WQXR is NYC’s classical radio station. Each year, the station celebrates the holidays with a live broadcast counting down listener-requested classical pieces, playing each in full and posting them in an online playlist.

WQXR

Objective
Improve the online experience to make the playlist more engaging for fans. Also, make it easier for the WQXR team to tabulate the rankings and interact with user comments.

Project Role
Lead Designer

Ensuring accurate submissions
Imagine typing out ‘Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18”. This is just one example of a lengthy name that can be written several different ways, with lots of potential for misspelling. The optimized voting form provides suggestions as the user begins typing, making it easier for them to submit exactly what they intended and ensuring submissions are more standardized.

Real time playlist updates
When listeners visit the countdown page, they are usually live-streaming WQXR at the same time. They expect the playlist to be a companion to what they are hearing on the radio. By leveraging timestamps that the producers use for radio cues, the optimized playlist automatically updates in sync with the on-air experience. Before this project, the list had to be manually updated in batches after pieces were already announced.

Comparison feature
Listeners like to keep track of the differences in the countdown each year. Why not share WQXR’s data with listeners so they can more easily compare each piece’s position? I designed a badging system that helps users quickly discover whether a piece rose in the ranks or dropped from its coveted spot.

Highlighting Content
To help users learn more about the composers and works they hear on air, I designed modules that can be populated with articles, podcasts, and Youtube videos. This made the playlist much more robust, with plenty to explore about featured composers and pieces.

It’s all about the comments
The comment section is key to the classical countdown experience, where listeners chat about the pieces and share what the countdown means to them. With OpenWeb integration, listeners can discuss rankings and reveals, while WQXR can easily monitor and engage with feedback.

Results

In its first year, the optimized experience saw an 80% increase in submissions and 70% increase in page views YoY.

There was a remarkable 105% increase in listener comments over previous years.

In its second year, there was a further 42% increase in total comments.

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