Updated 276 Days ago

March 20, 2008 ToastedRav.com Press Release

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replying the story in its archived form does not constitute a re-publiccation of the story.

March 20, 2008

LIKE YOUR ST. LOUIS LIGHTLY BREADED?
BONNEVILLE ST. LOUIS RADIO GROUP DEBUTS TOASTEDRAV.COM


New Media Venture for Bonneville Radio Is All About What Makes St. Louis Unique

ST. LOUIS – It goes beyond the Gooey Butter Cake, the Highway 40 Shutdown frenzy, and that proverbial question "Where did you go to high school?"  There are things about St. Louis which are often loved, sometimes laughed at but definitely cherished by its locals.

But would these things draw the public in droves to a website all about St. Louis’ quirks, foibles, and unusual brand of hometown loyalty?

That is what Bonneville St. Louis Radio Group is betting on. In a nod to all things unique and entertaining in and about the St. Louis market, the local group of radio stations owned and operated by Bonneville International Corporation – 92.3 WIL, MOViN 101.1 and 106.5 The Arch – have officially launched their new website ToastedRav.com.

Bonneville St. Louis Radio Group, along with the other Bonneville media properties across the country, were recently asked to develop the best new media concept and model for new business development and revenue growth in a challenging economy and media industry. Each Bonneville marketing team created their own city-centric new media concept and presented their ideas to Bonneville corporate heads back in late 2007. Bonneville’s mandate to each team was to build a website concept that would deliver a "Top 3 local website ranking" within the next five years, as well as double-digit e-commerce revenue growth in the next three years.

Bonneville St. Louis thoroughly researched the local new media offerings in St. Louis, and developed their ToastedRav.com. Bonneville St. Louis thoroughly researched the local new media offerings and developed ToastedRav.com.  It is a destination website that takes our ability to entertain St. Louisans to an entirely new level.   Combining the strengths of our current FM content with the sites new elements , we will tell the story of St. Louis through the use of blogs, original video, and audience interaction.

  concept based on key elements from their diverse radio station audiences and current station websites. The Bonneville St. Louis team ended up creating ToastedRav.com as an overall umbrella website that would act as an aggregator of local content using the strengths of their current radio station's listenership, website visitors and FM radio content, while incorporating a "St. Louis" focus on creating and adding human interest, community and entertainment content through a blogging structure and original video programs and web streaming. John Kijowski, Vice President and Market Manager for Bonneville St. Louis comments, "Our team looked at the localized new media available to the St. Louis market, and determined that local entertainment content was greatly underserved on St. Louis-oriented web sites." He adds, "Radio is inherently a localized, entertainment-based media, and ToastedRav.com is a natural extension from our core business."

The ToastedRav.com concept created by Bonneville St. Louis Radio Group's marketing/new media team, led by Marketing Director Sammy Simpson and New Media Director Jennifer Danker, received the highest evaluation from Bonneville corporate and earned the largest budget of all the Bonneville media properties in order to launch the web site project. According to Kijowski, Bonneville corporate is pouring $350,000 into the ToastedRav.com project. alone, and is investing in the company's other new media concepts.

The mission of the ToastedRav.com web site is to keep the content fresh, relevant and entertaining, and is designed so that people who might not be listeners to Bonneville St. Louis station will still have a reason to go to the website. In order to execute this mission, Bonneville St. Louis invested in a team of new media specialists to create and maintain the website.

Led by Danker, the ToastedRav.com website was built by the ground up by the Bonneville St. Louis web team consisting of Lead Developer Mike Flynn and Graphic/Web Designer Margo Hughes. In addition to the existing web team members, Bonneville St. Louis also realized the demands of the video programming component would require hired professionals to write, edit and produce both written and video content on a daily basis. They hired veteran award-winning television journalist George Sells and local TV and Radio personality Trish Gazell to anchor and produce the video programming content. Video producer and local satirist Chris Files was added to round out the writing and video production team.

The beta version of the ToasteRav.com web site was "soft launched" in January 2008, and after the new media team tweaked the format with audience feedback the official launch is occurring in late March. Plans to expand the website in the future include a social networking element, pod-casting and a mobile-friendly version for wireless phones and devices. Microblogs, video product placement and other various new media opportunities are already available for companies and advertisers interested in ToastedRav.com.

And already the rave reviews are flooding in from media pundits and reporters, as well as Bonneville St. Louis' advertisers. Industry insiders from national forums such as Radio and Internet Newsletter and Radio Daily News, as well as local new media guru Mike Anderson of STLMedia.net have commented favorably about ToastedRav.com. According to Anderson, the ToastedRav.com project has "hit a home run here, with a brand new way to present a radio group’s local websites."

To learn more about Bonneville St. Louis Radio Group’s new media concept ToastedRav.com, please contact Marketing Director Sammy Simpson at (314) 983-6252 or sammy.simpson@bonneville.com; and for more information about advertising opportunities on ToastedRav.com, please contact Bonneville St. Louis Director of Sales Scott Burwell at (314) 983-6201 or scott.burwell@bonneville.com.

New Media Director

Jen Danker

314.983.6228

jdanker@bicstl.com


About ToastedRav.com
ToastedRav.com is the home of deep fried St. Louis entertainment.

ToastedRav.com is a website about, for and by St. Louisans. The website's goal is to entertain the public with engaging video, stories and opinions about St. Louis people, places, events and history while providing the public with a forum to contribute opinions, views and information.

ToastedRav.com topics span a broad range of categories - everything from where to eat dinner, take the family this weekend or find the latest fashions around town; to the hottest celebrity gossip; to views and perspectives all about the wonderful, strange and sublime around St. Louis. ToastedRav.com takes a light or humorous approach more often than not, with stories that sometimes are a satirical take on reality. After all, like Toasted Ravioli, it's a St. Louis thing.

ToastedRav.com is owned and operated by Bonneville International an award-winning, dynamic and diversified media company with television, radio, advertising, and satellite operations in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Phoenix, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Salt Lake City.  Known not only as a leader in the industry but also as a values-driven company, Bonneville’s mission is to "Make a Difference" in the communities where it operates. Bonneville is a national leader in providing quality, values-oriented media products and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

For more information, please visit their web site at www.ToastedRav.com.

  • No comments yet... This is your chance! Be the first to add what you think!
The author of this post has turned off the comments.
© Copyright 2009 ToastedRav.com and Bonneville International. An Equal Opportunity Employer all rights reserved.