The Radio 1 Website

The Radio 1 Website

Homepage

At the top of the homepage is a bar which stays no matter which sub-page you click on. It details the DJ/Show playing at the moment, and gives the options to listen live or to view the webcam. The homepage then has the headings for the main genres, as well as some key artists/celebrities such as Lethal Bizzle and Sienna Miller. There are small boxes containing links to the Official Singles Chart, the Radio 1 Playlist and the Entertainment News sections of the site. The homepage is designed to allow all the features to be accessed easily and quickly, encouraging people to use the website more often. Towards the bottom of the page there are links to free downloads and most popular tracks. At the bottom are links to RSS Feeds, Podcasts, Interactive TV and Mobile links. These are all examples of interactive and converged technologies, showing that Radio 1 is up-to-date and has a focus on including its consumers. Another interesting feature of the homepage is the ability to change the colours of the background and menu bars – this is something I have not seen before, and suggests that in the future many more aspects of websites could become interactive.

The homepage has a menu down the side as shown below:



Listen/Podcasts

You can download free Radio 1 podcasts from the site, available to listen to on your computer/iPod. Because they are free, podcasts have a wide audience, and allow consumers to listen to the station whenever they want, which is a good example of personalization. They allow further penetration: ie, where before you could only listen to the radio on the radio, there are now other channels of distribution that allow for greater flexibility and encourage brand loyalty, as they are downloadable every day.

DJ’s/Shows

The DJ’s and shows can be sorted in different ways. Firstly, there is a list in alphabetical order, and you can also order them according to genre. This makes it easy both to find a specific DJ/show and also for fans of a particular genre to find the shows they would like. There is the option to ‘listen now’ to each of the DJ’s/shows, which allows consumers to get a quick sample of a DJ/show without having to tune in to their radio at the right time of day, which might not always be possible. For a further breakdown of Jo Whiley’s radio show, see my related blog.



Schedule

The schedule offers easily digestible information about whose on and when each day, making it easy for consumers to find what they are looking for in a small amount of time.


Genre homepages

There are 5 genres of music identified, each with its own homepage. The genres are Daytime, Dance, Rock/Indie, HipHop/RnB and Experimental.

Events

The events page has information on both past and future events, which allows consumers to feel more included, as they know all about what the station is planning, and can even book tickets to some of the events. From an industry point of view, it is also good publicity for these events.

News

This is one of the most interactive sections of the website, offering consumers the chance to text or email their say on some of the recent news events. There is also entertainment news, and a specific entertainment podcast, to offer something to viewers who do not like conventional news.

Messageboard

A good example of an online community, the Radio 1 forums features a loyal group of users who enjoy talking about their shared love of music, and even of the specific genres. You also have to register before you can contribute, which gives Radio 1 each members email address, allowing them to send advertisement emails to consumers, and even making them more able to personalize the information that they send.



OneLife

This is another highly interactive section of the website, featuring ‘chat,’ ‘fun and freebies,’ and ‘vote.’ All these sections are designed to get consumers interested and involved in a number of different areas, including education, health, finance and work. This section offers helpful advice, directed primarily at young people, as this is also the target audience for the radio station itself.

OneMusic

This section offers advice to aspiring music-makers and those interested in the radio industry. This allows the consumers to become producers, and it is likely that this section of the website has a loyal fanbase due to its niche focus.

Help

This section ensures that consumers can access everything they need from the website, and will not get frustrated and leave the website with a bad image of the brand in mind.