The Morning Glory Show - Brief Overview
After weeks of intense planning we broadcasted our children in need show. The planning we performed helped us to create an organised and smoothly ran radio show, the running order helped us greatly.
Strengths
I feel that our strengths lay in the organisation, the feature content and in the presenter himself. Our content stuck to our main goal, to create a light-hearted radio show that appealed to a 16-21 age range. We ensured that our content was linked closely to the research we performed before any main planning. For example, the music we played related closely to the results that we found out, that indie/pop were the best music genres for that age range. Also, we chose to create a show that had features/banter/music as the main content (as our research showed us), we stuck to this incredibly well; largely down to our running order and the meeting that we had before the show began, we dicussed topics that we could talk about, this ensured that there were no gaps in speech throughout the radio show; ensuring this would ensure that our audience would not lose interest.
The presenter, Mike O Connor, i felt performed extremely well throughout the hour. He was the main authority within the radio show, his voice was easily recognisable as the presenter to the audience. He achieved this through a louder projection, as he is within the personal zone to the audience. He also used upward and downward inflections, this is a useful technique as it helps an audience to easily recognise parts of a story; whether it be a question, or an emotion. He also kept the show structured, as he would introduce a new topic, a new feature or the next song; this helped keep the show flowing.
In terms or organisation our running order helped keep the show organised (refer to the running order). It contained detailed timings and the content to be discussed in each section, this helped me extremely well as designated producer as i had to help keep the show running on time, with topics not going over its designated time or going under. Without a running order the show would have been in disarray, this is something we discovered in the early rehearsal days of the morning glory show. We would usually go into a rehearsal with no sort of idea what topics we would be discussing, this did not go down too well but it helped us to improve ourselves as the weeks progressed. We went from having no running order, to having a running order and also script meetings to discuss the topics we would discuss.
In terms of music content we tried to follow the industry as best as possible. A week before our children in need show, our group met to choose pop/indie songs from the ABC list from Radio One that we liked, we then sat down and listened to each song and chose 7 songs that we all felt were the most radio-friendly and relevant to our audience. This way of choosing our playlist is used by Radio One, as we discovered in a Radio Documentary, and we felt it was relevant to the show we were doing as we were basing its style on the Chris Moyles' Morning Show. Our music was extremely relevant to the target audience we were aiming the show at.
Weaknesses
Our weaknesses lay in probably the most important part of a radio show, the sound levels. In several parts within the show, the sound levels were too high, overpowering the vocals. If i noticed this in the show i would have controlled them, it was only something i noticed when listening to the show after on Ustream. I believe this is all down to practice, we obviously did not have enough practice in the radio studio to get soundbed levels right. Unfortunatly the 'Time to Rhyme' soundbed is horrifically loud, if i was listening to the show for recreational purposes then i would have switched off straight away. To improve on this perhaps we should have had a designated sound engineer to stay on the decks at all times to listen to the sound levels, unfortunatly we kept our main presenter on the decks so he would have had to concentrate on several tasks.
Thankfully, in parts the sound levels were perfect, the presenters voices were at a high level and the soundbed was quiet enough to not overpower the presenter but also be heard. Soundbeds are vital in this genre of radio show as it helps keep you awake and alert in the morning, too many gaps in sound and you would lose interest.
We could have improved on the news much more, the content was good but the jingles could have been improved on. As radio is heavily reliant on sound, some more jingles would have helped improve the quality of the news feature. For example, after each story a jingle could have been played just so that the audience are positive we were moving on to the next news story. VoxPops would have also ensured that our news was as professional as Radio One. For example, Radio One's 'Newsbeat' has a good structure wherin they would reveal the top deadlines in a menu, followed by one news story, a voxpop, and then a jingle to tell the audience that they are moving on to another news story.
Feature Content
The feature content was something we wanted to largely focus on, basing much of our conversation around these features. I believe that our features were our main strength. The features we had were: Fact of the Day, Barryoke and Wood Chuck Chilli.
Wood Chuck Chilli was a pre-recorded feature, we chose to do this pre-recorded because of its sheer length. We believed that it would be easier and more efficient to pre-record it and then edit it together to avoid gaps in speech, and also to improve it with jingles. It also made it completely easier for us because we edited a song on to the end of the feature so that the feature was about 8 minutes long, this ensured that we could prepare for the next part of our show.
Fact of the day was a feature we thought up so that we could add a conversational element to the show. Matt Bragg and Matt Bird would reveal the facts of the day, after each fact a small discussion could be had in relation to that particular topic. We believed that this feature would appeal to our style of show, as we wanted the audience to feel like that were in a social situation with the presenters; almost as if they were our friends.
