A rose by any other name

First Published: Sun Nov 04 2018
Last Updated: Sat Dec 29 2018

Over the years I've played with the idea of an online radio station. Mostly I've played with the tech around doing an online radio station, because I really don't have the money or time to look at doing the rest of the work involved with running such a venture (who knew marketing, sales, licensing etc would be so much hassle?!?)

So when I saw a tweet from former ABC presenter Carol Duncan that she was going to be on the airways again it piqued my interest.

That radio startup is a pure online media station called new2uw.com

Online radio stations of course are nothing new. They've been operating since the first person realised that the internet meant they could send audio to listeners. What makes new2uw interesting is the demographic it's targeting and the fact that its making a play for a regional centre rather than, say one of the capitals.

The demographic being targetted appears to be 40+, the music range being 60's to 80's, a smattering of news here and there and a lot of talk. The region is Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, with a population of over 650,000 people, many of whom fit the demographic. The other thing that makes the region ripe for a bit of the old disruption in this space is the issue of local stations being bought up and turned into repeating stations for larger networks, removing the local content.

Running a radio station can be a complex beast at the best of times. Forging new ground and working out how to make your app/stream the default choice when for a lot people the muscle memory is turn on a radio just adds to the challenge.

Good luck!