Thanks to new forms of technology such as satellite radio and iPods, public radio has become less and less popular over the recent years.
Instead of listening to local radio stations to discover new music, students these days turn to websites such as purevolume.com and myspace.com.
Some students here at Fairfield feel that there is no need to listen to campus radio. Why listen to random songs on the radio when you can listen to songs of your choice with your handy iPod?
Going around campus I discovered that many students have never taken the time to tune into WVOF. A Fairfield said, “I don’t think anybody listens to the campus radio station because no one listens to radio in general anymore. Thanks to television and internet, radio is no longer our primary source for new music.”
It is views like these that make it radio’s responsibility to find new ways to pull in new listeners.
The introduction of weekly contests one new approach the WVOF team is taking to draw in new listeners is introducing weekly contests. Now when listeners tune into shows like “Rocking Out with Flash and the Captain,” “Test Tube” and “WVOF News,” they will be given the opportunity to win tickets to shows at local venues.
John Daly and Mark Gajda, two DJs from “Rocking Out with Flash and the Captain,” have taken their own approaches to bringing in new listeners. The duo has recently set up their own facebook group devoted to keeping their fans up to date with all the new things happening on the show. Along with weekly contests for concert tickets, Flash and the Captain are also giving away CDs, t-shirts, and other fun stuff for their listeners.
Another new feature over at the station is the “profit-system,” which ensures that when a feature show is not on the air, new cds and singles will be playing throughout the night.
This year WVOF hopes to attract freshman to join the WVOF staff and help spread the word through several new features, such as the marketing team and the music review team. They also encourage freshman to become DJs, even if they have no experience, by allowing them to have their own radio show be broadcast live over the internet through the WVOF website.
With all the improvements made to the station, along with future goals in the works, Fairfield students will soon become aware of the great radio that is being broadcast right here on their own campus. If students just put down their iPods for one day and tune in to WVOF, they will realize all of the great music that they have been missing out on.
Leave a Reply