Content Items March 9, 2015

Radio Today reader survey 2015

Open-ender themes – Positive

The over-riding feedback from the open-enders was the immediacy of our content, that we are up to date on the latest information; we’ll print a few random comments:

	“All the information in radio world is in one location and it’s always up to day”
	“Current, real, thorough and on my level, when I visit this site I feel like it’s a community of my peers and friends and that the information is clear, accessible and simply explained, it’s more of a community”
	“I love that I can keep up to date with the latest radio industry news easily and consistently throughout the day”
	“seems to be up to date and first with info”
	“every time I go to the site there is something new to read”
	“it’s the most frequently updated radio news site with the largest angles on each story. I love the articles with experts and you guys tend to have the most jobs listed”
	“I think I like and dislike equally that Radio Today breaks stories before the stations. I guess it shows on one hand how on the pulse RT are but it would be nice for staff to hear about changes from their companies. For competitor companies I love it, I get to know what is going on immediately and RadioInfo copy it in a few hours. But when it’s from my own company it annoys me a bit.
	“it’s the most up to date radio site in Australia. RT seems to have stories before anyone else and most are written without bias. Well balanced just like a good music log :)”

Other positive themes that came through were the articles; either expert analysis or opinion pieces; the fact that RT is free to access, and the jobs page; a few random comments along those lines were:

	“Current. Easy to navigate. Free”
	“It’s free! And everyone who writes for it works in radio or has previously. Updates at the weekend”
	“Job vacancies, radio survey results, aircheck results with most played songs. News and updates on radio stations and issues. And most importantly its FREE”
	“It’s fun. Don’t get too serious”
	“The constantly updated content and the expert knowledge they have over other radio websites and all of it free”
	“I was previously a paid member of RadioInfo but have let that lapse as Radiotoday seems to be at the front of most things radio and its who we advertise our vacancies with”
	“it’s a great portal to not only the Australian industry, but New Zealand’s as well. Such a unique market over the ditch that gets ignored in most other places”
	“Fresh, interesting content and key opinion pieces from experts where you don’t just read, you devour and want to learn. It beats boring office meetings and drones”

So far so good.

Woah, but you also had a crack over a few things. The most common themes being some technical issues; comments on site, and an over-reliance on some areas of content.

Firstly some of the technical criticisms:

	“Improve the navigation. The page numbers (1,2,3 etc) on the bottom of the site are confusing and you don’t know which page you’re on”
	“the design of the website is frustrating, especially on mobile”
	“the menus at the top are hard to navigate”
	“website could use a bit of fresh paint, it’s a little bet messy right now”
	“trying to find past information/articles can sometimes be difficult”

And the site comments certainly sparked some, well, comment.

	“Anonymous losers in the comments”
	“It’s unavoidable, but the negativity which resonates through the comments section a little too often”
	“Many of the comments that could or should be answered by Radio Today, don’t seem to be answered”
	“I don’t like the comments section on any webpage. Although it opens up a discussion, it can turn into a slag fest and can leave people in an unstable place. RT does a pretty decent job of moderation though which is helpful, just be mindful that some comments can hurt more than others”
	“idiot, anonymous commentary from ‘readers’ who contribute nothing”
	“comments from people who make up shit”
	“uneducated speculation in the comments section”
	“Anon comments bagging other jocks/personalities”

There were a number of comments who felt that the content on Radio Today was a bit too focused on some areas; of either content or network:

	“SCA overload”
	“Too programming focused”
	“The focus on on-air and programming. I know it’s an important part of our industry, but in every commercial network there are an army of Sales, Marketing, Integration, Promotions, Production and Techs who all work just as hard to influence results through their own individual expertise.
	“Not enough sales info. most of the contributors come from a content background so the majority of articles are related to content and on-air topics”
	“It’s very SCA. Be balanced”
	“too focused on programming”
	“some interviews come across as pretentious”
	“All the kiwi news, who cares”
	“very little New Zealand content”

Summary

The great thing about a study like this is that we find out exactly what you think, good, bad or indifferent. And from that we can work on constructing a better site for you based on your feedback.

Unfortunately, without printing pages and pages, it is hard to give you anything other than a top-line overview, which we’ve done here. However, we have been analysing the results in depth, and working on a refresh of the site that we will be launched over the next couple of weeks, this will incorporate many of the suggestions you have made – some immediately, and others, in time.

Thanks again to all those who took the time to complete our survey, we genuinely appreciate it. And we look forward to your ongoing feedback as we build a better Radio Today for you.

To finish, it would be remiss of us not to thank Eriks & Judy Celmins at Third Wave Media who conducted this survey to the most rigid of standards. The information is powerful for us, the results compelling and for that we are extremely grateful.