"2UE makes it personal", by Greg Tingle

2UE's website is a tremendous representation of one of Australia's most popular radio stations.

The site is as functional, as it is vibrant, displaying its distinctive black and gold logo, the website's black background, and gold text, and it exudes the unique look and feel that is recognizably 2UE. This is in keeping with its branding strategy of black and gold, across the entire Southern Cross Broadcasting Network.

The color combination of black and gold, warmly invites the visitor to 2UE's online home, and one gets the feeling of becoming part of the 2UE "family", as you scroll through the "personality profiles" of announcers such as John Laws, and read about his love of classic cars, and Sally Cockburn's a.k.a Dr. Feelgood's distinguished medical background.

There has long been a fascination by members of the public towards those in the media and entertainment business, and Radio 2UE has clearly capitalized on this hunger for a brush with fame, utilizing convergent mediums, via their website, resulting in a truly memorable experience.

Highlights of the website include the ability to listen to the station live, by simply clicking on the "on air" logo, and enjoying the option of sending a live e-mail to the announcer that's broadcasting at the time. This feature allows for immediacy of the action; interactivity between announcer and listener, and intimacy; by receiving listener feedback; without the listeners having to "beat the gatekeeper" via the telephone.

Visitors to the website can quickly glance at the vital "on-air schedule" to see when their favourite announcers and segments are scheduled.

Furthermore, "on-air" and "off-air" competitions such as the "Great Lawsy Give-Away" are also promoted on the website; where the site visitors can enter their personal details, such as their competition answer, name and e-mail address, into the online form. This also allows 2UE to further "tune-in" to their audience's "hot buttons". Additionally, 2UE sends out e-mail newsletters to their database once per month, with the information they have garnered from their listeners via this facility.

I can tell you from personal experience that the announcers do positively and promptly respond to their listeners correspondence via the website. It is apparent that this reinforces the relationship between callers and announcers.

The "one on one" experience encourages a feeling of closeness, and strengthens the bond, while enhancing loyalty of the listener. This experience is a public relations dream; and listeners who utilize the service will likely tell others of the positive experience, and encourage those people to tune in to a radio station "that cares".

The photo gallery provides yet another opportunity for 2UE's customers to "put a face" to the station, by being able to see what the announcers look like.

Another positive use of the 2UE website is for the radio station to showcase and service its' sponsors and advertisers in yet another forum. Even 2UE's current advertising rates are available here. Additionally, 2UE displays its announcers' "commercial agreements", thereby becoming public information, whilst avoiding allegations and litigation.

Overall, the 2UE website combines the right blend of news, information, branding and interactivity for both commercial and public audiences.

At a glance:
www.2ue.com

KEY STATISTICS:
Source: Hitwise Australia, February 2003

Readership of 2ue.com
Readership: 802,000 unique visitors per month
Growth rate: 9% per month
Web Pages Read: 580,000 pages per month
User visits: 4,500,000 visits per month
Average time spent on the site: 8:00 minutes
Ave # of times each user visits: 4.00 visits/month/user
Reach: 25.00% of total Internet population
Ranking: #32 entertainment/radio website in Australia
#222 entertainment website in Australia

References:
Radio 2UE: Kurt Fulepp, Internet Manager and Alister Reynolds, Internet Director (telephone interview 3rd March 2003)
SouthernCrossBroadcasting.com.au *
2ue.com: online information *
Hitwise.com.au: online information (visited on 24th, 25th and 26th February 2003)
RedSheriff.com.au: (visited on 24th, 25th and 26th February 2003)
Australian Bureau of Statistics - John Struak, General Manager (interviewed on 25th February 2003)
Google.com *
*numerous days and searches performed.