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Information Systems in eEnterprise

Fdub 99.9
Project Proposal
submitted to

Dr. Beata Jones

By

Brandon Corcoran, Kate Polley, B.J. Wessels & Edgar Crespo

1. Industry overview, based on research (include sources):
According to current market research, the music radio industry has grown steady since 2002.
This has in large part been boosted by the addition of many radio stations turning to the internet
as a means of live streaming to the station. This turning point in the broadcasting industry has
actually increased popularity of stations due to the increase of availability to their consumers
(listeners).
Following the uncertainty over royalty rights payments in 2002, radio station tuning hours “are
forecast to reach 360 million hours in 2006, and there are currently over 700,000 average
quarterly hour listeners to online stations, combining Arbitron and Webcast Metrics user data.”
The analysis also reports that at the start of 2006, radio station subscribers to Internet music saw
an increase of 2.3-2.4 million subscribers, globally.

The report also combines data from many radio stations current competitors in the online
marketplace: internet radio hosted by native pure-play companies such as AOL, Yahoo,
Chaincast Networks, etc.
Top line report findings and analysis:

An important statistic for all radio stations is known as ATH, or Aggregate Tuning Hours.
According to the data presented within the report: “Aggregate tuning hours (ATH) for the top ten
sites and networks rose by 43.8% in 2005 per month, to 257.3 million hours.”

ATH further grew by roughly 53% in 2003 compared to the prior year, which experienced
regulatory problems with regard to royalty fees and copyrights.

The most current data available reports that streaming media revenue, “rose from $49 million in
2003 to $237 million in 2005 and projected to surpass $340 million in 2006.”

Growth rates for revenue were 163% in 2004, 84% in 2005 and an estimated 45% in 2006
Internet Music Radio 2001 - 2006: The Brands and the Beat Go On
AccuStream iMedia Research, May 2006

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/338211

Another report focuses on the growing shift of local radio broadcasting stations towards the web.
After the emergence of many pure-play radio stations in 2004, it became readily apparent that
there was few barriers to entry for emerging radio stations based solely online. Borrell
Associates Inc. reports, “For as little as $2,000 per year in music licensing and Web hosting fees,
anyone can establish an online radio station. No FCC license, no broadcast tower, no expensive
tape decks or remote broadcasting trucks.”

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What many of these pure-play competitors are missing are the local ties that personalize
broadcasting stations to consumers. Many stations such as Kiss FM have well over 200 different
stations, with different channels spanning out nation-wide. The emergence of online streaming
into local stations is a relatively new phenomenon brought about by increased technology on the
web. Some pure-play competitors are already mimicking this ability, however:

“MSN has taken a square aim at local listener affinities by allowing them to select an MSN radio
channel “similar to” the call letters of local radio stations. Local traffic and weather reports –
which are remarkably easy to come by – are likely to come next.”

2005 Outlook: Online Radio Advertising

Borrell Associates Inc., Dec 2004, Pages: 25

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?cat_id=0&report_id=301094&q=radio
%20advertisement&p=1

Conclusion:

Based from these reports, we conclude that many of the most popular radio stations nation-wide
have jumped the transition to online streaming of their content on the web. This, in turn, has led
to the creation of websites displaying such content. In the last few years, these websites have
sought to become more interactive with their users in order to compete with pure-play
competitors who stream music with less advertisement. By providing listeners with local venues
information and events, as well as playlists of music and live broadcasts, radio stations have
solidified a foothold in the use of the web to attract listeners and gain traffic to their websites.

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2. Perform a detailed Porter's Five Forces analysis for your industry. Be sure to discuss entry
barriers and switching costs.

Power HIGH LOW Justify

Buyer Power Buyer power is high because the decision to listen to the radio
station is entirely up to the listener. Most listeners have different
X tastes in music and so they can choose to listen to different
genres. There are often many different stations for each genre.

