A few months ago, we embarked on the project to rebuild our News Talk Radio websites. You know... better... faster... easier... stronger.

Well, after a few months of hard work... and input from people like you... we are almost set to embark on a brand new web journey.

This weekend, we will be flipping the switch and launching new News Talk Radio websites in both Regina and Saskatoon. I am really pleased with how the sites have turned out and I am excited to see them go live. Here is just a short list of some of the changes you're going to find:

- A cleaner layout. One of the things you told us is that our current sites were cluttered. There was too much text - especially on the front page. It was hard to get the information you wanted, when you wanted it. Well... we've heard you loud and clear. The new News Talk Radio websites will feature localized Top Stories, and a simpler News page with stories broken out in to two categories -- Local and Provincial. This simplification of our story sorting will eliminate the duplication of stories under multiple categories, and make it easier to find new stories very quickly.

- More content-rich stories. In addition to the text of the story, you'll be able to listen to audio (including raw, unedited 'News Unfiltered' audio), see photo galleries from news stories and read related stories from our library. For serious news junkies, this will be an opportunity to dig even deeper on the big stories.

- An improved onDemand experience. The big problems with the old News Talk onDemand were that you had to delve deep in to the site to find out what the heck was on a podcast. Not so anymore. You'll now be able to quickly find out what the contents of a podcast are. Plus, we're giving you one-touch subscription buttons so you can quickly and easily get automatic updates using iTunes, Google Reader or My Yahoo. AND... we've integrated it all in to one website... no more having to launch a separate website to get access to podcasts. (And, we've fixed the 'database' problem we've been experiencing lately. Sincere apologies for the problems that has been causing.)

- Your chance to participate in the newsgathering process. We are launching a brand new online component to our news coverage which we're calling News Talk iWitness. With iWitness, you'll be able to upload your photos and videos of news stories that are happening where you are. Whether it's a camera phone snapshot of breaking news or video of a story happening in your community you think others should know about, you'll now be able to upload and contribute your own material to the News Talk Radio websites. We are very excited about iWitness and look forward to seeing your submissions.

- Quick and easy access to share stories with friends. We are implementing 'ShareThis' links across our site giving you the ability to quickly and easily share news stories, blog postings, onDemand episodes, and event information with friends via e-mail, Facebook, or your blog.

In concert with the launch of a new News Talk web experience, we will also be launching a brand new Green Zone experience. We've brightened up the place and will be adding new features as we go along. We're pretty excited about it.

So in short... new websites coming this weekend... be on the lookout!

And, if you see any bugs that need squashing... drop me a line at jhimpe@rawlco.com.

Cheers,

John Himpe
Program Director - News Talk Radio