WENTY’S TWO CENTS
The caffeine-addled ramblings of KCOW “Wakeup Show” host Jason Wentworth

Well, we’re eight days into the launch of our new website, and–to the surprise of nobody on our radio and internet team–reaction is mixed.  You see, we’ve had experience with good, bad and ugly reactions to change.  And we love it!  We’d really be upset if nobody said anything when we added or removed programming, changed our schedule, etc.  I’ve said about a thousand times in my years here: “KCOW listeners are the most observant radio listeners in the world.”

So…we knew that replacing two individual websites with a new site that serves both the Alliance and Chadron area was a big change.  And big change can be…messy.  History is thick with stories of changes people didn’t want, and in some cases (remember “New Coke”?) the change was reversed.

But panhandlepost.com is not “New Coke”.  A new label?  Maybe.  A new packaging innovation? Most definitely.  But allow me to express what our two old websites and this new one have in common.

Our local news and sports stories are still researched, reported and written by KCOW News Director Kevin Horn and Double Q Country News Director John Axtell.  These guys live and work in this community, they know where the stories are, and they spend more hours a day posting new articles to this website than I do watching old reruns on TV.  And I spend a lot of hours doing that.

Open Mic still posted every day?  Check.  Teamline audio links to Chadron State Eagles and Alliance Bulldogs sports play-by-play?  Check.

I know there’s a learning curve finding this material in the new layout after so many years with our previous websites–which, by the way, were brilliantly developed and maintained.  The fact that so many of you miss the old layout certainly reflects that.

But this website is allowing us to bring you new content, and new features we never had before.  Let’s start with the most obvious–comments!  We want your thoughts on all the articles you read here, and now you can give us feedback instantly.  You can also share any article to social media like Facebook.  These are functions that other websites have had for several years if not longer.

In the past, we would never think to fortify our websites with entertainment stories, or blogs like this one, or really anything that wasn’t local news.  We didn’t want to interfere with what brings most of our listeners to our website.  Now, with the Panhandle Post design, we can do all of the above and more–but if you’re strictly interested in local news stories, you’ll find them under the “Local” tab–and nothing else.  Same with the sports tab–only sports scores and stories.

I’m starting a new paragraph because this is key: If the front page overwhelms you, make the tabs your friend.   They’re all along the top of the home page, like little monorails that take you directly to what you came for.  (Am I overexplaining this?  Maybe so.)

Now, this is my blog and everything you’ve just read is my opinion.  I just felt like putting it out there.  I hope that if your early reaction to the website was less-than-rapturous, you will at least give yourself time to get familiar with the new look.

Because when it comes to local content, community information and hometown connections, we’re still using the Original Recipe.