Classic FM innovative use of Timeline
0I dont want to appear to be ripping off another blog, especially because its JJ’s someone who I respect. So I would recommend you head over Earshot creative blog that he is the co-author off to have a look (and I would recommend subscribing)
http://earshot.tvi.gg/2012/03/classic-fm-relaunch-facebook-page-with-classical-music-timeline/
What I would say is that this is a fantastic and engaging use of timeline, with the amount of people who have cried out against the timeline change, this is a interesting use that can be replicated and adapted across many different brands not just radio station. In fact it could be used as a fantastic opportunity to tell the story of your brand and engage with your audience, talk about the history of your brand be it a charity, business or product. Maybe even ask your followers to comment in particular timeline related posts, to get their thoughts on that or their own experiences.
Facebook and Social media in general is constantly changing, and provides a fantastic opportunity to experiment, just remember to play honest.. If you make a mistake own up to it as soon as possible and dont try to cover it up or divert.
A Change
0Just a little update I have no left Diverse FM to pursue new opportunities and ventures, the role didnt quite turn out as expected in some aspects it was more about growing and developing and managing a training operation then a radio station, however I wish them all the best as there are some fantastic people at the station.
However I learnt a lot from new skills to putting existing skills and ideas into practice, so in some sense I come away refreshed and ready for new adventures. I have a much deeper understanding and experience of grant funding, which could be made useful to almost any organisation, same can be said about training (adult, youth, NEET, etc) and community development.. and more importantly insight into how a different radio station operates, a community station thats operated for 5 years full time, in the very unique town of Luton surrounded by other community media organisations (including 2 other licenses), local BBC and local commercial.
I am in no doubt that this will spring forth into further blog posts using them as examples..
So in the mean time I am consulting / freelancing with small organisations / businesses on social media, marketing and communications as well as community media & radio organisations.
My Chritsmas of Digital Radio
0Christmas is here (well its been and gone) and that means Christmas presents, and every year I like to give at least 1 digital radio away.. well I like to do my bit, and slowly convert people…
So this year I brought my father a a Pure One Mi, a really nice compact digital radio, it was on special offer from the Daily Mail… I was surprised that despite the big push around Christmas time for digital radio, the advertising campaigns and such that there wasn’t more deals and discounts going on.. He seemed to like the look of it, and although hes not a huge radio fan (he used to just listen to the local heart station) I hope he uses it as an opportunity to explore different stations in the area and nationally. I set it up for him (Colchester, Essex) and it seemed to get a good selection of DAB stations and FM stations inside his flat. Its quite a nice simple DAB radio, very light and with mains connection, for a little extra I am considering getting the rechargeable battery pack.
Also I was surprised to receive a digital radio myself.. I received the Pure Highway which I have been talking about to friends for a while. For those that dont know its a in car DAB solution, thats windscreen mounted, and has its own micro FM transmitter which broadcasts your chosen DAB station to you car radio. It has the ability to scan the FM spectrum to find one thats the most suitable in your area (eg free from interference and other stations) and also broadcasts its own RDS (and I assume PI Code) so that you know your tuned in to the Highway, and also if you rescan the Highway to find a better FM location your car should auto rescan as well. Features wise it has a few preset options, very usable interface “wheel” and also has Aux in (for Ipods etc).. Also in theory it can be used as a portable device with batteries and headphones, and also I think it can pause / record but I have not used those features.
Only downside I have really experienced is that like most DAB car devices it doesnt seem to rescan as you drive, which can also mean that channels you can get, can be moved to the end because it thinks they are unavailable. But other then that its a fantastic little device and well worth it as an easy way to “convert” your car to DAB.
Audio Blogging
1well didnt want to call it a blog update, as not my favourite term (even though I use it), however as you will have noticed since I started at Diverse FM I havent been able to blog as much as I had hoped (or at all really) as am a bit overloaded with projects* and have lost of time to attempt to dedicate to a written blog. However I have decided to give AudioBoo another go and maybe try that out as a blogging platform and see how I get one, this will be my thoughts and observations in relation to all things radio (Commercial, BBC, Community and Student) as well as Social Media and who knows maybe even when the two collide.. so please head here http://audioboo.fm/martinsteers to listen and subscribe etc, but also they will be on the RSS feed on the right hand side of this blog.
