ART/COMM 351: MULTIMEDIA DESIGN

Blog One: Coast to Coast AM

Written by Tyler Davis Thursday, 15 January 2009 09:37

One website I view regularly is coasttocoastam.com. It's the official website of the "world's most listened-to late-night radio talk show" Coast to Coast AM. This particular radio show broadcasts online and on AM waves from 12am-5am nightly, and when they do not report hard news the show's hosts discuss the paranormal: government conspiracy theories, ghost stories, angels, demons, Jack the Ripper, near-death-experiencs, remote-viewing, psychics, alternative history theories, alternative medicine, urban legends, scientific discoveries, big foot... They go all over the place and some of it is worth the time to listen, other topics are irritatingly fantastic and totally ridiculous, but admittedly entertaining.

The C2C webiste is laid out in two collumns with a navigation bar to the right. And show info for the whole week is located on a bar to the right. One can use the navigation bar to move to different areas of the site and explore various information about the radio show. One can search through digital archives of past shows, guests and topics from 2002 to present. The site hosts a streaming channel when the show is live, and one can also access a database of past shows up to three months prior (as long as you pay for it).

Usually there is an article featured in the right column that contains info relavant to the most recent show. Other 'news' info is located at the bottom of the right column and various offers for fans and listeners are found all over the page. The site is set up kind of like a fan club website rather than a news website. There are ads and special offers for various things like news letters or related magazine subscriptions directed at Coast to Coast listeners.

The user can also find listener photos that are sent in and posted. Usually photos consist of weird anamalies or strange natural phenomenon. Users can use links on the site to directly email the hosts and staff of the show to send in info and comments. Also members who pay to listen online can utilize what is called the "Fast Blast". Fast Blast can be used to send short messages to the host of the show only when it is being broadcasted live. (Fast blast is not visible on the site when a show is not broadcasting.) So members can listen to the show on their radio or online and actually make comments or correct the host and staff if there is a factual error. It's a very interactive option that many radio shows do not use widely.

Another helpful thing for listeners is the availability of info on affiliates who carry the show. Listeners can use an interactive map to locate local stations that broadcast the show.

It's a fun sight that supplies lots of links to interesting stories and sights each week. And the C2C sight is notorious for crashing other people's sites as it is highly trafficked hub to other sights.