, as well as Last.fm, a leading music discovery site, to form a single division which creates richer and more immersive experiences for millions of music fans around the world. The combined assets of the newly formed division reach almost 40 million unique monthly users worldwide.