I am convinced that technology in Barbados is underused by many companies and a one such company that gives us a glaring example of this is Starcom Network Inc. VOB 92.9 (owned by Starcom Network) invites listeners to visit their website VOB929.com to obtain the latest news with a catchy tagline “Follow the latest, all day every day. News at your convenience” that is often heard after their newscasts.
As a regular visitor to their website, I am convinced that hardly anyone in a senior position including their CEO, pays regular visits to the website.
Why do I say this do you ask? Have a look for yourself.
Showing a date of June 28th 2008, VOB929.com’s headlines still announce that today is World Environment Day. A quick Google search, returns the URL http://www.unep.org/wed/ which states that “Every 5th of June is a day used by the United Nations to stimulate worldwide awareness of environmental issues and encourages political action.”
We also see that Barbados Elections 08 (held on January 15th, 2008) still holds the prominent head banner spot some 5 months later. Are news stories that scarce in Barbados?
Further examination of the site cemented by conclusion that this site is hardly ever updated.
If one clicks on the News link at the top of the page, you are greeted with a search box and clickable months (shown below). Entering the word “oil” (a hot topic these days) and clicking on June results in the page below.
Here are the search results
June 2004?!? 4 years ago??? Come on Starcom, it is time to get your act together. The world wide web is a resource that can bring unlimited benefits to a company. Any visitor to VOB929 should be able to read the latest news, and I don’t mean your regular the news broadcasts – it should be updated like any international website – “ALL DAY, EVERY DAY” – sounds familiar? Why can’t we hear the days or even last 7 days call-in programs and news articles ??
Even the Market Vendor recordings that once seemed to be updated regularly seem to have fallen by the wayside.
[...] us now critique the Nation Newspaper sister company Voice of Barbados. Today we visited the blog The Observations of a Simple Bajan and the blogger dissected the Voice of Barbados Website with precision. We could not have done a [...]
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Nice vent you put out there, if you ‘is a bajan atal’ you would know that your venting is falling on ‘def ears’. Their website isn’t the only thing that leaves way too much to be desired. I have been trying to listen to their online streaming ever since I left the lil rock about 7 years back. Their streaming SUCKS! It either won’t stream or cut out on me unceremoniously after a while of listening. Sometimes I’m lucky, sometimes not. I’ve been sending emails to them about it for years and still can’t get a good listen. I don’t see how hard it really could be when some businesses and stations out there much smaller than them can do it.
Unfortunately the problem is not the ‘know how’ or the technology, we are not a slow nation, it’s our ‘lazy, laid back, small island’ mind set that sets us back. We are full of talk and no action, and as then Prime Minister Owen Arthur put it, ‘A nation of complainers!’. Don’t get me wrong we are a highly intelligent people, and there have been a great many people that came out of our batch, but it takes too much effort to get our balls rolling.
We may be able get away with adopting these time honored principles into local business, but the moment you put up a website, the world becomes your stage; in the US alone there are just under 2000 people listening (or trying to) according to quantcast.com.
But just like you, I’m most likely also ranting and raving on ‘def bajan ears’, so…
Comment by Samantha — October 7, 2008 @ 3:56 pm |