I welcome thoughts and comments on the Boo’s and if you have never tried it why not give it ago yourself, not going to attempt to explain what it is (in fear of getting it wrong) but it will hopefully enable me to do audio blogs on the go via laptop and phone..
Hope to hear from you all soon…
*Projects I am currently involved in (in some way)
Diverse FM (Project Manager, my actual paid job lol)
Scout Radio (Manager / Team leader, volunteer)
Essex International Jamboree (Deputy Director Communications, volunteer)
Chelmsford Community Radio (Founder / Advisor, volunteer)
Community Radio Awards (Founder, volunteer)
Other random radio smaller things, advising, meetings etc
Two months a sort of generic update blog…
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Well its been almost two months since my last post, I have sort of missed blogging, and as ever I wish I found the time to do it more..
So the main reason I haven’t been blogging is just under 2 months ago I started a new job which has been an interesting and fantastic experience. It all happened around 2 months ago, whilst doing a 3 week internship at TalkSport working in strategic planning and development with the head of Jimmy Buckland.. Not only was it a fantastic experience, I certainly learnt allot about radio, digital radio and talk / sports radio but also some very interesting contacts and insight about radio and also about the concept of commuting to London every day lol.
Anyway about half way through the placement I got a out of the blue email from one of the trustees of Diverse FM, and community radio station in Luton offering me the role of project manager, a role I had interviewed for back in October time but apparently came second to an equally talented person who had been at the station from the start (so understandable..), but it turned out that once in the post he didn’t feel he could give it his best for what ever reason and instead of tie the organisation up he took a step back.. (And not only do I give him huge credit for what must have been a really hard decision, but also for the fact that hes decided to stay around and help out as a volunteer and we look set to work fantastically well together)
Anyway after a few emailed back and forth and a meeting with this trustee and the chair of the trustees I accepted the role and started early in July.. so I have managed to get what I have considered a dream job, working within radio and a particular sector of radio that I have a huge passion for that is Community Radio (thats not to say I wouldnt work for Commercial or BBC, but that I would gladly and happily work within Community Radio).. I have found it very challenging, a 9to5 ish job running and managing a community radio station, its associated projects and staff / volunteers, so what have I been doing..
Well essentially my role (as “Project Manager”) is to make sure that the station stays on air, that the community development / outreach projects continue and this includes the huge amount of community and volunteer training that the organisation does.
So this includes working with the volunteers and staff to make sure that the programming carries on (mostly run by Mick who is more or less the programme controller, and we are working together to develop new programming concepts and ideas) this does also include slight technical aspects as they don’t really have an in house engineer.
Managing the training project, which day to day is more overseeing and support the staff and volunteers so they can carry on and do the fantastic job that they do, most of the training is working with NEETs (Not in Employment Education or Training) young people, or adults in a similar situation (the term NEETs tends to be reserved for young people)..
Paperwork and grant writing.. there is alot of it, although as a station we do receive some income from commercial sources the large bulk of funding comes from targeted grants, some related to media projects but mostly based on targeted training to certain communities and demographics (it can really become a numbers game sometimes).. So far I have completed 3 grant applications for around 25k, pretty sure we wont get them all (if any) and have more applications due over the next few weeks and months.. Also on the paperwork side there is also all the reporting paperwork for the grants we have, as well as reporting to our supporters and the trustee board, OFCOM etc, and also dealing with things like OFCOM License extension etc (I didnt write it as it was before I started, but I have been following up on it..)
So all in all lots of long hard days, and I really wanted to find my feet and understand how it all works, (which I am not completely there but have a good start) before I resumed blogging on radio, social media etc.. I suspect going forward most will be radio related but we will see.
So my thoughts on community radio so far, its a fun and vibrant sector, full of some fantastic people who put alot of hard work into stations (Our drive presenter for example is in for around 4 hours a day mon – fri, all as a volunteer, hes also a great presenter and certainly worth a full radio job), they are also an incredibly hard place to work as you just dont have the staff that the BBC or Commercial radio have to do the jobs that need doing and yet they still strive (and succeed) to be the heart of the community that they serve as well as produce some fantastic programming and of course social gain.
