BY MARIJANE MILTON
Today, there are thousands of radio station websites in America. And, today, many stations are disappointed about the revenue they've realized from their website. This is a problem. And yet, it's a problem you can do something about.

First, understand the role of the website
A successful radio station website reinforces the station's imaging. It is an amplification of the on-air presentation. It takes the best of the broadcast and makes it bigger, better, richer and more interactive. It is a listener outreach mechanism. To your most loyal listeners, it is your station's face. And, as the most likely visitor is a P1 listener, it is targeted directly to that individual.

Properly utilized, it is a recycling machine moving the listener between the website, the radio station, their e-mail inbox, and back again. And there is no individual in your radio station more adept at "stationality," recycling, and brand extension than your Program Director.

Second, understand how it can make you money
A successful radio station website can make money two ways; directly and indirectly. Directly, it creates non-spot revenue when it is properly managed, has built-in avails, and is used effectively by your sales force as a tool to solve client marketing challenges. Indirectly, it has the potential to drive phantom revenue to your radio station.

Here's just one example. This year the Portland, Oregon market is projected to bill approximately $114,000,000 (source: BIA Data). So every sales manager in Portland knows that a one share of audience should translate into a minimum one share of revenue or about $1,114,000. Now think about all the money and strategic thinking put into each station marketing campaign. Too often, the website is not maximized as a component of a station marketing campaign Yet, it is a critical component, especially since a P1 listener, the individual contributing the most quarter hours, is the most likely site visitor. Whatever your market's size, successful website integration into station marketing is necessary.

Third, set yourself up to win
To truly benefit from all a successful website can do for your station, it must be properly managed. Many stations have elected to consider the website an exclusive tool of the Sales Department in their desire to turn it, quickly, into a cash machine for the station. But, today, more and more stations are learning that as a listener outreach mechanism, the daily care and feeding of the website places it within the Program Director's domain. And that by combining the marketing savings, targetability and recycling opportunities the site offers, with the revenue it can generate, they can not only self-liquidate a web initiative; they can see a fast ROI.

So set yourself up to win. For your website to be financially successful, it needs to be treated as part of the radio station's presentation. Which means Programming and Sales need to work hand in hand to extract every opportunity the site offers. Just like they already do, every day, for your radio station.

Marijane C. Milton, CRMC, is Vice President, Training for First MediaWorks and Director of FMW University. Contact Marijane at 949-369-5900 x216, by e-mail at mj@firstmediaworks.com or by visiting FMW University at www.firstmediaworks.com.

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BY RALPH SLEDGE
Though it wasn't unveiled with much grandeur, or even given a nice graphical button on the site, "The WB" television network has recently put up a little webcast of their own, here.

The idea behind this station is to feature songs that have appeared in shows on "The WB." For instance, Vannessa Daou's "Show Me" has been heard on Dawson's Creek, so it will be in the rotation. The player will tell you what show a particular song comes from, in addition to having the typical artist and album information. There's also a "Buy this CD Now!" link on the player that leads to Amazon.com.

There aren't too many more frills on the RadioWave-powered player, but it seems like anything more would probably be excess. It uses Flash and Windows Media, and it seems to run cleanly enough as a browser-based player.

In addition to the songs featured on shows, there are a healthy number of songs that apparently "WB Recommends." What this means is that the station isn't really much more than a modern A/C station, and if there are obvious gaps in the playlist because a particular song hasn't been played in a show, they'll be filled in as "recommended" songs. (It isn't too strict, however: you'll see Blondie and XTC thrown in there, for instance.)

All-in-all, it's a good way to add stickiness to the WB site: it's easy to imagine that fans would be thrilled at the idea of listening to the station as they're reading about their favorite shows.