Mystery DJs
As has always been the case with 1Radio, way more people sign up than actually participate.
This was true from day one. People would register, browse around the site and fill in the various bits of info I asked of them. But would never actually broadcast a show.
In the five and a half years 1Radio was up and running, around five thousand people registered. Of those, around two thousand of those came on and did a show. About a quarter of those did only one show, never to return again. Many more would come and go over the years of operation. The average span of involvement was around three months though some people stayed way longer. Too long in some instances!
This same behaviour occurred when we switched to an audition process to join 1Radio. Whilst many people would complete the initial audition form, sometimes hundreds over the course of a month, few would actually take the trouble to submit the audio file required.
Strangely, we probably had around 20 complete auditions that were sent to us that were of outstanding quality, yet, when we responded and offered a slot, they went dark and never surfaced again. In one instance, someone completed an audition, was accepted, registered, signed in, purchased show credits and a JingleExchange account, uploaded a few pro-sounding 1Radio jingles and never appeared again. Ever. Not even to do a single show. What was that all about?
I think the biggest disappointment people felt with 1Radio, and with internet radio generally, is that there aren’t huge crowds of people hanging on their every word as soon as they take to the air. I’m convinced people would show up for one or two shows and be so disheartened by the small number of listeners, they never returned. I bet there are hundreds of fledgling internet broadcasters out there, still mourning the lack of an audience for their first show and who never opened a microphone again. That’s a shame. When you think about it, professional radio presenters only have to put up with the stark reality of how well or how badly they are doing just four times a year when the RAJAR figures come out. And those figures are typically based on just one week of listening habits of a small proportion of the potential listening audience, maybe a few thousand people at best. It’s all speculation. Internet radio broadcasters however, feel the joy (or suffer the humiliation) with every show.
Listening stats was another feature of 1Radio that made us stand out from our competitors. Presenters (and listeners if they knew where to look) were given complete visibility of how many listeners were connected. That can be a blessing and a curse. It made sense not to hide the numbers. Presenters deserve to know how many are listening and to see their figures change week by week depending on how well their show is received and, crucially, how well they promote it.
Posted by Tim on Sun 06 Mar 2022 at 08:10 and viewed 1,291 times.
My First Record
Adventures in audio
