Rick Dees to sell ringtones via PlayPhone
Radio entertainer Rick Dees' Web site at www.rick.com has partnered with mobile media content provider PlayPhone Inc. for the rick.com ringtone store.
The ringtone store will feature Mr. Dees' ringtones, wallpapers and videos. In addition to these offerings, there will be content created from Dees' entertainment library.
"PlayPhone partners with exciting brands for exclusive arrangements to reach out to new customers," said Craig Miller, director of business development at PlayPhone, San Jose, CA. "In mobile it's all about discovery and getting people with an impulse to download."
Listeners of the "Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown" will be able to download ringtones of all the hits featured each week in the radio show directly to their mobile phones.
Ringtones will also be available at mobile destination partner sites powered by PlayPhone such as Wal-Mart Mobile, RealArcade Mobile and ABC Mobile.
All the hits from the Countdown, new "Deestones" and sports, stars, politicians and "The Crazy Celebrity of the Week" will be available on the mobile phone.
Users can text the keyword RD to 77888 for a selection of ringtones from all the hits featured on the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown.
The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown is the world's longest running syndicated countdown, reaching millions of listeners nationwide and overseas. Streams online at rick.com broaden the audience.
Mr. Dees is a co-founder of the Fine Living Network, a Scripps Network lifestyle media channel. He also hosts a morning radio show on Emmis Broadcasting's MOVIN' 93.9 fm in Los Angeles from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. daily.
"We are growing the overall audience for mobile content, appealing to people where they are familiar getting their entertainment," Mr. Miller said.