Supplier Power DJs of radio stations have a lot of influence on what they choose
to play for their station. Depending on whom the radio station
X purchases the music from, there can be a high or a low variation
of supplier power. Radio stations whom are more established and
into the mainstream would experience lower supplier power
because the industries (often the artists) selling the music would
want their music to reach a mass audience.

Threat of Substitute There is a high threat of substitute products due to the emergence
Products or Services of Apple’s iPod and also Pandora. Both don’t have commercials
X and are more convenient to carry around or listen to. Online-only
radio stations have also created a firm foothold amongst
consumers as they offer much of the same content without
advertisements during play.

Threat of New Most established radio stations are well known and have
Entrants developed consumer loyalty amongst their listeners. Small, new
X stations often struggle to generate a large pool of audience.

Rivalry Among Because listeners have different tastes in music, they can afford to
Existing choose which radio stations they like to listen to. If a radio station
Competitors X is playing too many commercials or not playing to the listener’s
tastes, the chances are high the listener will switch to a different
station since there is little cost involved.

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3. Description of the competitive environment that is relevant to the use of the Web by the industry.
Competitive Force … and their Web Usage within the Industry

Customers use the web to listen to music playlists and obtain

information regarding the radio broadcasting station (events, guest
Customers appearances, etc). They also can submit content for contests hosted by
the radio station.

Suppliers are able to communicate their music to the radio station and
use the web as a medium for advertising their products. Also, they could
Suppliers use the web to upload the music to the radio station as a digital copy.

New entrants to the radio station industry utilize the web to improve
awareness about their station and advertise events. They also sometimes
New Entrants use the web to link to partnering or ‘sister’ stations that they are
affiliated with.

Competitors use the web to gain recognition and awareness for their
respective stations. This can be done through advertising events,
Competitors contests, guest appearances, and marketing. Pure-play competitors like
online-only radio stations use the web as their sole basis of business.

Substitute products use the web to sell their products. The radio stations’
largest substitute product is the iPod, which is a pure play business
Substitute Products conducted solely online. With the introduction of iTunes, competition
has skyrocketed in this category.

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4. Using what you have learned about good/bad web design in class and using class notes, please
identify: four web sites in your industry that you believe are ‘good’ and four that you consider
‘poorly designed.’ (Each individual researches two companies.)

Company Name 106.1 KISS FM 100.1 The Edge

Web Site’s URL www.1061kissfm.com www.edge100.com

Site’s Male/female. Approximately ages 16-40 All genders. 18+

Target (mainly)
Audience

Provide information & entertainment Allows interaction between station and

Site’s Purpose through the use of webpages, newsfeeds, listeners.
and music playlists.

Good? (Yes/No) Yes No

Navigation – main links centered Negative Space – used poorly, creates large
horizontally at top makes for easy ‘gaps’ between content.
navigation.

Boxes/Frames – overdone. Simply put,

there’s too many of them.
Design elements
from the lecture 1 Flash item – provides info in an
interactive way; by only having one the
notes/lecture that
site keeps things simple but effective.
contributed to a
Positive/Negative
impression
- provide at least 3
for each site & Playlist positioning – site follows the
explain clockwise eye-coordination.

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 Company Name 99.5 The Wolf 96.3 KSCS

www.995thewolf.com www.kscs.com
Web Site’s URL

Site’s
Target Local, younger country music fans. Local, country music fans.
Audience

To promote their radio station and To promote their radio station and upcoming
upcoming events while guiding viewers events.
Site’s Purpose to local Texas way of life.

Good? (Yes/No) Yes No

-The Wolf website has a primary toolbar -Lots of “white” space.

that creates easy nevigation.

Design elements -Great contrasting colors to make it easy -Boring colors, dated pictures of celebrities.
to read.
from the lecture
-Hard to find contact information. Not easy to
notes/lecture that -An abundant amount of things to click navigate.
contributed to a on and keep you entertained
Positive/Negative
impression
- provide at least 3
for each site &
explain

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 Company Name WRR KBEC

Web Site’s URL www.wrr101.com http://www.kbec.com/

Site’s Local classical music fans. Ellis county country fans.

