Friday, February 4, 2011

Pandora - Number One On Search Engines...

(Weekend Edition)

The best brand in radio today is beyond a doubt - Pandora. They're so big, they're even number one on search engines, Google and Bing. That's what Matthew Lasar in Internet Radio discovered when he did a search of the word "radio." Lasar was doing an experiment following Google's assertion that Microsoft's Bing uses Google's search results. Google says its staff came up with a host of "synthetic queries," such as the nonsense word hiybbprqag, and found that the results were identical on Google and Bing. Lasar came to the conclusion that Bing is using some combination of: Internet Explorer 8, which can send data to Microsoft via its Suggested Sites feature and the Bing toolbar, which can send data via Microsoft's Customer Experience Improvement Program. While I don't care who's copying who, I decided to do the search experiment myself...

After doing a search for "radio" on both Google and Bing, Lasar concluded that he "didn't think Bing is copying Google searches when it comes to the word "radio", suggesting that the enormous popularity of Pandora was at play. What he found was that both Google and Bing searches were topped by Pandora with Live-365, AOL, Wikipedia and Radio-Locator in the mix. Bing also had some radio mentions in their search including radio network locations in his area (San Francisco) and KSFS (San Francisco University). When I did the "radio" search, here's what I found: Google's top 5: Pandora, Wikipedia, AOL Radio, Sirius XM. The Bing search resulted in this top 5: Pandora, AOL Radio, Wikipedia and New York Radio (American Urban Radio Networks, Art Radio International and WNYC Radio)...

Like Lasar, I found local radio properties in my Bing search while Google didn't list any. I also found Sirius XM in Google while Bing didn't come up with the satcaster. I don't know what all of this means but it would be interesting to do your own "radio" search...

10 Timeline Memories:
1.1789] And the winner is: Electors unanimously choose George Washington as the first President of the United States, making his election official (2/4)…
2.1921] The house that Ruth built: The Yankees purchase 20 acres in the Bronx to build Yankee Stadium. The stadium goes up 2 years later in 1923. Eighty-six years later (2009), the new stadium opens (2/5)…
3.1932] Let the games begin: The first Winter Olympics takes place at Lake Placid (NY) (2/4)…
4.1935] Pass ‘Go’ and collect $200: The board game of ‘Monopoly‘ goes on sale for the first time (2/6)…
5.1983] A great voice is stilled: Karen Carpenter passes away from heart failure probably caused by years of suffering from anorexia nervosa. Karen was just 32 (2/4)...
6.1993] The tennis world mourns: Tennis Hall of Famer and human rights advocate Arthur Ashe dies of complications of AIDS, contracted during a blood transfusion. I used to live across the street from Arthur who was just 49 at the time of his death (2/6)…
7.1997] Guilty as charged: A civil jury in California finds O.J. Simpson liable in the deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Goldman’s parents are awarded $8.5 million in damages (2/4)…
8.1999] Amadou disaster: An unarmed Amadou Diallo is cut down in a hail of bullets when four New York City plainclothes police officers thought he was armed. He wasn’t (2/4)…
9.2001] Regis gets ripped: Kelly Ripa is named Regis Philbin’s new co-host. Ripa replaces Kathie Lee Gifford and the show is renamed “Live! with Regis and Kelly (2/5)…
10.2002] Guilty as charged: A federal grand jury indicts John Walker Lindh on 10 charges, alleging that he was trained by Osama bin Laden’s network and conspired with the Taliban to kill American’s (2/5)…

Music Memories:

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday": (2/4) Oscar de la Hoya (38), Clint Black (49), Lawrence Taylor (52), Alice Cooper (63), Dan Quayle (64), Florence LaRue (5th Dimension) (67), David Brenner (75) and Conrad ('Different Strokes') Bain (88)...(2/5) Bobby Brown (42), Roberto Alomar (43), Laura Linney (47), Jennifer Jason Leigh (49), Tim Meadows (50), Barbara Hershey (63), Christopher Guest (63), Al Kooper (67), Roger Staubach (69), Barrett Strong (70), Henry Aaron (77), Andrew M. Greeley (83) and Claude King (88)...(2/6) Ty Warren (30), Rick Astley (45), Axl Rose (49), Natalie Cole (61), Fabian Forte (68), Tom Brokaw (71), Mike Farrell (72), Mamie Van Doren (80), Rip Torn (80), Patrick Macnee (89) and Zsa Zsa Gabor (94)...

Timeline Countdown: Super Bowl XLV will kick off at 6:20pm Sunday, 9 days until pitchers & catchers report, 10 days until Valentines Day & 17 days until Presidents' Day...

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