Online Review (A)
The website under analysis is oldies1033.com. I chose this website because I have background in the functionality and reasons for inclusion of specific content, as this was my first co-op job at Northeastern. The website itself is set up for easy use by the average listener of Oldies 103.3: The Greatest Hits of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
With various tabs ranging from contests that are currently running on-air to the artists that are broadcasted to the masses, an Oldies 103.3 listener has countless features at his/her disposal. These intriguing features occupy the listeners stay at the website, thus enticing the listener to stay tuned. The functions of the website are represented by a variety of tabs. For example, the “DJ’s” tab will give you a quick biography of the on-air talent (Disk Jockey). The Oldies Events tab will supply the listener with the “who, what, where, and when’s” of a station appearance, where the station “street team” can be found working the event for a client (example: Shaw’s/Star Market) of which buys air-time via the station itself. There are other tabs as well; displaying which radio talent is currently on-air, a list of songs with their respective artists of what has been played recently, along with several advertisements scattered throughout every page of the website. For signage and exposure purposes, the Oldies 103.3 insignia is colorfully placed in a prime spot on every page as well.
Oldies feels obligated to keep active fans of the website and listeners of the station excited about station happenings and instill a sense of anticipation for upcoming events and/or on-air contests. At the same time, they need to make their clients have an overall good feeling about and be content with the thousands of dollars they invest in the station. It is a major move for a business (no matter its size) to put their credibility on the line and back an entire station. Even though we are dealing with an Oldies station, which often has an out of fashion, un-hip stigma about it, companies ultimately need to make sure they are making the best decision for themselves. This is why companies will conjure up an idea that targets the same or is at least remotely synonymous to the demographic of the stations consumers.
Oldies 103.3 also has a specific audience that they are attempting to distribute all of this information to. Oldies music specifically reaches out to those who were actively listening to these artists in their prime (specifically in the 34-60 age range), in addition to those in the 15-26 age range, who have been infused with an acquired taste for nostalgic music via their elders. So when a tab appropriately entitled “Oldies News” is at a listener’s disposal, those individuals can keep up on their favorite Oldies artists and happenings in the industry. This is a key feature to have on the website because it reaches out to the audience, showing how there are other means of staying in touch with the ‘60s and ‘70s, other than just tuning in to the station. This also pertains to the business aspect of the station with its respective clients spending their money on air-time for personal exposure. Much of the content on the website (Oldies Events, Things to Do, and Contests tabs) speaks to the clients as an audience as well. The listener is supposed to feel a sense of excitement about these tabs; however these are also viewable for the clients to feel good about the money that they are spending with the station, giving them more exposure to the masses.
Intro to Convergence Culture
When taking a look at our society in the midst of mass circulation of media content, there is an increasingly larger load on the shoulders of the consumer. Now, more than ever, the notion of a participatory culture is at hand.
One may ask, what is this “participatory culture” you speak of?
Recently, there has been a major shift in the relationship between producers and consumers. Traditionally, media producers have the upper hand in what consumers are essentially viewing, however now consumers have greater abilities to participate in this culture. Consumers are essentially becoming producers, via YouTube and other mechanisms of self expression, where they can produce their own work at their leisure, without the force of corporations dictating when and what is aired.
The relationship between the media producers and consumers is an interesting one to take a look at, as it is currently being re-written. This notion of convergence is occurring within the brains of this newly revamped consumer culture, where through the consumer’s social interactions with others skews their interests. The power relation is still present, where corporations have more leverage to force-feed media to the masses, however each consumer extracts pieces from this mass media flow, making whatever information received seem relevant to our individual lives.
It will be even more interesting to see how this convergence culture transforms as the years progress…
Stumble Upon-ed this “Evil Baby Game”
Heavily addictive game of killing evil babies with a laser gun…creepy yet enjoyable. Safe to say 15-minutes of my life have been spent on killing evil babies…
