Introduction
Public radio stations are non-profit organisations. They are generally funded by the government. In the UK the biggest public radio stations are created by the BBC. The BBC are funded by the license fee that everyone who owns a television must pay. This cost funds all BBC TV, Radio and websites. Due to public radios being payed for, they do not have any advertisement breaks and just flow through their programs. The BBC host a wide range of different stations. They have tried to aim and create a different station for different generations and interests. They have done this by playing different eras of music on each station and sharing different news and stories. An example of how they have done this is on BBC radio 1 they have a target audience of 15-29 year olds so they play and promote new music and artists and only share news that a younger audience would be interested in. This is different to BBC radio 2 as they have a target audience of anyone over 35 so they play music from any generation such as the 80's and they also share all the headlining news stories that an older audience would be interested in. The BBC also own radio stations that are specifically for certain areas of Britain. These stations share more news that is specific to that area that other places wouldn't be interested in. My local BBC station is BBC Tees. This station shares stories that will effect people in the Teeside area and generally miss out stories from other areas,
Private radio stations are also known as commercial radio stations. These are stations that are owned by private corporations. They are used to make money. They are not paid for by a license fee or the general public at all so they have to make money elsewhere. The main way of doing this is by advertising. Other companies can pay the station so they can broadcast a radio advert that will promote their company. Adverts tend to vary depending on which station they are advertising on. Companies tend to look for a radio station that has the same target audience as them so they have a higher chance of persuading more customers to buy from them. Other ways Private stations make money is by hosting competitions and events that people have to pay for to participate in. These events will change depending on the type of radio station. An example of a private station is Capital FM. Capital is a large station that is listened to throughout Britain. As it is so big they can afford to host events like the Capital Summertime Ball. It is expensive to host something as big as this however they will make a lot of money from selling tickets and merchandise and it will earn them a lot of recognition.
Community radio is the final form of radio broadcasting. A community radio station covers a small area that is usually no bigger than 5km in radius. Like public stations they are also no profitable, if someone were to run one it would be seen as more of a hobby then a proffesion. This means they have to put any money they make back into the radio station and can not use it to make money for themselves. Community radio stations are generally made for very specific topics. There are a lot of community stations that are aimed at religious groups. These are useful for anyone in this religious group as they can specifically intake news that will effect their religion and not have to listen to other news they might not be interested in. Other community stations can focus on specific interests that are aimed at a minority of people. This could be a certain type of music or a hobby that a lot of people might have. Anyone can host a community radio station as individuals do not need a license to do so. Companies must apply for a license and the request must be accepted by Ofcom.
Different types of speech programming
One type of speech programming is factual programming. A Factual programmes aim is to provide entertainment by broadcasting an interesting topic and sharing the facts of it with the listeners. For this reason, factual programmes most commonly come in the form of documentaries. Factual programmes often broadcast information that has been released on a topic and quite often include interviews. This is done because they aim to give the listener as much information as they can on the topic to keep them interested on it and make them tune in to their programmes more often. One of the factual programmes I have researched is on BBC Radio 2 and is called "Thirty years man and boy-a calmer chameleon". This programme was based on the life and career of the artist Boy George. This is set out in separate episodes. This is done on purpose because it is aiming to make people tune in each week or so to listen to this specific programme. They know that people who enjoyed the first episode will tune in again to find out what the rest of the story is. In this specific factual programme they tell the listener what had been discussed in the previous episode. They then have interviews with other people who know George and play some of his music.This is because people will be interested in what others have to say about him and playing his music might remind you of him or it might be what is being discussed. Finally they have a long interview with George himself where he discusses his career and life. This will be the same in each episode.
News programming is the other form of speech programme. The purpose of a news programme is to inform the listener of recent news topics. The news that is being discussed can vary from anything, it all depends on the audience of the station. News programmes that are presented on radio are pretty much the same as news programmes on TV. The only difference is radio cannot give visual representations or show videos. One of the news programmes I researched was on the station BBC World Service and was the show was "BBC News Summary". This was a typical news programme. It started with the presenter introducing them self and the programme. They then went on to tell the main story of the day. This is done because this will be most important and people will want to hear about it straight away. The rest of the days stories then follow this. The stories are often accompanied with interview and sound clips to give the listener more information as to what is happening. The final stories are often more lighthearted than the rest. This is because the programme wants to leave the listener feeling good rather than depressed by the sad stories told. This is also done because these lighthearted stories are not often to important and therefore can wait until the end to be played. Other news programmes can often finish on topics like sport as this is a lighthearted subject that a lot of people are interested in.
How target audience affects a speech package
The Target audience of a speech package will massively affect the final outcome. Not one station will be aimed at everyone so they will try and do their best to please their expected audience. Target audience can be based on age, gender and interests. When it comes to radio they generally do not look at gender. Some community radio stations might aim at either boys or girls however the bigger private and public stations aim at both genders. The age of a target audience can massively affect the outcome of a programme. An example of this is a younger target audience will make a radio station play more recent and popular music as this is what the majority of younger listeners will be in to. We know this as this is what the charts are made up of. Going back to the BBC, Radio One plays all the latest and popular music as it's audience is young and Radio Two plays music that can go back as far as the 60's because this is aimed at an older audience and they might have been in to popular music in the 60's. News and Factual programmes are also affected by the target audience. If the target audience is younger then the content of the programme will generally be more lighthearted as young people won't be interested in the dark and serious stories. Also the factual programmes played on radio will vary on the target audience. They will play documentaries that will have a topic that they believe their target audience will be interested in. Radio stations will do research in to their audience to find out what the majority of them like. They will then find a good topic that relates to their interests and try and make a documentary on it.
