Post #9: Risk Rhetoric
https://twitter.com/SportsWmlu
https://www.instagram.com/WMLURadio/
1) The official WMLU website is a great way to find out information about the station and the services. However, a constraint that apply to their risk rhetoric is their lack of promotion. As we discussed last class, there is no where on the website that has a list of general assembly member that are part of the station. In addition, the have information about meetings, but not if they are cancelled. They are heavily reliant on their social media platforms to keep their audience in check. This may cause risk for audiences that don’t part-take in social media and the Public Relations chair is dpended on to update all the platforms. For some reason, the official website is hardly touched.
2) Both students and business inquiries are WMLU’s target audiences. The more people that join the station, the more they can participate in collaborations with other businesses. However, WMLU is not exclusive to just it’s members or people who want to join, they encourage all Longwood students to come to their events or request them to DJ at their event. However, the station struggles to even have their own members show up to some of their events. This give off a misleading idea that WMLU is an exclusive organization and makes them appear less inviting.
3) In regards to risk, WMLU’s website remains consistant on what it’s organization promotes. By only offering an experience that wpuld be beneficial to students with Communication Study majors. For example, someone who is not a Communication Studies major may not be interested in joining the station or what they have to offer, because it may not apply to them or their field of study, However, WMLU is open to any Longwood student regardless of major and is welcoming to all kinds of people. They could advertise how students with various majors are involved with the station so it appears more inclusive to students on campus.
4) I observed that WMLU’s twitter and instagram offers more information about upcoming events, meetings, shows, etc. The social media accounts are updated daily for the most part as long as there is news about the station to promote. While this does give the audience more indepth information, it doesn’t help those who don’t have those specific social media platforms.
5) How does the organization portray self as qualified or authorized to speak about a particular risk topic? Because WMLU needs improvement on promoting to a wider audience, I would assume that, as college students, they are not entirely educated on how to reach different kinds of audiences. For an example, it is true that most college students are on social media, however there are still some that don’t use it at all. I would recommend keeping up with the social media and maybe updating the website, but also using old-school techniques like actually being present on campus grounds and handing out flyers.
6)Since there is always room for improvement in terms of risk, WMLU invites participation in the risk assessment process. One way the station can provide participation is by having students that are not Communication Studies majors take leadership roles in the station (which they do currently) and have general members of various majors promote how the station impacts them.
7) Does the organization present information in ways that allow audiences to make fully informed choices about whether a risk situation is likely to occur and what the consequences of that occurrence might be? WMLU website offers a lot of useful information about the services they provide to both the Longwood and Farmville communitiy, it allows the audiences to make fully informed choices on whether risk is likely to occur. A potential audience member may want to know how this organization will be beneficial to them if they were to join, or in the case of business, how the station will help boost their own organization.