Cingular Launches Rowdy: Racing 'Radio' on Your Cingular Phone

On-demand, interactive show delivers daily news, interviews, and insight from the world of stock car racing.

ATLANTA, May 2 -- Cingular Wireless today announced the launch of Rowdy(TM), a unique on-demand audio entertainment service that delivers news, interviews, and unique insight from the world of stock car racing directly to the wireless handset. Cingular, the nation's largest wireless carrier and primary sponsor of the No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet driven by Jeff Burton, will bring race fans fresh Rowdy content seven days a week.

With the feel of a radio show and many of the features of a podcast, Rowdy gives fans easy and immediate access to their favorite sport and offers insight from experts like former driver Rick Mast, former crew chief Barry Dodson, and award-winning reporters Mark Garrow and David Poole. To connect to Rowdy, priced at $4.99 per month, customers call Cingular's VoiceInfo service, powered by Tellme, by simply dialing *8 on their Cingular phone and then saying "Rowdy."

Rowdy delivers information-rich racing content in an informal, fan-centric format developed after extensive testing with race fans. The show is updated daily, with a five-to-six minute newscast followed by other racing features, such as driver interviews, expert commentary, racing trivia, statistics, and stories from the old days. Subscribers also become part of the broadcast team by leaving their comments to be aired on later shows.

While it feels a lot like radio, Rowdy has some important differences. The program is available on-demand to listeners, at the time and place of their choosing. And Rowdy is navigable: users have the option of skipping forward and backwards, as well as hearing older shows they may have missed or want to hear again. Rowdy also works on any handset, allowing Cingular customers to sign up, without changing phones or plans. As part of the service, subscribers also get a free Rowdy text alert, telling them what is on the show for the day.

Rowdy is yet another example of exclusive motorsports content that Cingular offers its customers. Earlier this year, Cingular launched its MEdia Net Racing Portal, a wireless hub for in-depth information, including top stories from around motorsports, pre- and post- race reports, real-time statistical information on in-race leaderboards and individual driver news. The Racing Portal also features exclusive video packages provided by Burton and members of the TEAM Cingular crew that are delivered through its Cingular Video service.

"This is a unique way for us to provide our customers even greater access to the motorsports world through exclusive content offerings," said Tim McGhee, director of sponsorships at Cingular. "Rowdy is the latest way for Cingular to bring fans closers to the action."

Rowdy is created in partnership with Labrador Communications, Inc., which conceived of the program and produces the daily show. The show is hosted by Reginald "Buck" Fever and Leonard "Bass" Masters, two die-hard race fans with a sense of humor and a deep knowledge of the racing world. Delivering the news from a fan's point of view, Buck and Bass turn to tried and true experts, like Mast, Dodson, Poole, and Garrow, for insight, commentary, and answers to questions any fan would have.

"The phone is really an informal medium," says Randy Castleman, Labrador's CEO, "and in our testing we found fans really enjoyed getting tons of informative content delivered with a healthy sense of fun. One of the things we heard over and over from users was they loved knowing more than their friends about what was going on in the sport. Rowdy really gets into the details."

About Cingular Wireless

Cingular Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, serving 55.8 million customers. Cingular, a joint venture between AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corporation , has the largest digital voice and data network in the nation -- the ALLOVER(TM) network -- and the largest mobile-to-mobile community of any national wireless carrier. Cingular is a leader in third generation wireless technology. Its 3G network is the first widely available service in the world to use HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) technology. Cingular is the only U.S. wireless carrier to offer Rollover(R), the wireless plan that lets customers keep their unused monthly minutes. Details of the company are available at http://www.cingular.com/. Get Cingular Wireless press releases emailed to you automatically. Sign up at http://cingular.mediaroom.com/.

About Labrador

Based in Charlottesville, Va., Labrador Communications is a pioneer in the development of audio, on-demand entertainment for wireless devices. Instead of technology-centric development, Labrador focuses on user-centered entertainment and information services that are not handset or carrier dependent.

About Tellme Networks, Inc.

Tellme operates the world's largest Internet application network for the phone, handling billions of calls per year and used by more than 30 million people every month. Some of the applications running on Tellme's network include customer service for Merrill Lynch, E*TRADE and American Airlines, directory assistance for Cingular and Verizon and e-commerce services for Amazon.com and Fandango. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., Tellme is pioneering a new era in Internet communications by simplifying how people use the phone to find people, businesses and information.