AOL Adds CBS Online Radio Stations, Refreshes Player

AOL is revamping its popular online radio service Tuesday, adding streams from all 140 CBS-owned radio stations, and upgrading its player to add more functions and expand reach, according to The Associated Press.

Following through on AOL’s announcement back in March, this comes as the company struggles to revamp its online business and make it profitable. It also comes one year after copyright judges sharply increased the royalties that internet radio companies pay to the record labels, the report said.

And AOL’s radio business still wasn’t profitable. “We really needed to figure out a new business strategy in order for us to stay in business,” Lisa Namerow, the general manager of AOL’s online radio unit, said in the report. “We needed to monetize radio better.”

The new player will allow users to skip songs, set presets, and pause the music. And it will also work in Apple’s Safari browser for the first time, meaning that it’s literally a step away from working on the Jesus Phone 3G, which uses the same browser code base.

(Image credit: Clipart.com)

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