Elise Erin lee
UAL
Extended diploma
in Creative Media Production and technology.
Radio production
Kiss fm is aimed at 15-34 year old mainstreamers, the radio station mainly plays the most current songs of the time which is what that audience would be listening to. In the ident of this radio station there is lots of different voices promoting the station these voices sound like celebrities that could be the artists of the songs the radio station is playing. The ident is only 5 seconds long which means it can be played between songs or ad breaks.
The idea of Radio 1 is to entertain and engage a broad range of young listeners with a distinctive mix of contemporary music and speech. Its target audience is 15-29 year olds and it should also provide some programming for younger teenagers. This is supported by the annual radio one teen awards which celebrated young teenage heroes. The ident for the station has a mix of different types of sound which describes what radio one as a station is like as they play lots of different types of music. The ident is 12 seconds long which means that the ident is most likely played quite often.
The idea of Radio 2 is to be a distinctive mixed music and speech service, targeted at a broad audience, appealing to all age groups over 35. The ident is a lot longer than normal which suggests to me that it is not played very often on the station. It is a jingle type ident which suggests to me that it is only really played at the beginning or ending of a show on the station. The ident is calming and only uses one type of melody throughout which will appeal to the target audience as they will not want to be hearing loads of different electrical sounds as this is not what they would typically listen to.
Mind map of ideas
This is a mind map of ideas for our radio show which is a 10-11pm late night show, which means most people who are listening are people who are getting ready to go out for the night and therefore will want to be hearing upbeat songs to get them in a good mood, which is why I suggested our theme is club classics. We decided to call the show Chris and Elise after dark because we didn't want to call it the late show as lots of shows are called this and we wanted something original. When talking to our peers about our idea the feedback we received was that we needed to find more UK artists to play on the show and talk about more local things. Another piece of advice was getting the presenters to do the games as it is unlikely that people will call in to the show if they are getting ready to go out for the night they will be too busy. We were also given the advice to create a survey to see exactly what our target audience wants to listen to at this time of night and if the song choices we have made are good enough.
Research portfolio
Kiss fm
I analysed a kiss fm late night radio show the target audience of the show is similar to our target audience as it is 15-34 year olds which means that when planning our radio show we should pay a lot of attention to this show as it could help us develop our idea. The style of the show is very informal the presenter is quite will interact with the the audience by talking to them and asking them to get involved by tweeting in. The content of the show is playing more modern day songs as the show first starts and then as the show carries on more older songs are played that would be known as "club classics". This tells me that in our show we need to do the same as what this show does because our target audience is around the same age. The structure of the show is an introduction to the show by the presenter explaining who they are what time it is and what time the show will be ending and what the show will include in terms of guests and games. the Kiss fm ident is only really played between ad breaks and if three songs have been played in a row so that if someone tunes in half way through they know what they are listening to. The presenter is informal interacts with the audience e.g asking them questions about their day or what they are currently doing or what they are doing with their night. Which helps us understand how we should interact with our audience to make sure we have the best show possible. The music that is played is current popular music that the target audience would recognise however as it gets later into the night the songs become more and more older which would be known as club classics. This also helps me in my research as this tells me that the type of people that would be listening at an earlier stage would most likely be younger and may not recognise the older throwback songs. The idents of the show reflect the target audience of the station and the particular home, the ident mentions the station name and the DJ the ident is upbeat and also plays segments of some of the current chart topping songs. Which tells us that because we have a similar target audience we need to have a similar ident. The adverts of the show were again for the target audience so it was for some movie trailers, iphone, and more. The target audience will not be interested in a movie trailer that is not targeted at them. Which tells my group and I that we need to chose the ads we use very carefully. The news included current affairs as the first sector but as the station is a station that can be reached by anyone in the UK there is no local sector however there then is a less formal sector which talks about celebrity gossip such as which Kardashian is pregnant and when will they confirm it? I already know that this is what will attract the target audience to our show as they are "media savy" and they want to be in the know and by having the celebrity sector this will help them be in the know.
