Radio NZ Rocks Online

I’m probably a tad younger than the core Radio New Zealand demographic, but in recent years it has become my station of choice – thanks in part to my fabulous retro 1950’s transistor radio (which only picks up the AM frequency).

The station makes me feel connected to the flavour of New Zealand I identify with – with a diverse range of presenters, topics, humour, historical and contemporary documentaries and more.

My only bug bear is being subjected to occasional painful elevator music at 6am in the morning and the fact that the decent music shows are put on 11pm – just as I’m going to bed (‘The Music Mix’ and ‘Charlie Gillett’s World Of Music’).

The new RNZ website is now more than “just a website” – it has streaming audio and audio on demand – updated several times an hour – it’s now a living resource I’ll visit several times a week.

The website’s information architecture is good too – consistent and easy to navigate. I would however like to suggest cross-referencing of related content. For example – the online (written) news report ‘Hundreds attend funeral for Green co-leader‘ should have provided a link to the audio of Helen’s Clark’s funeral service speech.

Thanks to the RNZ website I can now plug away at work with my headphone on and feel part of events happening right now in other parts of the country – or at least be informed.

The site also validates (but not for CSS) and provides basic accessibility features such as resizable text and contrast. CanWest/TV3 – take note!

All in all, I’m giving the RNZ website the thumbs up for accessibity, usability and usefulness – nice work!