What community radio does need is more support from everyone, mainly from government who could really do some things to improve on community radio (thats got to be the subject of another blog post), from grants and funders who need to understand the huge work that community radio does and be prepared to fund ongoing costs of stations (instead of for x new project or for x jumping through x hoops) and also from the community they serve, be it from the individual on the street letting them know that they listen and support them, to small to big business who can help in so many different ways..
Anyway thats all for now, expect (hopefully) more regular blogs on Ofcom, Community Radio, Radio in general and everything else in between.
Even the Government breaks the rules of Facebook
2Monday saw the DCMS the Department for Culture Media and Sport venture out into the world of social media, well Facebook. (Yes I was surprised, you would think that the department that had responsibility for the internet, online media and advertising etc would have a Facebook presence but no.)
Anyway they launched it with a news article on their website and also via a tweet (again they have a twitter with 9,035 followers but no Facebook page!) advertising their fan page and also offering a competition to win some theatre tickets (and other culture related prizes) to anyone who ‘Liked’ the page before 6pm on the 4th of July.
What the fan page is for seems to be another channel for them to release their press and PR, at present there doesn’t seem to be any form of engagement with their ‘Fans’, although to be honest I can understand why there isnt any at the moment. Over a day since it launched, with a twitter campaign (and then retweets) not to mention cross page promotion from other pages within the ‘Family’ of the government and the DCMS as resulted in only 63 people, must be quite heartbreaking for Jeremy Hunt that out of the entire universe that is Facebook they haven’t even hit treble digits of ‘Likes’.
I suppose the real interesting factor of their Facebook presence will be once they have gained enough ‘Fans’ for people to start ‘liking’ posts, commenting or even better when individuals and groups start using it to lobby and protest over the plans and activities of the department (or anything the government is up to). I wonder what they will do then, will they engage with these interactions, or will they simply try and control the debate by deleting anything that is negative (Or they just plainly don’t like) watch this space.. Oh and why not promote the site (and help it and the discourse along)
Anyway despite this fantastic page to promote the activities of the DCMS, and the fantastic campaign to try and promote and encourage people to ‘Like’ the page they managed to overlook one key thing. Well basically that the competition in its current form brakes Facebook’s terms and conditions in relation to competitions and promotions. This change happened at the start of May and I blogged about it previously here, and it outlines the basic changes and also some thoughts and recommendations for anyone wanting to get things right. In this case the DCMS Page are falling foul of most of the rules, but only having a condition of entry on the basis of someone ‘Liking’ the page, and I would then assume that they would announce and / or contact the winners via Facebook, also against the rules, oh and in their terms and conditions it doesn’t mention that the competition has nothing to do with Facebook etc, which is also against the rules..
I contacted the DCMS to get some insight into their activities Facebook wise, and also a comment and information in regards to their breach of the terms and conditions, the response from their spokesman wasn’t very enlightening as they thanked me for my enquiry and pointing it out had went on to say..
I fear it was an entirely unintentional oversight on our part. We are taking down that part of our presence on Facebook and are pleased to apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced.
As of today the competition has been removed from the website (and the tweet deleted) with no official response or comment on their website or page, this could be seen as a slight over reaction, as it wouldn’t have taken much to make it compliant. Facebook should be and can be used to run some very good competitions and promotions and really engage with users, organisations just need to innovate and be creative, which in turn will drive the interactivity anyway.
Well I hope this wont put the DCMS or other government department off getting involved with Facebook and I will certainly be keeping an eye on the page in the future.
Even 007 loves QR Codes
0Well I must warn you from the start that I am in love with QR codes, and how many different portabilities they have, and more importantly how unused they currently are in the UK (as opposed to say Japan where they are apparently everywhere!). The ability to use them in engaging and innovative ways, being creative and capturing the imagination, embedding txt messages, text data or the most commonly used link.
Now I will admit we are seeing more and more of them in the UK, normally as a little side bit where the terms and conditions go, with no real explanation as to why you would want to scan it and what the benefit is to you.. Which is the thing to note for anyone considering using them, you have to encourage their use otherwise only the very curious or QR code ‘junkies’ will do it.
