CISN | Edmonton | Corus | Country
CISN Country is one of Edmonton's two country music stations. In addition to being the more popular of the two, it came in second in the Winter 2008 ratings (630 CHED was first). There's clearly a significant audience to be reached on CISN.
How can communicators make use of CISN's website to reach this audience? There are a few different ways. The first is the “Contact Us” page. Like all Corus websites, CISN's contact page provides a significant amount of information. There are email addresses for all of the on-air staff, the interactive department (who manage the website), and of course the sales and promotions teams. Phone, fax, and mailing information can also be found on this page.
Like most radio stations, CISN also has sections for contests, concerts and events. And, like most other radio stations, all of the events listed here are sponsored by CISN. If you want to have your event listed, you'll have to convince CISN to act as a media sponsor for you. You may also want to consider donating a prize for one of their contests.With the exception of local news and weather, CISN's news sections actually link to fellow Corus radio station 630 CHED. If you're going to try to pitch a press release to CISN, you might as well go through the news department at CHED. If you're lucky, this will get you attention on both stations.
CISN has a number of active blogs, written by the on-air hosts, that allow visitors to comment on them. To leave a comment, simply click on the “READ MORE” link at the bottom of a post to be taken to the page where you'll be able to leave a comment. You can also click the number in brackets beside the word “Comments.”
Bruce Bowie's blog
Sean Burke's blog
Jennifer Martin's blog
Mike McGuire's blog
Chris Sheetz's blog
Stacy Woodward's blog
Dave Rolfson's blog
Nashville Kat's blog
Jimmy the Intern's blog
These blogs all appear to be moderated, so your comment will not appear right away. However, most radio stations will approve just about any comment. In order for your comment not to be approved you'd probably have to write something truly offensive—which you're obviously not going to do if you're a communications professional trying to get a message out to the public.
CISN Country also has a Twitter account but, like media outlets, it's used only to broadcast one-way information. There doesn't seem to be a chance to effectively communicate with the station via Twitter. But, it never hurts to try, so if you've got a Twitter account you might as well give it a shot.
CISN Country's Twitter account
Like a lot of radio station's in Edmonton, CISN has started to embrace social media—mostly in the form of blogs. If you're willing to get involved and make your communications public, leaving a comment on one of CISN's blogs might be an effective way of sharing your message with both the staff and the fans of CISN. And, of course, there are the traditional methods of communication listed on the “Contact Us” page that should never be forgotten—social media is great, but the old school methods often remain the most effective.