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Buffalo Internet Radio Questions

T

topsound

Did a live shift on COOL 101 Streaming Radio - Buffalo's Cool Spot last night and got really good response (about a 300% increase in listening after promoting it here). With "band gig off-season" underway, I have a little more time to invest in the station. If you listened last night, what did you think about the music mix and overall approach? Is there room to grow? How can I get more listeners? Are there any businesses/organizations interested in supporting it? Any other media folks interested in getting involved? So many questions....

Tom Schuh
 
Curious what a 300% increase looks like. Are you typically in two, three or four digits when it comes to average listeners at a time?
 
I like the idea of internet radio stations who have defined programming, a target audience and some appointment listening (must listen features/programs). But many who start them do it under the guise of hating commercial radio and thinking a playlist of 5000 songs will win people over.

I've seen internet stations even adopt CALL LETTERS ( like that -DB scam) or just a slogan "98.5 The Beat"..... so for someone who hates radio, they end up copying it?

Internet stations are so easily to set up and many don't last long. People start them with grandiouse plans and hopes but in 9 months when the listener count is still in the single digits, they give up.

In GENERAL, except for a few scattered musicologists and outliers in the general public, people wanna hear what they know they know and know they like. People may tell you otherwise but play a few stiffs... they won't liek it. Heck, I'm a radio guy of 22 years and I hate the stiffs.

Where I and others have see any success in internet radio stations is operators who target a specific market.......like Ken Hawk did in metro pittsburgh.. he had a Part 15, but I'd bet more people were listening online. He targeted a very defined small town community.

Get out in the community and do live remotes or at least have a table and stuff at some events.

Internet radio is a needle in a hay stack. You could spend thousands in advertising and promoting your station and have little to show for it. Promoting it on message boards and facebook groups is often preaching to the choir aka promoting it to other radio people. I've seen a few facebook groups that are solely for promoting your internet station or show. Whats the point in that?

A station needs at least a basic website with about/pgm sched/contact us along with a FAcebook page. Some people, especially the older generation are very anti facebook and even if they can see your fb page without being logged in, explaining and getting them to understand is more effort than its worth.

Make your streams easy to access on your website and an app. REGULARLY update facebook, and use pictures to go with every post.. they get noticed more often Post on Facebook that forces listeners to think and interact with you and you interact back, dont leave them hanging. More interaction with your FB page gets it seen by more people.
 


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