Anyway you can imagine my surprise and delight when I saw this advert in the metro on Thursday:
Not only are they using a QR code, but its the centre piece of the advert, with a playful tag line / pun.. I suppose in this sense it goes against what I have said above about engaging with the reader as to why they should use the code. But I suppose with an advert like this that’s the point.
They have used it in a simple way, as it directs the user to their careers website, well via what I assume is a tracking link to check the impressions and maybe other such data.
Also another thing they have taken advantage off is the high loss tolerance which is a feature of QR codes, which means that you can play about with QR codes even more, in this case increase the advertising message, but you can also use it to stick you logo or more within the code. Such as this example I saw today at my station.. (and shows how they are being used more and more).
Again this shows the code quite prominently and it becomes a key feature of the advert. In this case it takes you to their facebook page, but it seems without a tracking code built in and they would just be using facebooks native analytics’s. I do wonder what the different reactions, and responses are to these adverts, slightly different audiences but a similar implementation.
QR Codes are getting mixed responses, a few months ago I printed (my of my side ventures) some flyer for a client who was using a QR code as part of the leaflet, it had an embedded txt message that would prompt the user to txt to one of the agents for a call back. The flyer in question was for Oxbridge Tours who run walking tours (amongst other tourist related things) in Cambridge. As a company they are very forward thinking and I certainly liked the approach that they had taken.
I recently asked the founder and CEO Christopher Dobbing how the campaign got on, and what they thought the future of the codes are..
Unfortunately the uptake has been slow. We think this is because of, firstly, platform issues – not all phones use the same technology for reading codes – and secondly low awareness of what they are. As the technology permeates the market we hope that more people will use them and more of our tours can be booked through the QR platform, which is after all free to set-up and non subject to patents. The really exciting technology on the horizon is augmented reality, such as the popcode platform.
Platform wise most phones are either coming with QR code readers built in, or have easy enough applications to read and work them, but in general there still needs to be some education to the public on what they are and how they work.. (More importantly they open up a world of new and additional content.).
So I have a question for you, what’s the best (ideally UK) based QR code campaign you have seen to date? Or have you tried a QR Code campaign? how did it go? and more importantly what lessons have you learnt for the future? Ideally let us know in the comments below.
P.s. I saw an interesting piece on QR Code Genius website talking about a recent campaign by blackberry and how they nearly messed it up by just sending the user to their normal site, not to a custom built or smart phone friendly site.
ASRA Drinks, and Alumni’ness in general.
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Last night I attended the little ASRA (Association of Student Radio Alumni) http://www.studentradioalumni.com/ social that apparently was all Tim Dyes idea, it was a great evening of catching up with old radio friends and making a few new, finding out what everyone is up to and discussing the ups and downs of the industry (normally involving how we would do xyz differently if we had control). Oh and yes there is normally some good drinking involved, myself I drank caffreys which I haven’t had in years (sure someone told me it had been discontinued).
On the way home (a long and troubled train journey) it got me thinking about Radio Alumni and how some stations do lots with them, and how some don’t do anything.. My advice do as much as you can..
Your Radio Station Alumni are very useful for you in many ways.. and even looked after correctly will be a great asset including;
Experience and Knowledge, how many of them continued into broadcasting? Could they come back and share their experiences, how they broke in, give advice on putting shows together OR even offer work experience placements to current presenters
Resources, how many of them went on to be successful in their field (broadcasting or not) might have goods or services they can provide the station, or even donate some hard cash to help with running the station, buying that new bit of kit or some refurbishment
Now there are many ways to look after, development and generally get stuff out of your alumni, it all depends on how much your station can and wants to do.. Its worth nothing that most of this is a long term plan.. But simple things like;
Hold a alumni list, so that you can track your alumni, and keep in touch with them, maybe a facebook page, Linkedin group etc
Show of your famous and proud alumni, it can be a great status symbol for the station and also help with recruitment
Send out an alumni bulletin, let them know what the station is up to, what sort of shows your producing, what awards your winning, maybe what other alumni are up to (Weddings etc) and how they can get involved with the station.
