Quick survey for APRN web visitors
Wed, August 22, 2007
Posted in Alaska News, Alaska News Nightly, Web Extras, Web Updates
We have a question for those of you using APRN’s online news on a regular basis.
As you’ve probably noticed, we post two primary news content collections: the complete 30-minute Alaska News Nightly (ANN), as aired on APRN stations each weeknight. Then we take that 30-minute show and chop it up into the individual stories. That way, web visitors can opt to listen to the whole show (including music buttons, underwriting, etc.) or just listen to stories they’re interested in hearing.
This also makes for two separate podcast feeds — one that delivers one complete audio file per weekday, and another that delivers anywhere from 6 to 12 individual audio files per weekday.
For several reasons, we’re considering dropping the complete show and just posting the individual stories. But we wanted to check with our avid web users first. If you could only have one thing — either the complete show or a collection of individual stories — which would you rather have? Which makes more sense on the web? Which makes more sense as a podcast?
If this were another program, like AK or This American Life or Fair Game, it wouldn’t make sense to break it up — those shows are fairly cohesive in design. But ANN is just a collection of news stories that bubbled to the top of the list that day.
So what do you think?
We recommend you leave your comments below (requires site registration). If you prefer not to register with the site, just use our Contact Us form to share your thoughts.
Thank you!
Comments
6 Comments to “Quick survey for APRN web visitors”
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Howdy!
Being a meat guy, I enjoy the “chopped up” menue. However, listening to the entire news cast provides me with the entire cake and not just the icing. If you gave me the choice, I’d say “the whole nine yards”! The works that works, so to speak. Thanks by the way for a great job. APRN rules!
Aleksei
Thanks Aleksei. I don’t know if we rule, but we try!
I always use the individual stories to refer folks to. (Radio should be just as good as any other news medium). The old site had often just the entire newscast but folks were good enough to post an individual story if requested. If only one choice, I vote for the bits.
If you have the podcast as a streaming or “webcast” or whatever radio on the Internet was called, then the entire thing ought to be available, too, so folks can “tune in” if away from their radios or stuck in a late meeting, etc. They broadcast ATC several times (locally, on tape, not the live show) so we can still hear the news. Can it be a “personal” broadcast as well as a referencial one?
PS–
Instead of making posts for both, why not have a link at the top or somewhere that says Today’s Newscast that is the download for the whole kebab, then only post the individual stories?
Each day, Today’s newscast replaces the previous day’s, but the stories are still there for folks to hear? (and the extra bits are there, too, like the picture of the whale tongue. Radio is not always worth a thousand pictures.)
@mpb: Thanks again for your input. I think your second suggestion — posting an audio file link for the latest complete show — makes some sense. Posting the audio file is easy — it’s just one more file in the mix. But building the additional page is the extra and unnecessary step. The extra page also messes up searches — you get at least two hits for every story: one for the story, one for the show it came from.
As for streaming, APRN doesn’t do any streaming, at least not in the traditional sense. Some individual stations in the state stream their radio signals, but APRN, operating as a network, does not. APRN isn’t a station and therefore does not hold the required rights for streaming operations anyway.
The audio for the show is, of course, always available on the site, and you can play it straight from the flash player embedded with each story (which is a kind of streaming), or you can download the source MP3 and play it locally.
If I only have one option, it would be individuaI stories to choose from. I really like having the option of listening to the stories that I am interested in and following. Especially if I am short on time. It is a great way to stay informed when things get hectic. I do however think that it would be great if you could leave the additional option to hear the entire broadcast. As a development person, I would suggest that you may want to also continue the cohesive newscast as a way of promoting the team and the “brand” of being a nightly newscast. ( “If it ain’t broke…don’t fix it” )Thanks to all of you at APRN… you’re a great news station.