New Radio Show - seeks friends
May 31, 2011 12:50 PM Subscribe
How do you discover cool new radio online?
After a decade long absence, I'm back hosting/producing/programming/organizing a weekly campus/community radio program (music based, eclectic in nature, ABBA-to-ZAPPA in its small "c" catholic inclusiveness). After a couple of months of mucking around, I'm pretty pleased with what I'm doing (and posting podcasts to prove it), and am now wondering how best to engage with the world-wide-interWEBS to get the word out.
Yeah, I'm connecting with my own personal network via various email alerts etc ... but I'm now imagining something a little more ambitious. Is this the moment that I should finally bite the bullet, plug my nose and commit to Facebook? What about MySpace? What about my own mp3 blog? What about ... something else?
How do you (potentially a lover of exactly the kind of radio I'm programming) discover cool new stuff? How might my programming penetrate your filters?
After a decade long absence, I'm back hosting/producing/programming/organizing a weekly campus/community radio program (music based, eclectic in nature, ABBA-to-ZAPPA in its small "c" catholic inclusiveness). After a couple of months of mucking around, I'm pretty pleased with what I'm doing (and posting podcasts to prove it), and am now wondering how best to engage with the world-wide-interWEBS to get the word out.
Yeah, I'm connecting with my own personal network via various email alerts etc ... but I'm now imagining something a little more ambitious. Is this the moment that I should finally bite the bullet, plug my nose and commit to Facebook? What about MySpace? What about my own mp3 blog? What about ... something else?
How do you (potentially a lover of exactly the kind of radio I'm programming) discover cool new stuff? How might my programming penetrate your filters?
If jander03's comment weren't already here, I might have held my tongue for fear of sounding like an old 20th century luddite - but I completely agree with him. It would be really hard to get me to listen to a radio station that I couldn't tune in to on a real radio dial.
I do have a couple of friends who have radio shows I can only listen to online (one in another state and one whose show is on an online-only station) - but the only reason I listen to their shows/stations is because I know them and they post relentless updates on Facebook/Gmail statuses when their night is coming up. (And it's not that I don't like the music they play enough - these are people who've both had a huge influence on my taste!)
The mp3 blog is the only thing that might attract me, but only if it were a compelling blog in its own right, not just a rehashing of last night's show or whatever. It would have to be good
To sum it up: If I were in your shoes, I'd focus most of my energy on building up a local audience (the little grocery store I used to work at almost always had the local college station playing, and sometimes we'd call them up to say hi, and then the DJ would stop by the store on his way home - isn't stuff like that happening the whole point of community radio stations? Well, that and the Emergency Broadcast System...) Then I'd take whatever energy I had left and put it into making a blog aimed at the world beyond the local community (maybe).
A Facebook page for your show could be useful, but probably mainly for communicating with whatever local audience you end up building (especially if you plug it a lot on the air). It probably won't get attention from many people outside of your community.
posted by bubukaba at 4:20 PM on May 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
I do have a couple of friends who have radio shows I can only listen to online (one in another state and one whose show is on an online-only station) - but the only reason I listen to their shows/stations is because I know them and they post relentless updates on Facebook/Gmail statuses when their night is coming up. (And it's not that I don't like the music they play enough - these are people who've both had a huge influence on my taste!)
The mp3 blog is the only thing that might attract me, but only if it were a compelling blog in its own right, not just a rehashing of last night's show or whatever. It would have to be good
To sum it up: If I were in your shoes, I'd focus most of my energy on building up a local audience (the little grocery store I used to work at almost always had the local college station playing, and sometimes we'd call them up to say hi, and then the DJ would stop by the store on his way home - isn't stuff like that happening the whole point of community radio stations? Well, that and the Emergency Broadcast System...) Then I'd take whatever energy I had left and put it into making a blog aimed at the world beyond the local community (maybe).
A Facebook page for your show could be useful, but probably mainly for communicating with whatever local audience you end up building (especially if you plug it a lot on the air). It probably won't get attention from many people outside of your community.
posted by bubukaba at 4:20 PM on May 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'm 26 and at the tail end of the college/community radio demographic.
If jander03's comment weren't already here, I might have held my tongue for fear of sounding like an old 20th century luddite - but I completely agree with him. It would be really hard to get me to listen to a radio station that I couldn't tune in to on a real radio dial.
I'm the opposite. I don't own a radio. If I want to listen to a radio station I'll listen to it streamed on my computer or my iPhone. Since even small community radio stations have streaming there isn't anything I'm missing out on. Physical radio is too fiddly and about as useful as a VCR.
Internet radio also expands your reach. I'd like to listen to your station, and if it was just physical I wouldn't be able to.
Absolutely have a Facebook page and Twitter. FBi Radio, the biggest community station in Sydney, has Facebook pages and Twitter pages for all its shows, plus an official Twitter and Facebook for the whole station. When I produced a show there I'd be on FB and Twitter, taking questions and requests and comments. I'd also post a playlist on the FBi site after each show, which people liked. MySpace is mostly dead, except for bands.
It's not online, but if you could sponsor events it would be helpful. Half the gigs in Sydney have an FBi banner. Even a small campus band or trivia or comedy night sponsored by your station would increase awareness.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 4:58 PM on May 31, 2011
If jander03's comment weren't already here, I might have held my tongue for fear of sounding like an old 20th century luddite - but I completely agree with him. It would be really hard to get me to listen to a radio station that I couldn't tune in to on a real radio dial.
I'm the opposite. I don't own a radio. If I want to listen to a radio station I'll listen to it streamed on my computer or my iPhone. Since even small community radio stations have streaming there isn't anything I'm missing out on. Physical radio is too fiddly and about as useful as a VCR.
Internet radio also expands your reach. I'd like to listen to your station, and if it was just physical I wouldn't be able to.
Absolutely have a Facebook page and Twitter. FBi Radio, the biggest community station in Sydney, has Facebook pages and Twitter pages for all its shows, plus an official Twitter and Facebook for the whole station. When I produced a show there I'd be on FB and Twitter, taking questions and requests and comments. I'd also post a playlist on the FBi site after each show, which people liked. MySpace is mostly dead, except for bands.
It's not online, but if you could sponsor events it would be helpful. Half the gigs in Sydney have an FBi banner. Even a small campus band or trivia or comedy night sponsored by your station would increase awareness.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 4:58 PM on May 31, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
I'll rarely listen to a station online that I didn't encounter in the real world first. When it does happen, it's because someone's mentioned it on a board like this or told me about it in person. MySpace and Facebook don't influence me.
HOWEVER If I've heard of you and want to find you, I'll to a web search, then I'll probably go to Facebook and MySpace.
posted by jander03 at 1:52 PM on May 31, 2011