Run alumni events, from an alumni dinner, to “get back on air” days or weekends.. Most wont mind paying (possible fundraising), and it can also be a great opportunity to get them to share their experiences and network with current presenters..
Now its not hard to start doing some alumni stuff, contact who you know and ask them to spread the word.. Or just start with those leaving this year.. Or why not an article in your universities alumni newsletter or website (Most if not all do something!)
Alumni should be treasured, nurtured and cared for, god knows in 10 years time you might want the attention.. Remember alumni are for life not just for the length of their course!
ASRA Website: http://www.studentradioalumni.com/
ASRA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/studentradioalumni
Call to action breach… Ofcom Bulletin
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I wasn’t sure if I should blog about the latest Ofcom bulletin, as there wasn’t a lot in it radio wise.. well there was a 18 page breach about a political based advert aired on several northern Ireland radio stations, which to be honest I got lost / confused half way through.. I think the key seemed to be that a couple of stations didn’t check that the advert had been cleared by the RACC as they should have been.. But I assume its a lot more complicated than that..
The other breach was about a pre-recorded show on a community radio station which had calls to action in it.. Now its been a while since we had one (I think), and it seems a straight forward honest mistake, open and shut case. However it has opened up a discussion on the CMA (Community Media Association) mailing list. With some people considering it unfair, discussing the technical elements etc. So in light of this I felt inspired to blog on the matter in general with reference to this particular case. It must be stated that I am no expect on the Ofcom broadcast code, but have read it, worked under it, trained presenters and feel that I do have a general understanding.. But if you think I am wrong or want to discuss it please let me know below.
Right this most recent case was against Somer Valley FM community radio station and their show Jukebox hour, apparently the station regularly has a live request show which invites listeners txt, email or comment of the stations FB page to request songs they want to be played. (txt’s are at standard network rate), one particular night the show was pre-recorded “Prior to broadcast” because the presenter was unexpectedly absent from the station. A listener had called in to speak to the Station Manager (also the presenter) and was informed that he wasn’t there and thus unable to take the call.
The listener then complained to Ofcom as he felt that the call to action was “misleading as there was no possibility that the pre-recorded programme would fulfil them”, Ofcom also received a complaint from another listener with similar issues.
Ofcom investigated, found out what had happened, and that station had realised the issue, the show before had “alluded to the fact” that the next show was a pre-record, the station was going to carry over any requests to the next live show and that it “offered its “unreserved” apologies that it “inadvertently may have misled the listener” and said that as a result of the incident it has tightened its procedures to ensure that listeners of pre-recorded shows”
Ofcom breached the station under section 2.2 of the code which is about “the portrayal of factual matters must not materially mislead the audience.” in the bulletin they explain more about their judgement and refer to previous cases and to a statement about pre-recorded calls to action from a few years ago. Although they found the station in breach, they did note that the station had identified the problems and was taking appropriate action to make sure it didn’t happen again, which as far as I have seen from previous bulletins.. If when Ofcom come knocking you put your hands up, explain what went wrong, why, and what your going to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again, well then it really works in your favour. I don’t think the station will receive any form of penalty or sanction because of this (as long as it doesn’t happen again). The full bulletin with details can be found here… page 27 – 29, I would also recommend for all Community Radio Station Managers, Programme Controllers etc you subscribe to the bulletins and read and learn from other peoples breaches (and pray you are never in it). There are lots of people willing to provide advice and guidance, including Ofcom themselves.. (Recommendations and more information below).
Now this case, seemed (and is) a open and shut case, the station admitted that it had made a mistake, but that it wasn’t intentional, and what they were going to implement to prevent it from happening in the future, Ofcom took all this into consideration and breached them. They had to do it, the station regardless of if they meant to or not broke the rules, and could potentially deceive listeners and thus breaking their trust.
Any call to action (Inviting the listener to interact with the programme or station by any means, but which will directly effect the show etc) can not be done in any pre-recorded situation (unless its for the listener to effect future shows and thats made clear), AND if a show that rely’s on calls to action is repeated you are going to have to be very careful on how you deal with it.. My advice and this is just my advice (other then don’t repeat it IF it uses alot of calls to action) is make sure its clearly sign posted before and during that its a repeat.. maybe using it as an opportunity to advertise the next live show..