Barryoke was a concept i came up with when our show was in the planning stages. It involved a designated 'Barry' (usually me) mumbling a melody to a song in any fashion they deemed necessary, the people in the radio studio would then try and guess what song it was. I feel that this feature went very well as it was light-hearted and made everyone in the radio studio laugh. To improve on this feature we could have chosen to do the feature much earlier on in the running order so that we could perhaps get our audience involved aswell; especially as this was a children in need assignment we could have included a way of raising funds through this feature.
Audience Relevance
We set out to create a radio show aimed at an audience that could access internet radio, as that would be the format we would be broadcasting on. From the research we discovered that a large amount of the people we asked were in the 16-25 age range. Therefore we decided to aim our show at this audience. Also, we discovered that this target audience was particularly interested in the Chris Moyles' Radio One Morning Show; this show was a great influence for us.
The format of the Chris Moyles' show is mainly made up of banter and features with only four or five songs. We wanted to replicate their style of banter, as if you were with a group of mates at a pub. I believe we replicated this extremely well, primarily because Mike, Matt Bragg, Matt Bird and myself get on so well; we could replicate a good level of banter because its what we talk about from day to day college life.
We also gained some feedback from our target audience, here are some quotes:
"great feel to the show, felt like i was down the pub with my mates"
"sound levels too high in places"
"Barryoke had me in stitches"
I believe that we engaged our target audience fully within the content we produced, on the other hand we did not involve the audience within any other media formats; such as text or telephone. We did engage the audience in a visual way, as we had set up a youtube channel to advertise our show, but we could have done so much more.
I believe that if we had a better marketing strategy we would have gained a larger audience. The marketing strategy we used was to create a facebook page, a good idea, but we did not market it using this medium to the best of our abilities. To market it better we could have added far more people to the facebook page, and created more promotional videos to advertise the show so that our current audience would constantly be reminded that we were building up to our children in need show.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Friday, 5 November 2010
Treatment
This is the treatment our group gathered together in order to create our morning radio show. It is useful
Working Title: The Morning Glory Radio Show
Format: Audio/Visual on USTREAM.tv
Estimated Duration: 1 hour
Intended Audience:
16-19
ABC1
Interested in socialising, shopping, music and sports.
Preferential music taste is Pop & Indie.
Synopsis:
The Morning Glory Show is a light-hearted morning radio show designed fully with the purpose of waking up its audience in a friendly way, getting them ready for the day with banter, features and the best and most current pop/indie.
We will have three main features to work round. They will be our main pillars, holding the show up. The features are: Barryoke, Wood Chuck Chilli and the fact of the day. Barryoke is a comical feature where the selected 'Barry' for the day mumbles the melody to a well known song; it is then the task of the radio presenters to guess what it is. Our second feature is wood chuck chilli, this will be pre-recorded and it will also feature visual properties as it will be recorded and put on our YouTube channel. The premise of Wood Chuck Chilli is a competition between two people, they will have to digest spicy foods (chillies, sauces etc) and then say the tongue twister "how much wood can a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood"; we feel this will have comical circumstances that will leave listeners/viewers laughing. Our third feature is "Fact of the day", this is designed to leave our listeners with an interesting few facts to approach their day with.
We are basing the format of the show on the Chris Moyles Radio Show; the same style of presenting and an equal amount of banter. We have chosen to do this as the Chris Moyles show is a popular radio show, especially amongst our target audience (something we also researched in our primary research).
Budget: There will be no budget required as we have free access to the radio studio at Stratford upon-Avon College.
Feasibility: We will be able to complete the job perfectly and professionally as we have assigned clear and concise job roles for every person in the group and we have several weekly meeting times where we will discuss ideas/thoughts and also practice the radio show when the radio studio is available.
Rationale: The Morning Glory Show will appeal to our target audience because we are confident the content we will chose will be appropriate. We know this through the primary and secondary research that we have done (refer to primary research analysis). For example, we found out that 16-25 year olds are interested in Music, Features/Quizzes and Chat/Banter therefore these are going to be main content characteristics of our show.
Working Title: The Morning Glory Radio Show
Format: Audio/Visual on USTREAM.tv
Estimated Duration: 1 hour
Intended Audience:
16-19
ABC1
Interested in socialising, shopping, music and sports.
Preferential music taste is Pop & Indie.
Synopsis:
The Morning Glory Show is a light-hearted morning radio show designed fully with the purpose of waking up its audience in a friendly way, getting them ready for the day with banter, features and the best and most current pop/indie.
