RADIO STATION WEBSITES: A QUICK OBSERVATION

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• Poor Dan February 10, 2011, 4:13 am

  Dan,

  I think your brain is stuck in the good ole days of radio when companies actually hired enough people to run a station. The number of stations in 2011 with a full-time webmaster is likely not high.

  Most station webmasters are also the Program Director, Music Director and on the air. If these people shouldn’t choose the content, then who should?

  You offer many outdated and obsolete opinions these days, but not a whole lot of substance or recommendations. Perhaps it’s time to retire.

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• Kevin Hilley February 10, 2011, 4:48 am

  Wow- that was cold.

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• Kyle Dowden February 10, 2011, 4:56 am

  I have been our station’s webmaster since my days as a lowly news reporter nearly 13 years ago. Partly because I had the time, and the knowledge to build a good one.

  But, two things have happened since then: 1) promotions moved me to news director and later program director (in other words, my responsibilities have increased and my available time has decreased); 2) the technology has grown beyond my knowledge (meaning that my once awesome web design was outdated and unattractive).

  Those things led us to content management systems (CMS) that used templates to easily plug our info into, looked sharp, and opened the door for other staff members to share content chores. This has allowed me to refocus on my real job of being the PD, and less of having to maintain web content. Plus, we contracted (part cash, part trade) with a local web designer to get us a great looking CMS.

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• Kevin Hilley February 10, 2011, 4:58 am

  By the way, I do mornings on my station and YES also maintain the website AND morning show and station facebook pages. Not much of a burden and I almost prefer it, being a type A control freak kinda guy.

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• Dan O'Day February 10, 2011, 5:05 am

  I don’t see anywhere in my posting that says anything about “a full-time webmaster.”

  Although it might be the case at the radio station where the person who made the first comment works (if that person does work at a radio station), most radio station webmasters do not also double as the program director.

  And no, neither the music director nor the on-air staff should be deciding what types of content should be delivered on the radio station’s website.

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• Peter K Nyblom February 10, 2011, 5:13 am

  I have to agree with DanO on this one. The above poster sounds overworked and bitter. We get it. We ALL are, unless you’re lucky enough to work in Market 100 and above. If your group/owner is NOT employing a full time webmaster, start looking for another job, because the digital revolution is on without you. Radio station websites HAVE to be as compelling, and in many case even more compelling than your station. You have billions of sites to compete agaisnt- not just the knuckleheads across the street. Even some of the rules are the same: Local Local Local. The one thing our staff has found wonderful about adding content to our websites is that we can now EXPAND on what we talk about on the air… we can be VISUAL with videos.. and we can still rock your theatre of the mind with audio. If your website is full of ads and you aren’t bringin fresh new and incredibly interesting content every single day… Eat Our Dust.
  Dan is absolutely right. Let the web-slingers create the template, help you with images, and create the banner ads… but make sure your staff adds their show content every day- or at least every other day. We need to embrace the digital and make it our own. Remember, RADIO IS THE ORIGINAL SOCIAL MEDIA. We shoud be able to rock it like nobody else.

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• Adam McCune February 10, 2011, 5:14 am

  Another observation: 99% of them suck….still.

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• Poor Richard February 10, 2011, 1:44 pm

  Dan,

  I take exception to the first poster’s approach, but I feel his pain.

  It does often seem like your advice and opinions as of late apply mainly (only?) to markets 1-100. Maybe even 1-50. Those of us in markets 100+ live in a completely different world.

  When I read my first Dan O’Day article in 1988-89, it applied directly to me, working at that time in market 125+/-. I stepped down in market size a few years later, but your advice and opinions were still spot on, even for me. I was even fortunate enough to attend one of your seminars sponsored by my state broadcasters association right around that time.

  Then 1996 happened.

  My current cluster comprises 4 radio stations, with 5 full-time programming staffers. That’s 5 total, not per station. Everyone pulls double, triple…even quadruple duty. I’m the Program Director & webmaster for my station, and the Production Director for all 4 stations. I also do PM Drive, host and/or board-op remotes, write copy & board-op the occasional high school or college football game on one of our AM stations. I even change light bulbs and take out the trash when needed. That’s not a complete list of my responsibilities, but you get the idea.

  The really sad thing is, I’m not in as small a town as you might think. I’m in a rated market. I’ve also got a top 50 market about 50 miles away. All of the big signals from there get into my market, so I’m competing with them as well as the indy, mom-n-pop full-service MOR station across the street.

  How about more advice for us out here on the farm teams?

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• Rob Usdin February 10, 2011, 3:00 pm

  Where to start Dan? Your observation is actually quite a commentary on how far behind radio is in grasping the concepts of developing online communties.

  1 – The term webmaster in your context is outdated. Referring to that person as you do kind of indicates that you think it’s the techie geek who maintains the servers or who does all the PC installs in the office. What we should be thinking about is that the person who manages the website in the online content manager. In some bigger markets – you have one for a cluster of stations, for smaller stations – it could be one person.

  2 – That person should be charged with ALL online communications – and be well versed in using social media as well as the website to interact with and build relationships with listeners. That person could be a jock at the station, or they could be part of the promotions or marketing department. In any case, they should be in charge of everything that ends up on the internet – period.

  3 – Not only that – but that person should be charged with educating others at the station about how to engage with listeners on the internet -either though that person, or if that person chooses to – letting the others engage as well. Morning show personality having their own Twitter page as an example.

  4 – It is NOt just about “ok what do we put on the website today” – it’s about – “how are we using the internet and all the tools on it to engage and connect with our listeners to keep them coming back to us, both on the radio, and online.”

  It’s not about the “webmaster” anyway – that’s my point. That is an outdated mode of thinking. It’s about engagement, and radio has a lot to learn yet about THAT online.

  –*Rob

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• Dan O'Day February 10, 2011, 6:23 pm

  It is NOT just about “ok what do we put on the website today.”

  Correct.

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• Chris Allinger February 11, 2011, 8:35 am

  I don’t care what you say, I think my engineer has great taste in music…

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