Target Mostly middle aged.
Audience

Keep the listeners informed about Inform the listeners of upcoming events and
Site’s Purpose upcoming events and what they’re what they’re playing and when.
playing and when.

Good? (Yes/No) Yes No

• Website loads quickly and • Negative space is prevalent

efficiently due to organized throughout the website, detracting
content. from the overall value.
• Effectively utilizes an • Color scheme detracts from
effective color scheme that content.
attracts the readers’ • Website does not have enough
attention and complements pertinent information relating to
Design elements from the articles and information. upcoming events and shows.
the lecture notes/lecture
that contributed to a
Positive/Negative
impression
- provide at least 3 for
each site & explain;

Attach website
screenshots with
discussed features • The website contains
highlighted with valuable information for the
listener pertaining to the
diigo.com or
stations’ content.
awesomehighlighter.co
m

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 Company Name Los 40 Principales Wao 97.5 FM

Web Site’s URL http://los40.com.pa/ http://www.wao975.fm/

Site’s
Target People who want to know about music People who want to know about music and
Audience and events events

Site’s Purpose
Informs and entertains the listener. Music Radio Station and Music Events

Good? (Yes/No) Yes No

The website contains no negative space The website contains too much negative space
and has nicely positioned content. and has poorly formatted content.

Some of the links on the site are confused;

navigation is poor and creates difficulties for
Navigation is neatly handled by utilizing the user in trying to get from page to page.
Design elements from tabs at the top of the page to direct users
the lecture notes/lecture to various pages of content.
that contributed to a There are too many things occurring on the
Positive/Negative site’s page to really direct the viewer’s
impression attention to any one thing.
- provide at least 3 for
each site & explain;
Music plays upon reaching the website; this
Attach website can be detracting and unwanted by the user.
screenshots with
discussed features
highlighted with
The conglomeration of pictures and text The entire website is done in flash format.
diigo.com or creates a nice effect that pleases the eye.
awesomehighlighter.com

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5. Industry ‘key competitors’ (Select four of the well designed websites from the previous section and
have each individual research their company in more depth. Include your perceptions/opinions in
this section.)

Competitor’s name How (what features?) What are their most What are their most
and URL of the are they using on the effective or unique ways ineffective ways of
web site web? of using the web? using the web?

Kiss FM is using the web Kiss FM has a separate Kiss FM has a scattered
to upload information page dedicated to each layout as you scroll
Kiss FM about events (such as individual DJ, and each down the page; their
contests), guest speakers DJ has their own contests main page is too long;
coming to the show, and events going on. This sometimes
concerts, contest, etc. personalizes it for users. advertisements pop-up.

They have a list of the The homepage gives you Contains several links
Dj’s, different concerts, access to the most that are random and
The Wolf podcast, videos, events, interesting parts of the have nothing to do with
Texas Motor Speedway, site. the website like for
Texas Living magazine, instance they have a
community, wolf experts link after searching that
etc. helps you to get your
kids eat healthy.

Contains their playlist, a Lacks really anything Doesn’t possess a

list of all the DJs, unique, but possesses the whole lot of content to
WRR upcoming events, and an pertinent information keep you on their site
email newsletter that readily available. for any length of time.
listeners can sign up for.

They have videos, photos, They have blank spaces

They have different information, and
Mix 102.9 access buttons to see: advertisements.
Events, concerts, up to
date information, Mix
Music List, Movies and
Music Industry news.

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6. Industry Key Competitors - Web Site Ratings (scaled 1-10)
(Be sure to come up with three more criteria on your own.)

Company Websit Ease of Site Availabilit How Efficient Overall

Name e Navigatio Appearanc y of Current Communicatio
Conten n e Playlists n
t

Kiss FM 9 8 7 10 7 10 8.5

The Wolf 9 8 9 4 9 10 8

WRR 6 8 7 7 9 8 7.5

Mix 102.9 8 9 7 7 7 8 7

Company#1 Kiss FM

Rating Explanation of Rating

Website Content Kiss FM earned a rating of 9 under website content for their innovation of using
the web to communicate different activities. They have a variety of innovative
content, including the most thorough playlists, a calendar of events, and unique
webpages to each of their DJs.