We will have three main features to work round. They will be our main pillars, holding the show up. The features are: Barryoke, Wood Chuck Chilli and the fact of the day. Barryoke is a comical feature where the selected 'Barry' for the day mumbles the melody to a well known song; it is then the task of the radio presenters to guess what it is. Our second feature is wood chuck chilli, this will be pre-recorded and it will also feature visual properties as it will be recorded and put on our YouTube channel. The premise of Wood Chuck Chilli is a competition between two people, they will have to digest spicy foods (chillies, sauces etc) and then say the tongue twister "how much wood can a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood"; we feel this will have comical circumstances that will leave listeners/viewers laughing. Our third feature is "Fact of the day", this is designed to leave our listeners with an interesting few facts to approach their day with.
We are basing the format of the show on the Chris Moyles Radio Show; the same style of presenting and an equal amount of banter. We have chosen to do this as the Chris Moyles show is a popular radio show, especially amongst our target audience (something we also researched in our primary research).
Budget: There will be no budget required as we have free access to the radio studio at Stratford upon-Avon College.
Feasibility: We will be able to complete the job perfectly and professionally as we have assigned clear and concise job roles for every person in the group and we have several weekly meeting times where we will discuss ideas/thoughts and also practice the radio show when the radio studio is available.
Rationale: The Morning Glory Show will appeal to our target audience because we are confident the content we will chose will be appropriate. We know this through the primary and secondary research that we have done (refer to primary research analysis). For example, we found out that 16-25 year olds are interested in Music, Features/Quizzes and Chat/Banter therefore these are going to be main content characteristics of our show.
Thursday, 4 November 2010
PSB / Commercial Radio
Public service broadcasters recieve their funding from the public. The most reknowned PSB is the BBC, the license fee that all TV owners pay goes towards paying for radio as well as television. It allows the BBC to fund music events/hire bands/presenters etc. It also gives the BBC much more leeway on their content as they do not have advertisers trying to control some of the content so that the advertisers can attract more people to their advertised product. PSB also have much more commitment to public interest as they are a public service broadcaster.
Commercial radio is funded by advertisers, examples of commercial radio stations are: Galaxy FM, Heart FM, Classic FM etc. Because they are funded by advertisers, this makes the radio station much more commercial and is perhaps not fully in a listener's interest.
Commercial radio is funded by advertisers, examples of commercial radio stations are: Galaxy FM, Heart FM, Classic FM etc. Because they are funded by advertisers, this makes the radio station much more commercial and is perhaps not fully in a listener's interest.
Audience Feedback
To obtain audience feedback, something vital for us to evaluate our show, we have chosen to use our facebook page to the best it can be used. As part of our promotional work we have promoted the show on the facebook page, building audience interest, this audience interest will lead to our audience being given the chance to give feedback about our show.
A discussion post will be made on the facebook page where we will be able to ask people what they thought about the show, and how they thought we can improve our show.
We will also be organising a small focus group to listen to the show, or some of it depending on time constraints. A focus group will allow us to directly interact with an audience listening to our show. Evaluating our work is one of the most important stages as it allows us to build upon our work; see where we went right and where we can improve on.
To summarise:
Facebook page discussion
Focus Group
A discussion post will be made on the facebook page where we will be able to ask people what they thought about the show, and how they thought we can improve our show.
We will also be organising a small focus group to listen to the show, or some of it depending on time constraints. A focus group will allow us to directly interact with an audience listening to our show. Evaluating our work is one of the most important stages as it allows us to build upon our work; see where we went right and where we can improve on.
To summarise:
Facebook page discussion
Focus Group
Promotional Videos
As i took it upon myself to promote the morning glory show i helped create three videos in order to directly accomplish this promotion goal. The videos were uploaded to youtube and then added to the facebook page in order to attract more attention.
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/themorninggloryshow1
Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/themorninggloryshow1
Promotional Graphics
To promote The Morning Glory Show i decided to take it upon myself to create a graphics for the facebook/youtube page.
This is the main logo i designed for the show, as you can see i decided to make it simple. The colours i chose are based on the colours of the sky, blue and then yellow for the sun with the clouds as "the" and "show".
To include continuity into the logo designs i created a promotional graphic for one of our features using the same kind of style as the main logo but encorporating a fiery outline as the feature itself includes the digestion of hot chillis. This second graphic has been used on the youtube video of the feature.
Graphics are important, as this is a cross-media excersise graphics help the audience to see another side of the show.
I also created graphics for the other radio show we are involved in, "Afternoon Delight".
