CBC Radio creates interactive web space for teens instead of new audio network

Budget cuts haven’t stopped the new media division of CBC Radio from reaching out to young Canadians over the web. While plans for CBC Radio 3, a network aimed at the youth audience, never got off the ground due to an estimated $10-million price tag, the new CBC-produced web site – www.120seconds.com – promises to deliver flash broadcasts, games, pop culture and news to a diverse range of ‘tweeners and youth. The site is being produced by Gabriel-award-winning journalist and web designer Carma Livingstone from CBC’s radio new media headquarters in Vancouver. Livingstone and the other six employees at Radio 3 will work closely with other CBC radio staff on an ad-hoc project basis. The team will have a budget of approximately $1.5 million per year with which to design and commission original content showcasing the talents of youth aged 15 and over. The site is animated in flash, which doesn’t work on older computers. Susan Engelbert, the CBC’s head of radio new media, says the decision to design for more powerful computers which might not have been available a few years ago, and for faster networks, wasn’t an easy one. The producers decided, however, to make the site as eye-catching and interactive as possible. "We could have stripped the site down without any bells and whistles, but it wouldn’t have been the same experience," she told Canadian NEW MEDIA. The site was designed by Vancouver-based 3CB.com, associated with Robert Ouimet. Ouimet has a long history of collaboration with the public broadcaster, having worked for it before creating and producing radio shows such as Coast to Coast, The Beat, RealTime, RadioSonic, and RadioEscapade. While creating RealTime in 1994, he launched the first ever web site for a CBC radio program. Ouimet used RealAudio technology to host a call-in show featuring X-Files’ Gillian Anderson – it was a global first. The site, which incorporates numerous full streaming video clips, is specifically designed for youth who have fast Internet connections. Many viewers will be in college or high schools with access to high speed networks. As proof, Engelbert cites the Napster craze on campuses across the country. One Toronto media critic, though, has said that the site requires too much computing and Internet power. Even the site itself warns that it "sucks" when viewed with some hardware/software combinations. The site is currently in its first stage, and the producers are actively seeking both new content from users, as well as feedback. It is also the first of three sites in total that CBC Radio will launch. The other two, justconcerts.com and newmusic.com are slated to be launched this fall. Like another destination site for Canadian youth, muchmusic.com, 120seconds.com may eventually adopt personalities much as the popular music site features its on-air VJs on the web. Currently, the producers are looking for videos, cartoons, web design, spoken word, music, film, games and Flash animation.

CBC Radio creates interactive web space for teens instead of new audio network

News | 07/12/2000 4:00 am EDT

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