Ease of Navigation Kiss FM earned an 8 in the category of ease of navigation through the use of their
horizontal link navigation up at the top. They also implemented a flash media
player that will link to different articles, and have separated the majority of their
home page by various frames pertaining to different sections of content.

Site Appearance Kiss FM’s weakest feature was site appearance. Simply put, the home page
requires too much scrolling than the average user is willing to perform. Some of
the content is surrounded by too much negative space inducing us to conclude
that much of it could be moved away from the main page and to other sections of
the website. The bottom half of the website has the same links as the top.

Availability of Kiss FM scored highly on its availability of playlists by positioning them to the
Playlists right-hand side where they are easily seen by viewers. Clicking on a song opens a
new window that contains the music video to the song; loading is fast and
effective.

How Current In the radio broadcast industry, the most successful websites are the ones with the
most current up-to-date information. We decided that although Kiss FM’s
content is current, their playlists tend to lag behind by about a half month as far
as popularity is concerned.

Efficient Efficient communication is key in the radio industry; how can the station best
Communication communicate to its listeners the events going on in the most concise way
possible. Kiss FM exemplifies this feature by providing basic facts about
community events and outsourcing links to other news sites for more detailed

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 information.

Company #2 The Wolf

Rating

Website Content The content of the website is phenomenal; the only problem with the website is
that it might contain too much information and would get their consumer
confused.

Ease of Navigation The website is really easy to navigate, nothing tricky to figure out. There is a
little bit of difficulty in accessing the DJ’s on the primary tool bar.

Site Appearance The overall appearance of the site is very fresh, interesting and informative. Lots
of color, the only thing that the site could improve on is that the color scheme of
the background could be taken as boring.

Availability of There is a playlist of the last ten songs played on the radio station listed on the
Playlists homepage. The downfall to the website’s playlist is that access a way to listen to
the songs on the list.

How Current The website contains very current information on artists, upcoming events and
the community. The content that is provided on this website is refreshed daily.

Efficient The website makes it clear how to get from one link to another. The website
Communication gives a way to communicate with each of the DJ’s. You are able to understand
and find a way to navigate to everything on the site.

Company#1 WRR

Rating Explanation of Rating

Website Content It has the bare bones information of the company, a playlist, and how to get to the
live streaming, but not much other content.

Ease of Navigation It is pretty easy to navigate, the only issue is that the side bar is changed
depending upon what page you’re currently on.

Site Appearance Everything is blocked off from each other and feels blocky and boring.

Availability of Although the initial playlist is easy to get to they have two different playlists,
Playlists each for different times of the day, so to get the information on what’s playing at

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 certain times you have to follow a link to a different site and find the playlist
you’re looking for. There are also 3 different links for getting to the live
streaming which makes it a little difficult to figure out which one you need to
click on.

How Current The information is updated on a daily basis and covers current events in the local
area, but not much about any of the new players or conductors.

Efficient They have the most pertinent information on upcoming events up in the middle
Communication of the front page.

Company #4 Mix 102.9

Rating Explanation of Rating

Website Content The website contains an opinion box, events, up to date information, Mix Music
List, music videos and advertisements. This content is necessary for the radio
broadcasting industry.

Ease of Navigation The website operates via horizontal navigation seen through the tabs on the upper
portion of the homepage.

Site Appearance The website has a good color scheme, and the content is very organized.

Availability of The webpage has the Mix music where you can get the Top Music Lists as well
Playlists as ringtones.

How Current The amount of current content is fairly good, but the playlists need updating
since the summer has almost ended.

Efficient The webpage is formatted in such a way that the content is communicated
Communication decently to the viewer.

