Terra Lycos Launches Lycos Talk Radio

Terra Lycos has announced the launch of Lycos Talk Radio (http://talkradio.lycos.com), which the Internet media company hopes will grow into a user-generated interactive talk radio network. Lycos bills the service as the next generation of chat rooms, and is allowing anyone registered with Lycos to set up and host an online talk show.

The Lycos Talk Radio site puts users in charge of radio shows, creating and controlling content, taking calls from listeners, and becoming real talk show hosts.

In addition to allowing for user-generated shows, Lycos is betting on the increased traffic to gravitate toward its pre-programmed talk show lineup.

"Web users love to share their interests online," said Maggie Battista, director of personal publishing, Terra Lycos in a statement. "Lycos Talk Radio now gives Howard Stern and Don Imus wannabees the chance to be discovered as radio celebrities, voicing diverse interests in a unique reality radio setting. The next talk show king or queen may be only a click away."

Wonderhorse (www.wonderhorse.com), a Seattle-based company focusing on powering voice applications over the Web, is launching its technology with this talk show service. The company is using its patent-pending Moderated Interactive Conferencing (MIC) technology, which it says will allow thousands of people to both listen and participate.