Radio moves beyond waves

Radio choice gets ja from listeners

Ja.fm stands for 'Jacaranda Afrikaans' and is a music-only Afrikaans sub-brand of the popular Jacaranda 94.2 station. Kagiso Media launched it in early February and has been testing its response with active online users prior to a public launch which took place on 1 March 2011. Reportedly, it is the first time that South African audiences will be exposed to a new way of controlling the playlist of the online station, via a technology application called 'Listener Driven Radio' (LDR) and the first worldwide within an exclusively online station. The technology is currently rolling out to FM stations in the US.

Kagiso Media executive director: broadcasting, Omar Essack, says it's the first in what could be a line of niche music options, starting with the most active musical community in South Africa. "It offers an alternative entertainment option to core Afrikaans listeners and Afrikaans music lovers generally across the world.

"Being online, it can do what other radio cannot - delve more exclusively into a specific genre and provide listeners with an immediate choice of what should play next."

LDR allows users of the site to vote for which song they'd like to hear next on the main selection screen on the Home Page, or the mini one on the rest of the site. Listeners can also input into the playlist from elsewhere on the web, by embedding the widget on their own site or blog.

"This is experimental and at the cutting edge of new media, converging social networks, radio and technology to create a new platform for the Afrikaans listener."

Jacaranda 94.2 CEO Alan Khan is similarly excited about the new platform housed under their brand, "We took cognisance of the fact that we have a large group of listeners who are passionate about Afrikaans music. This gave birth to the idea that we could provide an extension to our current offering, which would increase their affiliation with the brand."

Go to www.ja.fm for more information.

Mobi leverages brand

Media Connection, one of South Africa's community radio advertising specialists, recently launched its mobisites at a function it held at the Indaba Hotel in Sandton for over 100 radio stations.

"We wanted to launch our mobisites at a forum where members of the industry could investigate and explore the extraordinary opportunities that the digital market has to offer," says Rachelle Jaques, the company's sales manager.

The company started its move into the digital space in 2009. "As mobile marketing is still new in South Africa and the continent at large, we wanted to take baby steps when it came to incorporating it into our portfolio," explains Debbie Williams, manager of the Mobi Connection, a division within The Media Connection. "We wanted to ensure that we had a very good understanding of its benefits to our business, our portfolio of community radio stations and our advertisers."

While mobile marketing offers several tactical options including SMS, MMS, mobisites, applications and mobile advertising, it has initially kept its offering to SMS and mobisites, with some of its stations now running in-studio SMS dashboard and short code and mobisite.

"Mobisites offer our advertisers added leverage for their brand, which means that they no longer have to market to an entire demographic with one campaign using just radio," explains Williams. "These will offer an opportunity to fine-tune their campaigns to a targeted audience, to get measurable results and most importantly real time data.

"The benefits to the community radio station are that they are now empowered and part of the digital movement with the rest of the industry and the world. They are able to offer advertisers another platform to extend their campaigns to and generate extra revenue for themselves."

Judy Milne, director of The Media Connection, says that the company wanted to diversify its brand. "What worked ten years ago may not work now. Our utmost aim is provide our advertisers with a greater return on their investment. We want our portfolio of community radio stations to be more attractive and relevant to advertisers, in light of where the industry is moving. The station's listeners will now also be able to communicate with their favourite stations in a unique and more effective manner."

Show presenters can lead with relevant topics that affect their communities and get live feedback by means of posting comments on the mobisites and texting to the SMS line. "The stations will also now be offering the advertiser a second platform on which to advertise, meaning extra revenue and measurability," adds Williams.

The newly introduced SMS line offers advertisers the same benefits, and has already generated over 40 000 SMS comments from listeners across the different provinces. "We expect this number to grow by a great deal this year, as more and more stations begin to participate in this 'new media'," Williams concludes.

Go to www.themediaconnection.co.za for more information.