Wednesday, October 22, 2008

WSOU Seton Hall Pirate Radio - A. Veliky

On Seton Hall University's "WSOU Pirate Radio" site, (http://www.wsou.net/) the home page is fairly structured. The different home categories are Station News & Events, Photos, Artist of the Week, RSS Subscription sign up box, top phone requests, their top ten playlist hits, an ad for "Why wait! Apply now" with a link to the admissions page of the University, etc.

From the home page you are given the following links: News & Events, Programming, Sports, About WSOU.

In "News & Events", there are a variety of news articles and blurbs, however they are just text, there are no audio clips to accompany anything. In this same section they have something called Pirate Advance, which lists special record premieres and the chance to win the featured artists CD (this program occurs every Friday night) When you click on the "featured record" it takes you to the artists website. The same type of linking is done in the Artist of the week portion of this section.

The station programming link consists of a letter from their programming director and a concrete day by day schedule of programing. If you click on a show title a drop down appears stating once again day and time of the program, in addition to a description, a more details tab and an add to my calendar tab.

The sports section has write ups of past and upcoming games in addition to a sports calendar.

The About WSOU section contains a variety of sub sections. First is Contact WSOU, this part lists phone numbers for the request line, general phone, fax, etc., info on how unsigned bands can send in their demos to be played on the station, assistance for those having problems tuning in due to interference, a list of station staff with titles, phone numbers and e-mail's and a list of assistant station staff with titles only. The next section in "About" is on the history of the station. The third section is on Frequently Asked Questions, which is categorized by Listener; Programming; Band Demos, Airplay, Interviews & New Music; Staff & Membership. The next section is about Program Underwriting, WSOU claims to be the number one college radio station in the tri-state area and because of that, they feel they are a good vehicle for getting your name out there if you are a local business. They encourage those who are interested to contact them and request a media kit (link's to PDF of kit). The last section in "About" is for those interested in purchasing merchandise.

Overall, I like the look of the site. It has a lot of information and you can tell that it's a well established station with a following to a certain extent. I think the design is straightforward and serves its purpose and is easy to navigate.

1 comment:

Tonyb said...

Just so you know I am unsure how to post my comment to the assignment section. What follows is my review of a radio show.

Review

For my review I have listened to the first episode "On the Hour" a British Radio show from the early 90s. The show is hosted by English comedian Christopher Morris. Christopher Morris is not a well known comedian here in the US, but he was a major influence on Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Sacha Baron-Cohen. I would like my show to be somewhat influenced by this On the Hour. The show makes use of a variety of sonic gags. For instance toward the end of the first episode an advert was played for a radio drama that one an award for best sound. What followed was a scene featuring incredibly overdone sound effects. For instance, one character asked for a cup of tea. The tea pouring sound effect was incredibly loud and drawn out to comic effect. Additionally, many plays were made on the conventions of radio news. For example, a journalist gave a report on the scene of an horrific train accident. The journalist reported on the event over the sounds of victims wailing in pain. However, after a while the reporter asked the victim "could you please be quiet". The humor of the show is derived from the sound effects employed and the use of quotes from politicians taken out of context. For example a statement made by an MP is taken out of context and set up as being recorded at the House of Commons Ping-Pong chamber. I would like to do similar things with my show and am very close to finishing the first episode.