CFCW | 740 CFCW | Edmonton | NewCap | Country
While a significant number of CFCW's audience are between the ages of 35 and 64, the station actually has quite a diverse fan base. More than once I've been riding in a young, twenty-something friend's pickup and realized after a few minutes that we were listening to CFCW. Since Edmonton only has a couple country radio stations, it's not uncommon for young country music fans to jump over to the AM dial when CISN Country isn't playing the songs they're in the mood for.
Given CFCW's popularity among a younger audience, I was somewhat surprised to realize that they haven't taken to social media in the way that some the city's other radio stations have. Surfing CFCW's website, you'll find not a trace of social media. There are no links to Facebook or MySpace. There are no discussion forums. And there are no RSS feeds for the events, concerts, or other sections where the ability to subscribe to updates would be beneficial.
One could argue that CFCW is unaware of it's youth audience, but considering the station's role in the Big Valley Jamboree—that annual orgy of country music and youthful self-destruction—that would be a naive assumption. The station's media managers need only look at the young audiences who flock to Big Valley every year to realize that there are a lot of young people tuning in to the station.
Besides, young people aren't the only ones using social media (close to half of Facebook's members are over the age of 35) so it makes sense for CFCW to get involved in the social web even without making considerations for their younger listeners.
But, despite the lack of social content on the station's website, CFCW is active on Facebook. There is an official fan page created by the station; it's quite active and contains a fair amount of information that isn't available on the station's website. Why they haven't linked to their Facebook page from the website is something one can't help but wonder. Given that the website is a static one, containing no blogs or other frequently updated content, it would make sense to give visitors a link to the much more dynamic Facebook page.
CFCW's Facebook page
Despite this small oversight, CFCW is engaging with it's audience. Unlike a lot of media outlets that have a presence on Facebook, CFCW actually has someone interacting with the fans who are posting on the page (even if they are a bit slow to respond).
Anyone who thinks that CFCW is a vanguard of old fashioned ways, and hasn't kept up with the times need only look at their Facebook page to be proven wrong. While their website doesn't show it, CFCW is dipping it's toes into social media even more than some of the more "modern and edgy" stations currently on the air. In time, I expect that we'll see them go even further.
Of course, social media isn't the be-all and end-all of online communications. CFCW's website has a Contacts page, which lists phone numbers for a variety of departments, as well as email addresses for all of the important people at the station, including the on-air personalities.
They've also got listing for Events, Concerts, and Contests. These all seem to be listings that are in some way sponsored by CFCW, so any organizations hoping to be mentioned in this listings will likely have to get CFCW on-board as a media sponsor.
Between the information on the Contacts page and CFCW's highly active Facebook page, communicators looking to connect with the station and its fans online shouldn't have any trouble.