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Australian radio service Stripe shuts down

Lars Brandle
Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:05pm EDT

BRISBANE, Australia (Billboard) - It's curtains for Stripe, the Australian subscription-based radio service that aimed launched nine months ago by an entertainment entrepreneur who recently did prison time for fraud.

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For a monthly fee of A$7.95 ($6.30), subscribers could tune in to Stripe's 30 channels via their 3G mobile phones and from its Web site www.stripe.com. Plans were to grow its operations to 100 radio stations covering music, news, talk, sport and comedy.

Speaking to Billboard after its launch last October, founder Glenn Wheatley said "Stripe Radio will revolutionize radio in Australia the way FM did in the 1980s."

The start-up did not match its targets and its Website now carries a brief message, "Thank you for your support."

Wheatley, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for tax fraud in 2006, was in the news again when he recently reunited with his long-time client John Farnham to announce the entertainer's national comeback tour later this year.

(Editing by Dean Gooodman at Reuters)
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