Johannesburg - Popular commercial radio station You FM launched the YouChat and YouConnect applications to build a more personal and interactive relationship with its listeners.
This was announced as the station was celebrating its three years of existence. It first went on air on November 15, 2019.
The radio station revealed that the new applications provide a platform for users to share their lifestyles with the station, revealing their likes and dislikes.
In a conversation with The Star, the chairperson of the station, Tebogo Pooe, shared the motivation for launching the platform.
“The reason why we decided to launch YouChat and the YouConnect was primarily because the kind of radio apps that are up in the market place are not talking to our ambitions. We have always set ourselves on the path to always create a much more closer and interactive relationship with the YouFM listener. We thought it is not good enough to have an app that just allows listening to a radio station,” said Pooe.
He said that with these applications, the radio station will have a better understanding of what listeners prefer and what they want.
“Our apps provide listeners and any other users the opportunity to talk to us and to share their lifestyles through pictures (and) through videos. And most of us have an opportunity to better understand what our listeners are up to because we have back-end access, so we are able to, with confidence, say to our listeners, ‘this is what they get up to on a Saturday; this is what they get up to on a Monday; this is what they like; this is what they don’t like’. And that also assists us in better understanding; in fact, we can provide better content, and we are able to truly (be) led by the listener,” he said.
He also spoke about their business strategy and said: “We have receptive listeners and we are led by their interests, and this is shown in their response to us, showing that we were spot on in the brand positioning. Our greatest achievement has been that the business community also came to the party quite early and in more ways than we expected. This confirms that our business strategy was accurate and well executed.
“The launch of the applications is the result of over a year of hard work and dedication. These apps are the beginning of You FM’s very active digital life, another form of connecting with our listeners and advertisers. We are indeed taking the You FM brand to another level to remain in tune with our listeners.”
He expressed gratitude for all the support that the radio station has received in the past few years from the listeners.
“We are turning three, and we are very excited. And part of celebrating our birthday was to launch these apps as a way to say to our listeners we are free now and we are taking ourselves to another level. And this is how we want to celebrate our birthday, by launching these apps. We want to thank the listeners for all their support,” said Pooe.
The Star