Trouble Launches Internet Radio Service

Flextech’s teen channel Trouble is to add a new dimension to its cable, satellite, digital and internet output this summer, with the addition of a radio station available through its website.

The channel’s summer schedule includes a magazine show T-Nation, which will go out live at 4.30pm on weekdays from 24th July. The TV show, broadcast from the Topshop flagship store in London’s Oxford Circus, will be simulcast on www.trouble.co.uk. Following that a radio show called Jason and Ted’s Hit House will broadcast on the website for a further hour and a half each day. In addition, webcams will show behind the scenes footage of T-Nation production.

Trouble appears to be ahead of the game in attracting the teenage internet users that other dotcoms are now beginning to identify as targets (see Website Creators Looking For Teenage Clicks). It reports a 40% month on month growth in commercial page impressions per month since the beginning of February this year, with the current monthly figure standing at around 5 million.

The site encourages loyalty through a high level of interactivity, with users encouraged to become members with their own log in and passwords, a messaging service, e-cards and a members chat room. The site also has Flash Boyfriend, an interactive dating game where users go on dates with a cartoon boyfriend who then sends them emails. This feature now has more than 40,000 registered users.

Recent research by RAJAR suggested that increased use of the internet is boosting radio audiences (see Internet Usage Boosts Radio Audiences). Many radio stations now offer internet broadcasting and it is thought that increasingly cheap deals on internet access and the availability of improved bandwidth could push the trend further.

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