Heart fm
I analysed a heart late night show which is called Hearts club classics with Annaliese. The target audience for heart is 25-44 which is not our target audience however heart is such a successful radio show that we should take some elements of the show on board for our show. The style of the show is informal the presenter does not make much contact with the audience other than telling them to get involved with different hashtags and tweeting heart radio to let them know what they are getting up to. This tells us that we should keep the talking to a minimum on our show so that we can be as successful as heart. I would say that this is because most of the people listening to this show will most likely be getting ready to go out and they will want to hear the music not much talking. The structure of the show is that there is loads of songs being played some of them have been blended so that there is no gap between the songs and it gives it the club type feel. The presenter will often mention getting involved with hashtags and various social media accounts . Sometimes when songs are being played there will be no break for adverts or a interaction between the presenter and the audience however between some of the songs the station ident will get played just to remind the audience what station they are listening to or if someone has just tuned in they will know what they are listening to. This tells me that in our show we should try to talk less as this is what clearly works. The presenter does not really talk much other than when they are telling the audience to get involved with the show through twitter, sometimes she will introduce a song or tell the listeners a fact about an artist or a song, this tells me that the presenter is informal and easy going which makes the show easily relaxed which is the vibe I would be looking to have in our show. Just like Kiss fm as the night gets later the songs get older which means the show is based around club classics which is what I feel is what we should do for our show. The music style to the show is "club classics" which means that the show is based on older songs which will give people the excited going out vibe which is what I would like to bring to our show. The idents in the show after often played after there have been a few songs played back to back or after advert breaks, the ident is upbeat it mentions the station name the presenter of the show after the ident is played the presenter will usually say the time what the show is and what the station is just in case someone has only just tuned in they need to know what they are listening to. The adverts that are played on heart fm will be tailored to the target audience so that it reflects the lives of the listeners. As heart is a local radio station there is a local sector in the news alongside national news, I believe that it is important to have the local sector as it will inform the audience about the whether, traffic and local crime. As we our also a local radio show I would expect that we should do something similar with our news sector.
Radio 1
BBC radio ones late night show is presented by Charlie sloth it takes a different approach to the other stations that I have analysed this show does not really focus on throwback songs and focuses more on current grime music. The target audience is 15-29 which is close to our target audience however the other descriptions are not so similar to the Barnfield radio station descriptions. The presenter has guests on this show and talks to them quite often, it is mainly asking them about their new album coming out or their tour that they on. The style of the show is informal the presenter is joking around with the guests and interacting with the audience asking them about their weekend and what they are up to or what they recently did. This is how I would like our show to be in the sense that he is talking to the guests and it is not just song after song. The show did include a quiz however it was not involving the public it was between the presenter and the guest which was my initial idea anyway. The presenter of the show will play a few songs and then will talk to the audience and/or the guest as the BBC does not have adverts other than there own there is not as many ad breaks which means the show has a lot more time to be playing more songs, even though I like the idea of this structure we can not do this because we have to include adverts in our show. The presenter is very laid back and relaxed which means that this is the vibe of the show which is actually how I would like my show to be. The music that is being played on the show follows a theme which is grime, this is not the route I personally would like to go down however it clearly works for the target audience of this particular show. The idents of the show follow the same grime theme it mentions the presenters name, the station name and the station frequency which reminds listeners what they are listening to or for anyone that has just tuned in. As I previously said Radio 1 only plays BBC adverts eg for other radio shows or even for BBC tv programmes. In this late night show there is not a news sector this may be because it is late and it does not follow the theme of the show.
Diary entry 10/01/2018
In todays lesson we started our research portfolios and I listened to a late night radio show on Kiss fm and analysed it to see how we can improve our idea so that we can be as good as them. Over the weekend I am going to continue with my research and analyse another late night show from a different station to compare the two to see if the structure is the same and if we have the best idea in terms of what type of songs we are planning to play. I also need to complete market research and find reviews of the radio shows. I also created a survey for my primary research to find out how often people listen to the radio and if they do what they listen to. I think todayI have had a productive day and have completed a lot of research. My group and I still need to hold a focus group to see what people think of our idea and see what people think about radio.
