Did I say "Monster News"?  What I meant to say was "two dinosaurs engage in coitus, give birth to slower, retarded dinosaur".  In what is being called a "ground breaking new partnership", CBS Radio and AOL have announced that CBS will power AOL's online radio stations beginning sometime later this year.  The deal combines two of the largest online radio stations in the world and is most likely a direct result of the recent reports that radio revenue was down in the fourth quarter.  This strategic partnership is said to be expected to have a positive impact on future ad revenue.

The move is very intelligent for CBS, which has a large network of terrestrial radio stations, and can only benefit from getting them exposure online, while at the same time increasing their attractiveness to potential advertisers.

"CBS Radio continues to invest in high-growth areas including internet streaming,” said Dan Mason, CBS Radio President/CEO. "We have been very clear about our goals in this area and teaming with AOL is a tremendous step forward in that regard. Couple that with years of progress building out our own streaming operations, and CBS Radio is instantly positioned as the leader in the online radio space. A combined CBS Radio/AOL Radio affords us vastly greater scale, as well as massive distribution for our brands. We look forward to all that we will now be able to offer our audiences and advertisers alike.”

Now I for one am interested to see how this plays out.  CBS has tried just about everything to inject life into their radio stations and AOL is only used by white people over 40 who don't realize that they can access their email from mail.aol.com (Mom, Dad....).

For the BBC's idea of what this merger will look like, please go to http://youtube.com/watch?v=I7SLMDlB6x0&feature=related