CFBX(92.5 FM) is a 100% Canadian non-profit radio station that runs Campus&Community radio serving in Thompson River University campus, Kamloops, B.C.
The station was founded in the 80s, University College of the Cariboo(Canada renamed Thompson Rivers University in 2004) had a closed-circuit radio station, hard-wired from the studio with a limited number of outlets. As part of a media course that was offered at the school, the station was dismantled when the program ended, and the idea of reviving the UCC radio station kept cropping up throughout the 90s, after the student society initiated a referendum,the CSS(now TRUSU)hired a full time manager in February 1998 with securing a location-House 8,and over the next two years, the necessary gear was located and purchased or accepted by donation, then cleaned and installed, and on February 16th,2001,
Approval to broadcast as CFBX, at 92.5 on the FM band. They upgraded to a full campus license in early 2004 and received approval to increase our power to 420 watts in February 2008. Shortly after UCC became Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in 2005, the site was upgraded to include a link that allows visitors from around the world to listen to the radio station, live on the Internet.
In 2006, After a major upgrade, the website for The X was rebuilt by Andrew Sahaydak in 2017 and launched to include a number of new features.
CFBX is a member of the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA), a campus-based community station that adheres to the policies, ideas, and ideals of other campus radio stations. It is an alternative radio station that specializes in local programming and offers music and spoken-word shows that range from classical to industrial, with plenty of international and unique shows added to the mix.
CFBX(92.5FM) is owned by TRUSU, they currently have two staff, ranging from a Program manager who oversees day to day of the radio shows Design, make any necessary changes to adapt to their current budget, found donations to contribute to encompasses a growing community effort. they also provide the chance every year for the volunteers from TRU to participate in the daily operations of the organization.
In our strategic analysis, we will first identify the current strategy used by CFBX(92.5FM). by identifying and describing their goals, product market, core activities and value proposition. We will further examine the organizational strategy using the Diamond-E framework and determine the management preference (what they want to do), the organization capabilities and resources (what they can do) and the external environment (what they need to do) (Crossan, Rouse, Fry and Killing, 2009).
CFBX radio has been part of the Kamloops community since 1998. The station has been successful to put systems in place to create an audience in the Kamloops market. Also, the radio station has successfully allocated their resources to make changes necessary to grow to the level they are at. Management has been able to fully comply with the regulations stablished by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and telecommunications Commission)
In the past five years, the radio station has rebuilt and launched their online website. The radio station also has launched a 24-hour livestream on their website. CFBX also created a Facebook page to increase the social media presence and the possible reach of those in the platform. The Facebook page currently has 753 likes and 740 followers.
Furthermore, the station has been able to secure a good flow of volunteers over the years of operations. Volunteers are key to the success of the station since they are part of the production and creation of programing. As well as the day to day operations of CFBX and racing funds for future endeavours.
CFBX main goal is to create programing and sharing music for a multicultural audience; with a huge variety of programing, each of them with its own degree of individuality. Furthermore, the organization does not have a clear view of what their goals for the future are.
Two goals that we were able to identify the radio station has are:
These two goals are focus in the short term and does not give us a clear idea of the structure and what they are trying to accomplish in the future.
There is no clear idea of what the target market is or the size of it. When asked about the topic to the current workers and board of director the answer was “we don’t know how many people are listening, but the ones that do are committed and will come back and listen in a regular base”. With their current capabilities, we see their current market as people living in Aberdeen, Sahali and surrounding areas of TRU with a 5 to 10 km radius. Currently the people listening are people looking for diversity and variety in music and programming.
Diamond-E Analysis
Environment
Like any business, CFBX is influenced by its surrounding environment. Properly analyzing the environment around CFBX will help us to evaluate the strength of their current organizational strategy. We will be conducting a PEST and Posters Five Forces Analysis in order to gain greater incite into the organizations environment.
PEST Analysis
CFBX has to abide by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission) that include laws such as the broadcasting act that states such things as “the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians” and having a set percentage of Canadian content. Having to abide by these regulations can be hurdles but must be followed and considered when planning an organizational strategy.
CFBX is mainly run by approximately seventy student and community volunteers with two full time staff. According to the full-time staff we have talked to within CFBX, recruiting volunteers hasn’t been a problem in the past but because of how much they depend upon their volunteers, its worth mentioning that if that ever changes it could be catastrophic to the business. CFBX’s two full time staff are fully paid by student tuition, if there is a change in student enrollment, it could be incredibly influential.