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7. The industry’s strengths and weaknesses in regard to the effective use of the web?(at least 3 each)
Strengths Weaknesses

1. Radio broadcasting effectively uses the
web for online streaming to live stations,
thus increasing the availability to its
listeners.
2. Radio stations use the web efficiently in
communicating information about daily
content on the station and upcoming events
in the local area.
3. Radio stations use the web as a medium for
listeners to submit content or ideas to the
station, thus making it more interactive and
personal to the listener.
4. Many radio station websites have games
and activities on the web that provide
entertainment for their users.
1. Unlike some of its competitors, radio
stations can’t provide a permanent source
of continuous music on the web.
2. Some of the radio stations attract a specific
audience with the type of music they play;
this creates a lack of uniformity in the radio
broadcasting online segment of the music
industry and can detract from the industry’s
strength overall.
3. Much of the news posted on radio stations’
websites is not professional-grade and is
found lacking on real-world events beyond
the local environment.
4. Because most radio stations are sponsored
(public broadcasting doesn’t cost the
listener anything) they are required to
include advertisements between songs.

8. Proposed website enhancements for the industry(at least 3 each):

i. What type of information would you recommend they add to their websites?
- Many radio stations feature the top 10 music artists for their respective
genres but fail to give the listener more than just their name. Because of the
use of technology in having a website, many stations could link to these
artists’ fan sites for the dedicated fan.
- Some radio stations’ websites have so much content about past or daily
shows that some users would like to revisit something they heard or saw
earlier in the week. A website enhancement that would address this issue
would be the introduction of a search bar to sift through the mass amount of
content kept on these stations’ websites.
- Diversified media content would help increase traffic and keep the listener
entertained seeing as most radio stations’ websites don’t have an
introductory video explaining the site or relating to some of the daily
content on the station.
ii. What modifications would you recommend to their web design?

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 - Repetition of links taking the user to the same locations can be avoided by
having a primary navigation toolbar. This would also help save space and
decrease scroll time for the homepage.
- Touching off that, links to multiple pages with smaller amounts of content is
always preferable to one page that has all of the content on there. Scrolling
for more than five to ten seconds down a page is not recommendable when
you can improve navigation to take users to new pages.
- Advertisements should be kept to the sides of the page and not embedded in
the main content of the website.

9. Name of the company that you propose to create and its geographic location:
Our team would like to create a Radio Broadcasting company titled ‘Fdub 99.9’, located in
Fort Worth, Texas.
10. Detailed description of the proposed new business, including mission/goals, services and
products it will offer, size, etc.

Fdub 99.9
Fdub 99.9 is a radio broadcasting company located in Fort Worth, Texas playing the
most popular and recent songs available from current artists. Our mission is to entertain
our listeners with the top hits from most genres of music by giving them what they want
while also informing them of local events.
Fdub 99.9 is a unique station in that we offer:
o Unlike Fort Worth’s largest radio stations, our music will feature the top
songs from emerging and current artists from most genres including:
Rock, Pop, R&B, Alternative, Hip-Hop, Rap, and Country.
o Current and real time information about local events and contests in the
DFW metroplex pertaining to the station and the music industry in
general.
o A steady source of playlists available for our listeners to sample music
from emerging artists or entertain themselves with popular songs from
current ones.
Fdub 99.9 would not be a successful enterprise if it was not continuously contributing to
the music business industry. In this respect, some current goals of Fdub 99.9 include but
are not limited to:
o Encouraging the development of musical talent by promoting new and
emerging artists in the DFW metroplex.

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 o Championing the utilization of music as a source of entertainment in the
average family household.
o Offering internships and job positions to the community within the radio
broadcasting sector of the music business industry.
Like most public broadcasting stations our product is the music we air, and in doing so
sponsorship and advertisements will be a must in order to create a steady stream of
revenue for the business.
Because we are a new company, our best assets are our flexibility and adaptability.
Adapting rapidly to the demands of our listeners is a must, and so the size of this
company need not be managed by more than twenty individuals. The positions available
within this company would range from experienced DJs in ‘sync’ with local tastes to the
technical standpoint of analysts and web masters who adapt content to popular demand.

