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from
Atlanta Journal Constitution - July 9, 1997
WVEE listeners become 'family' on
Internet The next time you flip
on the radio, try hopping on the Internet as well:
http://www.v103.com. Here, on the V-103
Web site, you'll find a highly unusual spot called the Society of
Voices. Since its inception in May, this message board has become
nearly as hot as a Babyface tune. Of the 90,000 people who check in to the
V-103 Web site every week, an estimated 500 are Society regulars. About
100 listeners post messages daily, and of those, 20 or so have become
semi-famous characters in a daily drama that's part Oprah, part secret
club and - increasingly - a kind of family. Angel is a single mom frustrated
by the lack of adequate day care in Atlanta. Toyia leads a
discussion about interracial dating. A member known as Devil's Advocate
says cheating spouses should be shown the door. There's Ms. Mini,
Mich-Choc, Queen Bee, Richard, Roxy and
Renee. Myster E, from Chicago, shows up periodically to say
hello. Overseeing it all is the Webmaster, Robert Harris, the
27-year old computer wizard who designed the V-103 page. "It's been amazing," Harris says. "V-103
didn't anticipate this. When we started, we were still just playing with
new technology and weren't even sure it would be a popular Web site. I
didn't think it would take off. I even posted a fake message to myself,
then came back and answered it. Two days later the page was full. It has
taken on a personality of its own." Every day, the Society meets and greets
like a cyberspace version of the Walton family, from rounds of "Good
Morrrrnnnnning!" to sign-offs at night. Most members are in their 30s and
40s; more women participate than men. They are fanatically loyal. When the
page experienced unexpected technical difficulties one day last week,
irate members bombarded the radio station with calls and even contacted
the Federal Communications Commission. "I like chatting with people who are
like-minded," says Gail Darlington, 34, a computer systems analyst
from Austell. "most of the participants are black, because V-103 is a
black station. They feel like old college friends. You know them, but yet
you don't know them." Richard Kenyada, a transportation
engineer from Lithonia, thinks the Society is reaching an untapped market:
middle class African Americans. "There's a huge segment of middle-class
African-Americans that feels alone," says Kenyada, 50. "All you see on TV
is everyone getting locked up. This is a way to see there are others like
you, going through the same things. You can come to the Society and find
there is an educated middle class that is working in professional jobs.
You can come here and find people just like you who have the same problems
and aspire to the same things." The group has met twice face to face, for
a hot dog cookout at Grant Park and a birthday party at a College Park
club. Darlington is organizing a Girl's Night Out with her cyberfriends. Derek Harper, producer of the Mike
Roberts and Carol Blackmon morning show says, "most radio sites aren't
very interactive, but we designed ours to be that way. I think we may have
the most interactive site of any radio station in the country. It
basically was an experiment to prove there are a large number of African
Americans on the Internet. And now it goes to confirm what we've always
believed. It's like a club, a fraternity or sorority. They've become a
very close-knit group of people." |