Social trends have a major impact on CFBX. Since students are the majority of volunteers, and their commitment period is usually 2 years, the change in staff and programming are constantly changing as new students volunteer and bring with them new interests.
Technology
CFBX relies quite largely on technological factors; they broadcast through a radio tower attached to the top of their building and stream through their website. They also have CFBX social media pages to promote their programming and events, along with any volunteers who create sub-sectioned social media pages to promote their personal shows that air.
CFBX’s main supplier is Thompson Rivers University through student tuition, their operating building and the majority of their volunteers. Since CFBX is classified as campus radio station they rely mostly on TRU; however, they also have community volunteers and frequent fundraisers to support them. For example, CFBX runs a record fair in May to raise money for capital such as a new broadcasting tower.
Within Kamloops there are 5 main radio stations:
– 97.5 the river
– B-100
– 98.3 CIFM
– CBC 105
– 92.5 CFBX
After speaking with the two full time staff at CFBX we have learned that the majority of radio stations in Kamloops are medium power and are not main competitors for listeners because of the difference in programming. One radio station that is a direct competitor for CFBX is CBC since they have very similar broadcasting programs. Another major competitor is streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, with the generation of radio listeners on the decline a major up and coming competitor is streaming services with the younger generation. The Omega student newspaper at Thompson Rivers University is another competitor since they are both funded by TRU and use student volunteers, and although it’s a weak powered competitor, it’s still an entity that’s worth mentioning because they also pull out of the same volunteer pool.
New Entrants
Kamloops is a decently small town and there are already 5 major radio entities. Trying to enter the Kamloops radio market would be difficult for two major reasons: Market Share and capital investment. Firstly, it would be hard for any new radio entity to market themselves and take away from the existing market share. Secondly, the capital investment it takes to start a radio station is quite large considering the cost of, equipment, staff, and regulations alone.
Buyers
The ultimate buyers on CFBX are all the students and community members that listen to its programing. With this in mind they all have a huge impact on the success of CFBX. With ought students and community members volunteering to help create the content they love, CFBX would fall apart, especially in a small community such as Kamloops.
Substitutes
Substitutes of CFBX are all the other listening options students and community members have, such as, the other local radio stations and streaming services.
Synthesis of Industry Analysis and Observations
From the above analysis, it can be said that CFBX’s main contributor, Thompson Rivers University is not being utilized to its fullest. A higher integration into TRU’s campus would be a worth while option to the organization. Furthermore, it can be said that CFBX’s competitors hold a lot of power due to the small broadcasting rang of CFBX, and future plans should include fundraising for a new broadcast tower to offset the competitors power over CFBX.
For CFBX to run year-round many resources including marketing, operations, human resources, financial are needed.
Marketing is a is a major factor in achieving brand awareness in Kamloops. Currently CFBX markets through their radio station, competitor radio stations, flyers around the Thompson Rivers University campus, and social media.
When looking at operations there is much needed to run CFBX such as staff, facility, and equipment. It takes two full time staff to run the station plus numerous volunteers. CFBX was given a building on the TRU campus to operate from. Equipment such as the broadcasting tower and all the gear that accompanies it such as music boards, microphones, and the music they play.
CFBX has two full time staff to train and guide all of their volunteers through the broadcasting know-how and do’s and do not’s both on and off the air.
Financially, CFBX relies mainly on Thompson Rivers University to pay for all their operating costs through student tuition along with the numerous fundraisers they run to upgrade operational equipment such as the broadcasting tower.
Management Preference
CFBX operates to give Kamloops a campus and community radio station that everyone can enjoy. They strive to build a stronger community and let anyone who walks through there door become involved. As a non-profit and an outside the norm radio station, CFBX doesn’t really concern themselves with competitors and has a more laid-back vibe in running the organization. Currently all staff, volunteers, and board members can agree that finding funding for an improved broadcasting tower is number one on the priority list at the moment.
As an organization, CFBX is capable of offering programming that is unique to the community and relies heavily on student and community interests. CFBX’s highly experienced staff are able to recruit and train new volunteers constantly, and as such have programming that is much different from conventional radio.
Forecast Future Performance
Based on their current strategy, CFBX will be able to operate and offer unique music that they have been so proud of. CFBX has been operating for 21 years and future success will depend heavily on improving their relationship with Thompson Rivers University, future fundraising and marketing communications. Through effective partnerships and good relations, CFBX will be able to attain the support that it requires for the development of a transmission tower which will help it to improve its range of broadcasting. This will serve to ensure that the station is able to increase its listener base significantly. To ensure continued growth, the CFBX also needs to implement strategies that make it such that the music being offered by the station is in line with the taste and preferences of the market hat it serves.
