P2: Focus of a Radio Station

 In this section, I will talk about how different radio stations choose different types of programmes to cater to a certain target audience. I will talk about the purpose of the programmes, their target audience and how they are different to the other types of programming.

 

                              Music Radio Programmes

 

 

Capital FM, Kiss FM and Hallam FM are just a few radio stations that use music radio programmes in their scheduling. Music programmes are used to entertain their audience. People of different ages will like different music. Some radio stations will aim for adults and will play music from the 90s and other radio stations like Capital FM will play modern music that is popular right now to target teenagers and young adults. The type of music played will also reach different types of people and will help them reach a new target audience; pop music, rock music, dance music...

                                              Talk show

 

 

 

TalkRadio UK and BBC Radio 5 are just a few talk show radio stations that are out there. On these radio stations, the presenters might talk about sports, movies, games or celebrity gossip/drama and more to entertain their listeners. As you can see on the TalkRadio UK schedule, The Unexplained By Howard Hughes is a talk show where he talks about the paranormal with his listeners. On BBC Radio 5, 5 Live Sport is where Vicky Sparks talks about the Women's Super League matches. So you can see that talk shows can be centered around different topics to reach different audiences.

 

 

                                       Current Events

 

BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service radios are used to make audiences aware/inform them of important events happening right now around the world. On BBC Radio 4, they have the News Briefing program that tells the audience any breaking news, the Shipping Forecast programmes to tell those who are taking ships out what the weather is like, wind speeds etc. On BBC World Service Schedule, the More Or Less program informs the listeners what is going (latest news) with the Ukraine war as they try to defend themselves against Russia invading them. Recent current events radio stations will have talked about Queen Elizabeth II's death. They might talk about politics, murders, company news.....

 

                                          

                                           Lifestyle

 

 Lifestyle programmes are used to educate listeners as the presenters talk about money, food, mental health etc. They might even invite celebrities like Martin Lewis (as they do on BBC Radio 5 Live sometimes) to give advice on how people can alter their lifestyles to save money. This is very important right now since we have a pricing crisis. Some other examples of lifestyle programmes in a radio schedule are the Woman's Hour and One Dish programmes on BBC Radio 4 LW. Some of thee might educate audiences about different cultures too.

 

                                       Dramatisations

Dramatisations are used to entertain their listeners. They do this by creating live stories that we can hear on the radio so the audience can listen to a story/drama. For example, on BBC Radio 4 Extra they have a dramatiation program called Trueman and Riley. These dramatisations can be around drama, detective cases, comedy.... Their listeners can tune in to the radio to listen to each episode of the program; their listeners are more likely to tune ito the radio when the next episode is aired if they liked the episode before.

                                          Capital FM

Capital FM are a music radio station. They play pop and dance music. Some songs may be newly released while other songs will be popular pop and dance tunes from previous years (usually 2010s onwards). Capital FM are owned by the conglomerate company Global. Global owns most of the main radio stations in the UK and Europe such as LBC, Heart, Capital FM et. Capital have several radio stations based on where you live, you can see they have stations for London, the UK, Liverpool, South Wales and so on. Capital is distributed as FM. Depending on where you live and which Capital station you want to listen to, the frequencies will be different. Capital London is on 95.8 FM frequency.

Capital's targets 15-34 year old mainstreamers since they play popular music. On Capital, they talk about the news. They also talk about celebrity drama or they may talk about popular TV shows etc. Capital is a commercial pop music station, this is how they structure their radio shows. Firstly, you can hear their radio jingle "The UK's number one hit music station, capital". This is important so the listeners know what radio station they are listening to. This is so essential for Capital radio so they can build a brand identity. The presenters will introduce themselves and a topic. They will then introduce the music artist's song and this will then play. Afterwards, they may tell us the weather forecast and any major road closures since some listeners might be driving or any news. The presenter will talk to the listeners again and they might do company endorsement. While I as listening to the radio with Jimmy Hill presenting, the talked about how we will need coats now since it is getting cooler and Ebay can help you keep warm; the listeners can win a prize of £1000 for Ebay. This another way Capital earns money since Ebay will have asked them to endorse them and paid some money for this. Ebay are a popular buying and selling company that younger people use so this company ha the same target audience as Capital. Once again, the Capital jingle plays and adverts start playing. This is the basic structure of how Capital FM plays. This helps the radio show flow; the sections repeat and the radio show is edited/ the presenter tells us what section of the radio show is up next such was what songs or an upcoming competition.

 

Here you can see the radio presenters. They all present by talking upbeat and lively. The type of content doesn't reslly change from each presenter, although they are on different shows in the day. They all have pop and dance music in radio shows. Capital radio stations have 5.6 million weekly listeners collectively. The one radio station that is different since they play R and B music instead of the usual pop or dance. The presenters still speak the same. 

 

 

 

 

 

In unit 1, we learnt about technological convergence with blackbox devices (theory by Henry Jenkins). This theory states that old technologies have came together to form the ultimate device. You can play the radio using a smart phone, ring people, message people, play games, watch TV etc. Capital have aknowledge the new wasys to listen to radio so they have radio stations available to stream on the Global Player app and Capital radio has its own website. This appeals to their young target audience of 15-34 year olds since they are digital natives and have grown up using this new technology. In unit 2, we learnt about the different pre-production documents that can be created. Radio stations may have created a proposal to evaluate their target audience etc. They will also use a basic radio script. You can read more about Capital in my M1 post.

                    How Do These Programmes Compare?

For music programming, the presenters will introduce the songs and the artist/singer who created them. They will then play the music and may talk about their favourite songs afterwards. Compare this to other programmes and you can see that the presenters don't have much involvement compared to other programmes. However, music programming presenters are usually more cheerful and the atmosphere is fun and upbeat. Current events such as the news are more serious, the presenters will not be laughing and joking around unless it is a funny news article. The presenters have to present the news to the listeners and the target audience are more likely to be serious people. Talk shows are usually laid back with celebrity guests. Depending on the topic, the target audience may vary. Lifestyle shows can target young adults since they might want to learn important life skills from the hosts. This might be more educational compared to all of the other types of radio shows. I have used BBC radio stations for a lot of examples. This because the BBC are funded by public money (taxes, TV licenses) so they must inform, educate and entertain their audiences to meet everyone's wants and needs. Dramatisations are going to have the presenters speaking like they are acting the story out. This is very different from other programmes since they usually let the audience be involved.

Reference Links

https://www.capitalfm.com/digital/radio/

https://planetradio.co.uk/hallam/schedule/

 https://talk.tv/schedules/talkradio

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/schedules/bbc_radio_five_live#on-air

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/schedules/bbc_radio_fourfm#on-air 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pc9xt/episodes/downloads

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/schedules/bbc_radio_four_extra#on-air