Phil Evans from Crave FM explained to a packed house at Third Tuesday how the radio station transformed itself from the well-known Z95 into a completely new format, and used social media to involve their audience in the process. He explained that in the radio business formats are changed very rapidly, in order to avoid being one-upped by your competition. But he likened the audience experience to "waking up in the jelly baths from the Matrix," because all of a sudden their chosen station has been taken away from them.
In order to find out what the audience reaction was to Crave's format change, Evans set up a Facebook group for listeners to interact with the station. The group currently has over 2,000 members and adds an average of 34 members a day, he said. He added the Facebook group allowed much more immediate feedback than consulting ratings, which are released only at set points during the year.