The Nature, Need, and Urgency of Change Analysis
As we went through the business strategy for CFBX(92.5FM) we identified their goals, product market focus, value propositions and core activities. The General Manager and employee are consistent in their view of what the company wants to do.They have consistently expressed there is an urgency for get more resources to improve their equipment. While this is of high importance, the company has been operating successfully. Once they are able to get more resources, they can continue to deliver on their value proposition to their target market and overtime this will lead to continued growth and profitability.
From the sections covered so far, it is evident that CFBC radio currently employs a Diamonds-E framework. The framework has prove to be an effective framework so far due to the fact that it allows for the organization take into consideration both its internal and external environment in its operation. By doing this the organization is able to ensure that the policies that it adopts are reflective of worker and market needs. This section of the paper will incorporate structure into CFBC’s current strategy with the aim of enhancing the stability of the organization in the future. To achieve this we will analyze the proposal with the aim of identifying the gaps that exists between them and demonstrate what the company wishes to do in order for it to exploit the gaps. Once identified, the gaps will be adjusted so as to identify the capability of the different proposal to enhance the company’s strategy. Through this process we will be able to identify the proposal that has the least amount of gaps and this will be the one suggested for CFBC radio to adopt as its new strategy. The new strategy should address the radio stations core activities, goals, target product, target market, value proposition and services. The formulated strategy should also be in line with the culture of the organization and serve to ensure that it meets its long term goals and objectives.
Improve Stability of Resources: Securing organization from environmental influences
As is evident from the E- diamond analysis of the radio station, CFBX is largely influenced by its external environment. The nature of the organization’s operations makes it such that it is expected to cater to the taste and preferences of the client demographics that it serves. If the content of CFBX radio does not reflect the taste and preferences of the clientele demographic, then the organization will not have a significant customer base thus hindering the success of its operations. To overcome this challenges, it is essential that the organization establish an effective way of identifying changes in the external environment and making alterations to its operations as the changes occur. One way through which the organization is able to achieve this is through the utilization of market surveys in which customers are asked for their choice in content. The radio stations can also implement a listener call in options where the clients call in and request for the type of content to be played. Through this systems the organization will be able to monitor customer tastes and preferences in content and make proper alterations as they occur.
Due to the nature of CFBX’s operations, it is imperative that the organization has an effective and efficient marketing and communication systems. For a radio station effective communication systems is imperative as it serves to ensure that the station is able to deliver its message to the client base in a manner that the clients are able to understand. It is also essential that the radio station marketing system is structured to relate to its target customer base. This will serve to ensure that CFBX is able to appeal to a large listener demographic. One way through which CFBX can be able to improve its marketing and communication capabilities is through performing clientele studies. These studies will help the organization understand the needs of its customer and in doing this be able to create marketing and communication strategies that relate to the target customer base. Another strategy that the organization can employ is the use of social media and other related online mediums to enhance its marketing and communication. The use of social media sites can be employed as a secondary medium for organizational marketing and communication with its clientele demographic.
The gap analysis will help demonstrate the requirements needed to implement this proposal and CFBX current situation with regards to their organization capabilities, management preferences, and resources. In order for the environmental influence proposal to be implemented, management needs to agree and work towards the development of systems that allow for the collection of listener feedback. The feedback will help CFBX to develop an understanding of what its listeners think about its content. This aids in the shaping of the nature of content that is aired by the radio station. The radio station can also get a feel of market taste and preferences through the volunteers who work at the station. The fact that the volunteers are part of the target market makes them best suited to advice the station on the nature and type of content to air. In order to fill this gap the radio stations management should not feel obligated to pay for the listener feedback. This is largely due to the fact that most listeners are usually open to recommend content to radio stations. The volunteers will also be quite open to advice the station as they work for it and its prosperity will also positively impact them. For the radio station to achieve this, it will need to develop strong relations with the community that it serves. This can be achieved through community outreach programs like airing some shows outside the studio in Koomlop market where members of the community will get the opportunity to interact with their favorite presenters. The information collected from the public can also be used in closing the marketing and communication gap. The fact that the radio station already utilizes computers and social media also benefits it as they can be used in the analysis of information that is collected. From an analysis of the organizations situation, it is logical to conclude that CFBX radio can be able to close the gap with minimal investment.
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