11. Determine which of Porter's Three Generic Strategies you will use as you build your
company for the 21st century. Explain your answer.
99.9 Fdub will implicate the differentiation strategic and in doing so will create a one of a
kind music listening experience. Our purpose is to give air time to the biggest hits in
every genre to ensure that everyone will enjoy something about our radio station. Giving
music listeners a huge variety of music to listen too will broaden their horizons on what
genres of music they would prefer. A lot of music enthusiasts only like a type of music,
Fdub’s listeners would explore their music taste buds by experiencing all the top hits of
each genre.

12. Discuss the many eBusiness strategies that your company could use to increase revenue
and decrease cost.
A. Company web site’s target audience – who will use the website (internally and
externally), for what purpose and where are they located geographically?
Our website will target an audience of all races and genders between the ages of 16-40 in
the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex for the purpose of supplying them with the most popular
music and information about local news.
B. Company’s website purpose:
Our website will serve as a medium to communicate information about events, daily
content, guest speakers, and featured artists coming to the area.
C. Company’s primary usage of the web

a. Is the primary use going to be informational or transactional or both? Justify.

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 The primary use of the web will be informational. The radio broadcasting
industry uses the web as an additional means of communicating to its listener’s
information about its respective radio stations. Because listening to public radio is
free of charge, there are no transactions occurring on many radio stations’
websites.

b. What pages will be found on the website? Please list major sections of the site.
Home Page / Index Music Playlists
About Us Blogs about new artists
Contact The Site Events
DJs on Station
Music Videos

c. Is the website primarily for B2B (business to business) or

B2C (business to consumer) or both? Justify.

The website will serve as both B2B and B2C. Its primary
function is obviously B2C seeing as it serves to
communicate to the audience news about events and
concerts coming through the DFW metroplex. However, by
doing so, it also demonstrates to aspiring artists and record
labels its popularity amongst its consumers (listeners) and
thus creates value in the advertising of new artists and
music.

D. How can an eBusiness strategy help your company attract

customers and increase sales?

Our eBusiness strategy would attract customers and increase sales

by giving our listeners a variety of information and interaction that
they could associate with our site. A well established website
makes a company/organization seem very sophisticated and
professional. Our website’s professionalism would enhance the
listeners’ experience and make them want to join our website’s
community. Fdub would allow our listeners to feel a part of the
radio station and identify with the music we play. This would in
turn attract advertisers once they realize the amount of traffic our
site draws. Increased advertising on our site means increased sales.

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E. How could eBusiness strategy help customer service?

Developing an eBusiness strategy will assist our customer service

by letting our listeners submit requests through emails and polls.
We could receive feedback on the songs that our listeners want to
hear by developing polls, quizzes and surveys to better serve our
listeners.

F. How could you use an eBusiness strategy to partner with

suppliers?

eBusiness strategies would allow us to contact and communicate

with record label companies to streamline the process of brokering
deals in order to obtain royalties and rights to play their music.

G. How could a portal help your employees?

A portal would be very useful to our employees. They would be

able to email one another, utilize searches for information, and also
get in touch with our listeners so that we can better serve them
better.

H. How could a kiosk help your business?

Kiosks set with our website as the home page are a cheap, easy,
and effective tool for promoting local awareness about the radio
station and encouraging involvement on behalf of the listeners. A
kiosk in a popular location (such as a shopping center) or set up at
concerts would attract individuals looking to get online. By having
a kiosk set to our website’s homepage, individuals can explore the
content and gather knowledge about Fdub 99.9 and the type of
music we broadcast.

I. What types of metrics would you want to track on your eBusiness

Web site? Be sure to justify your answers.

Utilizing cookies would be helpful for our business because it

would allow us to analyze how often listeners visit the site and
their patterns of activity on the site. Areas that don’t generate as

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much cookies compared to others can be focused upon and
improved. Click stream Data Metrics would allow us to further
analyze the patterns of activity listeners produce while visiting
sites, specifically the time they spend on the site, the number of
page views, and the dates and times of visits. This can further be
reinforced by analyzing data from Visit and Hit Metrics.

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