Communication Audit Report

March 31, 2017

Presented by: Jeffrey Gately, Marcos Huacon, Kelley Bradford, and Harry Watson
 WMWM is a non-profit radio station in the Salem State community that

broadcasts an array of music from all genres. It was originally founded as WSSC AM

640 in 1968, and became WMWM 91.7 in 1976. It is located in the Ellison Campus

Center on the ground level at Salem State University. WMWM has been playing

alternative music for years. This includes Rock, local bands, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Rap, and

more. There are multiple DJs and diverse shows throughout the week to attract all

listeners. Some shows that can be heard on WMWM include Andre Barils The Generic

Show which presents a range of classic rock to modern pop punk and features

discussions on video games, movies, and TV shows. Nick Paolinis Rise of the Rebel

Scum analyzes the current political and government fallings through the lense of Star

Wars, and on Late Night Sauce, Ashley Sosa-Feliz talks about celebrities, hot topics

and plays a mix of music.

WMWMs target audience is young adults at Salem State University, and people

living in the Salem area. Because of the mix of music that is played daily on WMWM, it

can be seen that another demographic that they appeal to is music lovers in general,

individuals who love all genres of music and who are not interested in listening to

popular songs that are normally featured on other radio stations. Since WMWM is

located on the schools campus, the most of the public living in the surrounding areas

do not know about it. This is why we want to raise awareness of the station. In order to

do this, we will research and analyze the effectiveness of the communication strategies

that WMWM has already utilized and recommend ways that they can be improved to

reach their target audience in the future.

Weebly website data points

Twitter Data:
-Posts made daily around 11am, 4pm and 5pm at reasonable times.
-Huge gap between February 15th and March 21st due to switch of twitter management
-Very little feedback/interaction with followers
-Average retweet/like number: 2 per tweet

Facebook Data:
-No link to Twitter or other forms of social media (Instagram, Snapchat)
-Average of 6 comments per post
-Only one dance post included details about the dance
-Programming schedule was posted inconsistently and well after shows have started
-Posts are made at random times
-Most effective posts are polls
-Majority of posts/photos only promote e-board members

Post Analysis:

3/21
-First promotion of 90s/80s Dance, Tuesday,03/21, 3:30 pm
-Second promotion 03/21 8:44pm
-No mention of show schedule

3/22
-Promotion of Thick Mist Show one hour after show started
-Report on accident on 03/22, 10:49 am
-Dance promotion/Poll question, 1:55pm

3/23
-Post about 90s/80s dance at 2:37pm

3/24
-List of shows, 7:47am after shows had already started
-Sci-fi/Fantasy dance promo, 11:58 am (on day of event)
-Afternoon schedule posted at 1:41pm, (19 minutes before first show)
-Sci-fi dance photo posted at 6:59, no 90s/80s dance photos posted

3/25
-Schedule posted at 12:48pm (5 hours after first show)
-Poll question, 1:30

3/26
-Schedule post

Blog

WMWMs website does contain a blog, however, the most recent post was made on

4/5/2016. With the launch of a newly redesigned website, WMWM plans on running a

blog that is updated by various staff members and guest contributors on a regular basis.

Strengths

One of the strengths of WMWMs communication is that they use social media

sites such as Twitter and Facebook, to promote shows and events that are happening

throughout the semester. They also have a substantial amount of followers. For

example, on Twitter they have 789 followers, and on Facebook they have 1,122

followers with 1,148 people liking their page. The number of followers shows the

opportunity and ability to reach many repeated and new listeners, both on and off

campus. Another strength on their social media pages is that they average about 2

retweets on Twitter, and 6 comments on Facebook per post. Again this shows that

people are checking their posts and some are interacting with them.

Weaknesses
 Even though WMWM has many followers on their social media, they have

many weaknesses. It can be seen that when it comes to promoting shows, they often

post later in the day after the shows are over which is not very effective. They also dont

post as often on twitter as they do on Facebook. To reach as many people as possible

it is important that they post on both platforms because followers of WMWMs Twitter

account will not necessary be checking their Facebook page as well. Another weakness

is that majority of interaction with followers on social media is among students who work

for the station. This shows that they are not reaching externally to their broader

audience.

Though WMWM has an internet presence, it is lacking in consistent posts that

inform viewers on shows times before they happen and constricting information to one

platform or the other. Instead of posting programming schedules at a reasonable time

and solid info on topics, they usually post a few moments before the actual show on a

singular social media site, rather than on both. We recommend gaining more

organizational skills so posting times are monitored and fluctuate at appropriate times.

To increase interaction from listeners, WMWM could potentially run giveaway events

requiring shares and likes and retweets to enter making their numbers grow for the

event and if they keep up consistently with their posts and show quality, those numbers

will stay.

The most effective strategies for WMWM would be to continue to use their social

media platforms to reach out to their current followers in an engaging, approachable

manner through polling, up-to-date program information, and contests when financially

viable.

In addition to a more consistent social media presence, our group will be

contributing blog posts to WMWMs website throughout April, 2017 to help build up

page. It is our hope that, through our suggestions regarding social media and a more

well managed blog, featuring assigned contributors posting regularly, WMWM will be

able to grow their listener base, and that people across the North Shore will be more

likely to tune in and listen.