it’s always good to see what others in your field are doing as a gauge. i had a bit of a look at what other networks are doing to engage with their online audiences this week:

network ten – full episodes (catch up tv) for free, online forums/discussions (masterchef has 10s of thousands of hits), competitions, and lots of wizz bang flash. there doesn’t seem to be a call of any sort that requires the audience to produce anything, but commenting is really huge.

channel v – free music giveaways, featured giveaways, competitions, really cluttered website, behind the scenes interviews, v presenter search, my music which looks like an area that collects data about what’s ‘hot’, links to twitter, many calls to log in/become part of the community, links to facebook, more forums, again no call for content.

chicago public radio – news, news, news, join forums, facebook, twitter, flick, blog, podcast, this american life calls for submissions but no different to how a public broadcaster does for content, there is also a call for content at the third coast international audio festival in a similar vein.

this does lead me to wonder do people actually want to contribute in more than just text? or are they content to listen to professional production?