• by October 10, 2000

Today, Interep and Katz Radio Group announced their plans to enter into a joint venture with the goal of providing a radio industry-wide Internet-based system for the electronic transfer of radio advertising orders.

As a first step in the process, Katz has agreed to participate in the launch of Interep's RadioExchangeTM technology - enabling Internet-based communication between agencies and national rep firms, and between the national rep and their client radio stations. This technology allows the seamless flow of data, such as avails, orders and invoices, between all parties involved in the radio sales process.

According to Ralph Guild, CEO and Chairman of Interep, "Advertising agencies have expressed their desire to simplify the back office work involved in the radio sales process for many years. After extensive conversations with various levels of agency executives to discover their specific requirements, we were able to develop an Internet-based exchange that answers these needs. The development of such a technology will be instrumental to the continuing growth of radio."

Stu Olds, President of Katz Radio Group, said "Agencies have made it clear that they want an end-to-end solution that allows all industry groups to participate - agencies, stations and reps. By working together, we will expedite the potential benefits of such a system for all parties involved."

Guild and Olds emphasized that agencies' primary requirement in creating an electronic interface was that national reps employ a single, industry-wide operating system. To comply with that goal, Charles Parra, Interep's Chief Information Officer, designed and oversaw the development of RadioExchangeTM with the cooperation of Donovan Data Systems, Strata and Smartplus to assure compatibility with the industry's key software systems. Said Guild, "We agree with the advertising community that we must set the electronic standard for our industry."

Olds added, "While we could have continued to develop our own internal systems to meet this need, we decided that our participation with Interep in RadioExchangeTM would better serve the industry's interests and allow us to develop an end-to-end system much more quickly."

Guild and Olds are currently recruiting for a person to operate RadioExchangeTM. When the joint venture is complete, it will hire its own president and operate as an independent entity. Both firms emphasize that the joint venture applies only to their involvement with RadioExchangeTM, and that the two remain focused on working competitively on behalf of their represented clients.

An Internet-based metamediary such as RadioExchangeTM, referred to as a channel facilitator, will help all parties involved in the media buying and selling process reduce both processing costs and errors to a degree never before possible, the companies say. The face-to-face interaction between radio representatives and agency buyers and planners remains at the center of the