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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Mobile Phones Steer Listeners Clear of LA Traffic
Vienna, Va. – June 6, 2005 – KFWB (http://www.kfwb.com), Los Angeles’ station for news, traffic and weather, The Mobile Media Company (www.mobilemedia.com), Westwood One and 3United Mobile Solutions (www.3united.com), today announced the launch of the KFWB Traffic On Demand service that will help listeners dodge the infamous Los Angeles traffic by receiving customized traffic text messages on their cell phones.
KFWB’s Traffic On Demand goes live just as the 2005 Urban Mobility Report (http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/media_information/news_release.stm), published by the Texas Transportation Institute, announced that North America’s traffic troubles are growing worse, costing Americans $63.1 billion a year. “For years, KFWB has been known as the station for ‘Traffic On The Ones’, traffic reports every ten minutes. Now we’re excited to offer up-to-date traffic information whenever someone needs it,” says David Hall Vice President of AM Programming for KFWB.
Available to the majority of Los Angeles mobile phone subscribers, KFWB Traffic On Demand can be easily accessed by sending a chosen route number via text message to telephone number 98011. The traffic status of that highway is then sent via return text message, at a cost of $0.75 per message.
In addition to KFWB’s own traffic reports, further traffic information is supplied by Westwood One with 3United providing the application that enables the information to be used on mobile phones. Mobile Media is providing the connectivity to the mobile network operators and manages the mobile messaging platform.
“KFWB Traffic On Demand requires no initial subscriptions, no up front fees or complicated sign up procedure,” says Steinar Svalesen, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Media North America. “Being so easy to use, we expect to see L.A. drivers use the service on a very regular basis.”
“Experience shows that sending a one word text message to an easy-to-remember short number and receiving an immediate response encourages people to use the service as part of their daily lives,” says Ben Goodspeed, CEO of 3United. “Drivers will come to rely more often on receiving the information they want, when they want it, directly to the palm of their hands.”
"Westwood One is thrilled to be working together with 3United, KFWB and Mobile Media on the launch of this exciting technological innovation in the traffic arena,” says Pat LaPlatney, Executive Vice-President of Westwood One. “We look forward to better serving the listening community in Southern California through the rollout of this outstanding new product."
KFWB is the source for news in Southern California, with “Traffic On The Ones” – traffic updates every ten minutes. Owned by Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, the station recognized a high demand for live traffic news that could be accessed anytime, from anywhere, by their listeners.
“When Southern California listens for Traffic news, they listen to KFWB,” says Hall. “Commuters in L.A. are stuck in traffic 93 hours a year. The beauty of our mobile traffic alert service is that it will actually save people time and money by helping them to avoid hot spots and jams.”
For more information about the KFWB Mobile Traffic Information services, visit www.kfwb.com.
About KFWB
KFWB News 980 is the place for Traffic On The Ones, breaking news, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
About Infinity Broadcasting
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation ("Infinity") is one of the largest radio broadcasting companies in the United States, and is a division of Viacom Corporation. The company, headquartered in New York City, owns approximately 180 radio stations located in 22 states in the nation's largest markets.
About Westwood One
Westwood One (NYSE: WON) provides over 150 news, sports, music, talk, entertainment programs, features, live events and 24/7 Formats. Through its subsidiaries, Metro Networks/Shadow Broadcast Services, Westwood One provides local content to the radio and TV industries including news, sports, weather, traffic, video news services and other information. SmartRoute Systems manages traffic information centers for state and local departments of transportation, and markets traffic and travel content to wireless, Internet, in-vehicle navigation systems and voice portal customers. Westwood One serves more than 5,500 radio stations. Westwood One is managed by Infinity Broadcasting Corporation.
About 3united
3united Mobile Solutions AG is a market leader in premium SMS, m-commerce and mobile content solutions and serves as an international hub for all Central and Eastern Europe in the field of Premium SMS connectivity.
3united currently serves 28 radio stations globally with application & connectivity, with a monthly transaction volume of over $16 mil. from some 400 applications. In addition to radio, 3united has a long list of satisfied mobile network operators, media companies, ticket vendors, brand names, content providers, and retailer customers who have been able to boost mobile data revenues.
3united offers a wide-variety of high-quality, market-proven products. From conception to development to operations at Europe’s most efficient premium SMS computing center, 3united provides customers with comprehensive support to enhance their core business with mobile solutions.
For more information, please visit www.3united.com or mail a.wiesmueller@3united.com.
About Mobile Media
The Mobile Media Company is the leading producer and global distributor of branded, made-for-mobile entertainment, interactive TV formats and mobile marketing concepts. The Company currently engages with an audience of over 500 million mobile throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia Pacific, working in partnership with mobile network and portal operations, media companies and brand managers and agencies. Mobile Media is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices and technology development centres in UK, Romania, Hong Kong, China and the US.
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