CEO
Streamline Publishing, Inc.
As a youth in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Eric Rhoads (b. 1954) had many of the typical entrepreneurial experiences, starting with polishing shoes and selling lemonade. When he discovered the radio industry, he became an on-air personality at the age of 14, and worked on the air in several cities. At age 17, he was considered the youngest full-time major-market air personality in America. Later, he transitioned into radio programming, and his successful ratings led him to consult 25 radio stations simultaneously. By age 24, Rhoads had founded Equivox Broadcasting, which owned radio stations in New Orleans, Salt Lake City, and Provo, UT. He sold the stations in 1986, when he founded Streamline Communications, Inc., which created and sold radio industry promotional products.
In 1987, Eric Rhoads purchased a floundering radio trade magazine and founded Streamline Publishing, Inc., which launched a number of printed publications, many of them still in print: The Pulse of Radio, Radio Ink, e-Radio, Streaming Magazine, Digital Media Magazine, Plein Air Magazine, Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine,and Artist Advocate Magazine. In 1991, Rhoads founded Streamline Press, which publishes industry books, including Blast From the Past: A Pictorial History of Radio’s First 75 Years. He also authored a portion of Radio: The Forgotten Medium, originally published by Columbia University’s Media Studies Journal. Today, Streamline has expanded many of its print magazine titles to include companion websites.
In 1999, Streamline founded a conference division with the launch of the Radio Ink Internet Conference. Today, the company produces the Radio Ink Forecast Conference, the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference, the Radio Ink ConVergence Conference, the Radio Ink Radio Tech Summit, and the Fine Art Connoisseur Art Collection Management Conference. Rhoads was also a founding investor in SupeRadio Networks, Inc.
Rhoads had a vision for a network of custom Internet radio stations designed for consumer brands and, in 1999, with $18 million in venture capital, he founded Radio Central Networks, Inc. The technology company developed several patents to improve the quality of Internet audio and integrate meta-data air talent with musical streams. Creating over 50 radio formats and custom radio for Earthlink, About.com, A&E Television, and others; it placed in the top two of all of Internet audio listening worldwide at the time.
Rhoads writes regular columns for his publications and is an active blogger in the radio and art industries, including Radio Ink Tank, Artist Marketing, and Blue Chip Gallery Marketing. He is an active speaker, consultant, and advocate in the radio, art, and technology industries, and he sits on a number of advisory boards.
At age 40, Rhoads took his first art lesson, which has resulted in a lifelong learning experience in oil painting, focusing on landscapes and portraits. His work is represented by Lee Youngman Gallery in Calistoga, CA, and he is listed in Who’s Who in American Art.
Rhoads may also be the most painted man living today: With each issue of Fine Art Connoisseur,Rhoads commissions a new portrait by a leading portrait artist and then blogs about the experiences on The Portrait Project.
Rhoads and his wife Laurie are the parents of triplets; they live in Austin, TX.
Read all Eric’s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Ink Tank with B. Eric Rhoads.
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