Example: Hi your listening to a repeat of Wacky Daves 70′s request show, from last Sunday, any requests made now will not be in this show but hopefully will make it to next week, so why not join us next Sunday from 8pm…
and maybe air that at the start of the show and either stick that over any calls to action or before the calls to action?
AGAIN I MUST STRESS this is just a suggestion.. which I haven’t checked with Ofcom (why not let me know your feels below)..
Now if you need advice on this or anything else code related.. I would recommend:
Talking to Ofcom, they are not the bad guys in all this
Reading and subscribing to the broadcast bulletin
Contacting hacks like me.. (For our own advice, take it with a pinch of salt)
Checking out the CMA Website http://www.commedia.org.uk/
Checking out the Radio Toolkit website http://www.communityradiotoolkit.net/
Oh reading the broadcast code http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/
Full details of this breach in the current broadcast bulletin http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb182/obb182.pdf
The Ofcom statement from a few years ago (after there was a few of these) can be found here http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/enforcement/broadcast-bulletins/obb127/issue127.pdf page 17.
Again I welcome your thoughts and comments below.
Ta ta for now
Martin
New area, new stations..
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Well I recently moved to Dunstable in Bedfordshire, and hope to pursue new opportunities and ventures.. (any offers considered lol).
But with a move comes a new area alive with different radio stations and a change in listening habits.
In my car… On a normal analogue radio…
At the moment I tend to be driving between Dunstable, Cambridge and Essex for various meetings and depending on the time of day really depends what I tune into, most recently.. Radio 1 and Radio 4 but also LBC and yesterday Absolute on AM. Now I have dabbled before with AM stations (mainly Absolute) and am indifferent, yes the quality isn’t fantastic (I long for a DAB in my car) but what I really like about it is that it appeals more to me, and without much retuning I can pretty much listen to it all the way..
I really like Absolute radio, as a station, brand and family.. I like how they sound, what they do on air but also their additional developments like their various apps, and extra digital stations.. I certainly keep an eye on them.. They just feel like the nice good guys in the world of radio (*thats not to say that everyone or anyone else are the bad guys however).
LBC I listen too quite often, mainly when I am driving, as I have a growing fondness for speech radio, and although I dont always agree with the presenters I do like the variety of different shows from travel, legal advice to the normal phone in led stuff.. I even have it setup on my phone so when I get to certain areas of low coverage in the car I can stick my hands free kit in and listen via that.
The other stations to mention in the area are the normal range of stations Heart, BBC 3 Counties (and BBC Oxford!), the odd pirate and also the community stations of Luton, worth particular mention is Radio Lab the local student / youth station based out of the University of Bedfordshire in Luton broadcasting full time on a community license. I have visited them before and keep an eye on them because of my love of student radio (and they received the license around the same time as CAM FM my old student station).
At home… Well I have a DAB Alarm clock on my bedside, DAB radio in the kitchen and my laptop in my office..
Mainly in the Kitchen and downstairs is Radio 1 as that’s what Sarah likes to listen to.. although she has started listening to 6 Music with some pleasure. My alarm clock changes all the time (would be great if it had a random DAB function to wake up to!)
On my laptop.. well I have been listening to all sorts of station using the UK Radio Player a fantastic concept allowing me to save my stations, and more (I intend to review it on a later post). Again the normal suspects of Radio 4, Radio 1, Capital, LBC and Absolute..
Out and about… Well on my phone not only do I have a generic streaming app so I can listen to internet stations including student stations from around the country (I installed it to listen to a friend on Blast Radio) but also have the LBC and Absolute apps.. Not to also forget that my phone (HTC Desire HD) has a built in FM radio so I often have a nose around and see what it can pick up. I do love listening to the radio on my phone when out and about and travelling. I strikes me as odd what others must do with limited data allowance, Sarah as commented that she doesnt want to listen to radio stations via apps on her phone as shes worried about her data usage.. I do wonder how anyone can think that true internet radio is the future when most UK providers (and more and more in the US) are restricting data..
Thats all for now…