Differences in News packages
News packages can have multiple differences depending on the audience and nature of the radio station. Every news package will do it's job in delivering news stories however not all packages will share the same stories. One of the news packages I had researched was Radio One's "Newsbeat". This is a news package that is made for a younger audience so it is delivered differently to a news programme for an older audience. The news delivered on this programme was mainly focused on sporting events and the latest news regarding celebrities. This specific episode they discussed whether or not pitch invasions in football should be allowed and then interviewed James Corden on his new talk show in America, These topics have been chosen as they are new stories that people won't know much about and this is the kind of thing that young people are interested in. Most young people will not be too interested in the worlds troubles, which main news programmes discuss, as they will not think it concerns them. Also, these radio stations will want their programmes to be seen as something young people can enjoy so they do not want to depress anyone by talking about more serious issues in their news programme. Another key difference in this news package was the person who presented it would not present any other news package. This is because it is clear the station have aimed to find someone who young people can somehow feel comfortable listening to. To make it seem less serious the presenter uses informal language and talks like anyone would in a regular conversation. The presenter would also explain certain points made on the story as they will have been trying to not confuse the listener who could have been too young to understand. This all gives a friendly impression to the programme and will make sure the listener is still happy with the station and will hopefully not tune out.
The other news programme I have researched is BBC World Service's, "BBC News Summary". This specific station has been made for anyone around the world to listen to. It is mainly targeted at British people who are not in Britain and can't access the usual British radio. This station is mainly used for news as this is what people abroad will probably want to know most. Because there is only one BBC World Service they have to please the vast majority in this station and get all the important things down. For that reason the programme is mainly aimed at adults as a younger audience will probably not be interested in it. There is only one presenter in the programme and he speaks in a very formal tone. This is necessary as they might be broadcasting to an audience that are not British as it is a world wide service. If the presenter was being informal using slang and had a difficult accent to understand then some foreign people would not be able to pick up everything that was being said. The stories covered in this are all about the biggest headlines around the world. These are the important stories that most people should be aware of and so this is what is discussed. Due to the deep content behind the news, the presenter can not give a friendly impression as it may give the audience the idea that they are not taking the news seriously and it is not important. The presenter will give the clearest representation he can of a story so the listener can clearly take in what the stories are about. The programme expects the audience to be able to understand it as they will be adults and do not need things explaining to them.
Differences in Factual packages
Just like news packages, Factual packages also change depending on their audience. Factual programmes would never be produced without taking into account the audience it will be showed to. This is because they are created to entertain the listener and to keep them listening to the station. I researched two different factual radio programmes. The first was BBC Radio Two's "Thirty years man and boy-a calmer chameleon". As mentioned earlier, this documentary is about the singer George Alan O'Dowd or more commonly known as Boy George. The audience for this would be middle aged adults who were listening to the charts when Boy George's band was in it. This will roughly be people in their early 40's. This topic would have been carefully chosen as the station will have wanted to find something that this age group would be interested in. If they had chosen a brand new artist to document then no one would listen to it as a lot of the regular listeners would not know who this artist is. Boy George was also an ideal person to make a radio documentary on because he has had his career making music now so there will be a lot to tell. He was also a big and famous artist in his time who had a very individual look and style which makes him even more interesting to listen to as he can explain why he had this look and the outcome and so on.
The other Factual radio programme I had researched was BBC Radio Four's "23 amazing reasons this radio programme will change your life". This is a programme that discusses how journalism is changing over the internet. There is no specific age group for radio four, it is labeled as a service for anyone looking for intelligent programmes. That being said, the larger majority of radio four listeners are adults. For this reason and the nature of the programme I believe this specific programme is aimed at young adults (20) on wards. They have tried to make this less serious as it is supposed to be a lighthearted programme so there is two presenters in this show who can converse over the topic which can be quite entertaining depending on your sense of humor. This is different to radio two's documentary as there was only one presenter who would interview other people. During the programme the secondary presenter would sometimes stop the other presenter and make him explain technical terms. This is most likely rehearsed as they are aiming to educate their older listeners with technology as this is something they might not be familiar with. They try and pull it off in a way that seems funny as some might be able to relate to how the other presenter keeps getting confused with technical terms and is having to interrupt constantly. For a younger listener who already understands the technical terms, like myself, you might not find this as funny and more irritating, like myself. This is why it is more aimed towards adults who will not be as bothered by their so called comedy.
Legal and Ethical considerations
Like all media productions, there must be legal and ethical considerations in place when making a news or factual radio programme. When producing the programme you must have the best intentions and try your best not to break any law or offend anyone. Their are many rules or guidelines that must be followed to avoid getting in any trouble. When doing my own research in to news and factual programmes I looked out for anything that could be in breach of any legal and ethical guidelines. In the Radio four factual programme I found that a lot of what they said was very opinionated. This is because they only really speak to people who are involved with the websites that they are talking about in the programme and not to anyone else who they might affect. Although it is not a major controversial issue, I think all radio programmes should aim to get two sides to a story. This way people can make opinions of their own as each point has been given a fair chance to be put across. Also, If it is not opinionated then someone who has a strong opinion already has no good reason to get offended so you would avoid complaints from people like them.
Another breach I saw was in the news programme by BBC world service. They were almost perfect for not breaking any rules as they gave accurate and unbiased information out however some of the language they used was quite graphic. This is a problem as they do not stop or warn younger viewers from listening and so they might put gory images in their heads that parents will not want. The programme has done this because they want to describe stories best they can so the listener can almost get a visual of what has happened. Some parents will not want their children to hear of such graphic events as it might give them violent thoughts or scare them. This is breaching the protecting minors guideline.
No comments:
Post a Comment