UTS students help community radio find new audiences

Last year a group of Postgraduate Management Consulting students helped 2RRR 88.5FM community radio station develop a strategic plan for expanding their reach in what is a rapidly evolving media industry.  

As part of the UTS Shopfront Community Program, these students consulted with key stakeholders from 2RRR 88.5FM, conducted research on the industry and ultimately presented new insights on how to reach key audiences, goals and deliverables, and methods to help reach those goals over the next 3.5 years. 

Lachlan, 2RRR 88.5FM Station Manager, said that the students assisted the station to increase its engagement. 

‘The students made it clear that we were present but not enough to capitalise on the digital world and ensure we are reaching the people we need to. 

‘They helped us to recognise the importance of increasing our digital presence and in expanding our focus to capture the strong presence of the youth age group in the radio consuming market. These insights were supported with extremely useful techniques that will assist our organisation in making and communicating these changes.’

Lachlan said it was really useful to have people from outside the industry working on the strategic plan.

‘We usually get a lot of internal feedback about what the station could do better in the future, but to have external feedback from students that are completely unbiased, and somewhat new to the radio scene, was just the fresh lens that we needed.

‘Their research was so detailed – they looked at trends and gave us really useful feedback that we can integrate.’ 

Lachlan said he would highly recommend for other organisations to work with the UTS Shopfront Community Program.  

‘Ultimately, it was a great experience. The station isn't well resourced and to outsource a company to develop a strategic plan is out of our financial capacity. So, to have this completed for us by students was amazing. 

‘We wouldn't have a strategic plan as good as this if we had to do it ourselves. It was just a fantastic opportunity for 2RRR 88.5FM.’

Shopfront links the community sector to university expertise through pro bono projects completed by students as part of their studies, supervised by academic experts in their field. We aim to create mutual value, supporting community organisations while engaging students in important social justice issues. Find out more.

Find out more about studing the Master of Management degree at UTS Business School.