Asynchronous is a fancy way of saying that the information is there when users want it, not when the source is ready to give it to them. One of any live, synchronous medium’s drawbacks is that, if a listener wants to know when that station-sponsored free concert is coming to town, they have to sit around and wait for someone to talk about it. Then, if a call comes in or the kids start screaming while that information is relayed, they’ll have to wait until it rolls around again.

A website gives listeners that information asynchronously – when they want it. However, in order to do that effectively, the website has to be in synch with the on-air product. As I explained earlier, and I’m sure as many of you have experienced, that is not always the case. When you mention a new contest or promotion, many listeners will tune in halfway through the announcement; many won’t be paying full attention. Whatever the reason, you have to provide a way to give them the information they want – and you can’t just turn your station into a loop of the announcement.

So, you direct them to the website. That means that the site has to already have the information up before the announcement was made. Since it takes time to add things to a website, your webmaster needs that information with at least a few hours notice, if not more.

A Remarkably Simple Solution

Here’s a simple trick to make sure your webmaster has the information he or she needs to keep the site fresh. Somebody at the station is writing liner cards. They’re probably writing them up in Word or another word processor before printing them out. The simple solution is just email a copy to the webmaster every time you print it out.

If you’ve already spent time thinking about how you want it worded and taken the trouble to type it out, why double everyone’s efforts? Now you don’t have to worry about whether the webmaster’s style, tone and language will match the on-air copy – because it will be the on-air copy.