Social awareness research
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Plan your journey home beforehand. Check when the last train or bus is, or book a taxi so you don’t risk getting into an unlicensed taxi.
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Whilst it may seem like common sense, ensure all doors and windows are securely locked whenever you go out.
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Drink sensibly. It’s easy to get caught up in drinking, especially when you’re out having fun and start to lose track of how many you’ve had. Know your limits and stick to them. Break up alcohol with soft drinks or water and eat beforehand if you’re planning to drink.
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Keep an eye on your drinks. We all know not to leave our drinks unattended, or to accept a drink from a stranger, but it’s always worth repeating.
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The same goes for your belongings, don’t leave items unattended and don’t keep your phone, wallet or money in your back pocket. In a busy environment it’s easy to be unaware of someone pickpocketing you.
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Stay together with friends. Don’t go off by yourself with someone you don’t know. Keep track of your friends too and stay together when on nights out.
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Take a taxi home. If you can, always take a taxi, and keep some money aside for this on your night out. If you absolutely have to walk home, make sure you’re with someone, and stick to well-lit and public areas.
In our radio show we are going to have a section whereby we remind people to stay safe on nights out, I have researched tips on how to stay safe on nights out and how to drink within your means and still have a really good night out.
15/01/2018
Today I carried on with my research into other radio stations from doing this I have learnt a lot about what I should include in my radio show and how to do that. Moving forward I have a lot of work to do to be able to hit the 10:30 deadline on Wednesday. I need to complete all of my secondary research, analyse my questionnaire hold a focus group and analyse that too which means I am going to have to get a lot done at home as well as in college.
Rajar
Rajar is a data release company which gives radio shows results to tell them how there content is doing and how the public is responding to the different shows. This screenshot shows that 90% of the population tune into the radio every week and on average a listener tunes inot the radio 21.3 hours a week.
It says here a that 61% of the population tune into digital radio every week. This is how radio is moving along and becoming more and more modern and in the future more people will most likely be listening to digital radio or streaming radio.
When looking at this screenshot it shows us where most people listen to the radio, it shows us that most people listen to the radio when they are in their house doing work. This surprised me as I would have thought that the number of people listening in the car would have been way higher.
This screenshot shows us the breakdown of the digital listening hours, which clearly shows that digital radio is the most listened to and following is tv radio shows, the least is people listening on the computer. This tells the different radio stations what they should be looking at promoting more and what is working better for them as a brand.
Focus group analysis
From gathering all this information radio stations are able to personalise their stations or change their target audience to what they feel could work for them.
Today as a group we held a focus group, we asked the group lots of questions about radio and what they would expect from any type of radio show and what type of music they listen to the most and why. When we asked the question what kind of music do you listen to the most of and why we had a mixture of responses some people said RnB some said rock and some said hip hop and when we asked why each person that it was because that was what they had grown up listening to it and so that was what they were used to. As a group we decided to ask this question as we need to know what type of music we should play for our target audience and by asking this question we are able to tell what is the most popular. We then asked the group what they think the ratio of music and talking should be and all of the group said 50-50 which tells us that after every few songs we should have a chat and interact with the audience. We also asked the group what they think the adverts should be about everyone said they should be tailored to the target audience this means as a group we need to research what our target audience spends the most money on which will tell us what adverts to play. We also asked what they expect from presenters the group said presenters should be funny, likeable and friendly even if it is late night. I asked the group if they would like the presenter to add a fact about the artist or the song before it is played just to give a bit of background. Overall I think that the focus group went well as we found out the information we were struggling with which will help us move forward and create a successful radio show. To do better next time I will try to push the group to give more detailed answers to make sure that we can get a real discussion going on and find out even more information.
16/01/2018
Today as a class we took a trip to global radio to visit the presenters and the people who work behind the scenes of the radio shows. We learnt about music changes, ident sweeps and when to play them. The team told us about what were to happen if anything ever went wrong like for example if a transmitter went down what they would have to do to make sure that the public would never know. We found out a lot about global radio and who the target audience is for each of the radio stations that global own. We learnt about how the desks work and how to go live on air and how they pre record some things just in case they go wrong . After this we went back to college to carry on with our research portfolio where my group and I carried out a focus group and analysed it to help my group and I with our research. Tomorrow is the deadline and to be able to reach this deadline I need to research the definition of defamation and ofcom, and analyse my survey results which should all be done by 10:30 tomorrow morning.
Audience listening figures
These audience figures show and prove that these radios shows are successful enough for me to take ideas from them to make sure that my radio show is as good as these.
Survey analysis
For my questionnaire as a first question I asked people their age so then I could evaluate the target audience. I feel that is question will not help me with my radio show as the results I have are based on who I distributed the survey to.
I asked people their gender as I thought this question would help me understand who is listening to the radio more, however when reflecting on my role as a researcher I realise that the results only vary on who I have distributed the survey to. This tells me that next time maybe I should just distribute to many people rather than just sending it to certain people as then I will get clearer results.
This question will help me more than the previous two because this tells me when people are mostly listening to the radio. As you can see from the screenshot that most people listen to the radio in the morning when they are driving to work for example. The second highest result is late at night. I have also found that no one has said they listen to the radio between 1-3 this could be because people are at work or at school and are busy at this time. From asking this question I know that late night radio shows do have a lot of listeners which tells me that our show can be successful if I follow all the research I have previously found.
For my fourth question I asked people if you do or do not listen to the radio please explain why?
Some of the results I have gathered were "prefer my own music like spotify as can chose what I wanna listen to and no ads or people chatting" and "Whilst getting ready for work in the mornings, also driving to and from work as well as doing housework." These results our mixed which tells me that some people enjoy the radio however some prefer streaming sites such as spotify. When reflecting on my role as a researcher I should have also asked people to include their ages so I can tell who is saying they prefer the radio. This question will help me as now I know that we should try to avoid talking as this is what quite a few people did not like.
I asked people what station they listen to the most, the two most popular stations our capital fm and heart fm which even though both radio stations our owned by the same company they are still quite different in terms of what kind of songs they play. In my results no one said radio 2, these results have not surprised me as even though radio 2 is the most listened radio station in the country however it is not the most listened to within my target audience. These results do help me as my target audience would be listening to capital and heart so I now know I should reflect on research from these stations.
I asked people what they would expect from a late night radio show, lots of people said "club classics" some said "remixes". These results have most likely helped me the most as that was my idea to play club classics and remixes so now I know that my idea could work and could be popular.
I asked people if they would ever take part in a quiz on the radio and most people said no due to being embarrassed. This tells me that maybe on our show we should play games between the presenters.
Defamation and ofcom
Defamation is when someone says something bad about another person that could damage that persons reputation. Due to this the other person could sue the first person if it is a lie. When presenting the radio show I need to remember this as if I do say something I should apologise straight away to make sure nothing bad happens.
BBC Radio-1 . (2018) BBC Radio 1 Available online https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1 (Access date 17.01.2018)
Capital fm . (2018) Capital fm Available online http://www.capitalfm.com/london/ (Acess date 17.01.2018)
Kiss. (2018) Kissfm . Available online https://planetradio.co.uk/kiss/ (Access date 17.01.2018)
Media.info (2017)‘BBC Radio 1-listening figures . Available online: https://media.info/radio/stations/bbc-radio-1. (Access date 17.01.2018)
Media.info (2017)‘Kissfm – listening figures . Available online: https://media.info/radio/stations/kiss/listening-figures. (Access date 17.01.2018)
Rajar. (2015). ‘ rajar data release’ . Available online: http://www.rajar.co.uk/ . (Access date 17.01.2018)