Running Order
The running order is the most important document in preparation for and carrying out our radio show. It ensures that we keep the radio show on time in regards to all the other radio shows happening before and after and it also helps the presenters/co-presenters with conversation prompts and ensures that each jingle/song is played at exactly the right time. Here is a print screen of our running order that we will use in our Children in Need Show:
Alongside this running order we have written down the topics we will be talking about in the ID "CHAT". This will help us have a guideline in regards to topics we will discuss. It is important that we do not script the conversations as this will not give off the desired effect; the effect we want to pursue is a relaxed style of presenting, more suited to a group of friends in a social situation.
As you can see, the running order features the time it will be on, the ID of what the particular part of the show is (JINGLE etc), what deck the particular feature will be broadcast on (what particular microphone or channel on Myriad) and also the actual time of the particular feature. For example, the jingle for Barryoke is being played out of Channel 1 and it is exactly 5 seconds long.
Precision and planning is the key to creating a professional radio show, ensuring that everything is organised and there is no chaos in the conversation.
Alongside this running order we have written down the topics we will be talking about in the ID "CHAT". This will help us have a guideline in regards to topics we will discuss. It is important that we do not script the conversations as this will not give off the desired effect; the effect we want to pursue is a relaxed style of presenting, more suited to a group of friends in a social situation.
Playlist
For our show "The Morning Glory Show" we decided to choose music that was within the pop/indie genre as we discovered these were the most favourite genres amongst the 16-25 age range.
After watching a documentary about Radio One, as a group we decided to designate our playlist as professionally as possible. Obviously we would not have record labels coming to us so that they could play their songs on air, so we decided to take a look at Radio One's A/B/C list. From that list we chose our favourite songs. We then sat down in front of youtube and listened to each song in full, rating each song on its playability. We were then left with our core playlist. As part of our running order i encorporated four songs in to it, as we were going for more of a chat/feature based radio show; we discovered this was the most popular method from the Chris Moyles' Show, they feature 4 or 5 songs in their radio show.
The songs we chose were:
Katy Perry - Firework
Darwin Deez - Constellations
Kings of Leon - Radioactive
Two Door Cinema Club - I Can Talk
We chose these songs based on length (all around the 3 minute mark), genre (all indie or pop), and our own personal tastes as this was a group effort.
If anything goes wrong we also have these songs to use as a backup if anything goes wrong:
Cee-Lo Green - Forget You
JLS - Love You More
The xx - VCR
Biffy Clyro - Boom, blast & ruin
The Wombats - Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)
After watching a documentary about Radio One, as a group we decided to designate our playlist as professionally as possible. Obviously we would not have record labels coming to us so that they could play their songs on air, so we decided to take a look at Radio One's A/B/C list. From that list we chose our favourite songs. We then sat down in front of youtube and listened to each song in full, rating each song on its playability. We were then left with our core playlist. As part of our running order i encorporated four songs in to it, as we were going for more of a chat/feature based radio show; we discovered this was the most popular method from the Chris Moyles' Show, they feature 4 or 5 songs in their radio show.
The songs we chose were:
Katy Perry - Firework
Darwin Deez - Constellations
Kings of Leon - Radioactive
Two Door Cinema Club - I Can Talk
We chose these songs based on length (all around the 3 minute mark), genre (all indie or pop), and our own personal tastes as this was a group effort.
If anything goes wrong we also have these songs to use as a backup if anything goes wrong:
Cee-Lo Green - Forget You
JLS - Love You More
The xx - VCR
Biffy Clyro - Boom, blast & ruin
The Wombats - Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)
Platforms for broadcasting
Exploring various platforms for broadcasting our radio show is important as we want the most people watching our show as we can, to do this we must explore several platforms for broadcasting/marketing the show.
As a basis our show is going out as part of StratCast, in particular StratCastoff. StratCast use USTREAM as a means of broadcasting television/radio. Instead of there being a blank screen and then audio, USTREAM allows our show to be able to explore multi-camera techniques if we feel this is necessary. On the other hand we could simple use one single camera to portray us in the radio studio, this allows the audience to feel a stronger connection to the show and it allows for audience interaction which is key for certain types of shows. For example, a quiz show on the radio may require certain visual elements to be explored so that the audience interaction can be at its best, however using visual elements may not be vastly important. Simplicity is often the key.
Facebook/Youtube
To further market our radio show, and to participate the audience further, it is wise to look in to other popular means of broadcasting amongst our target audience. We have discovered that youtube and facebook are amongst the most popular internet sites, for our target audience. Therefore we must find a way of encorporating our radio show on to these platforms.
From looking at Radio One, a popular radio show amongst our target audience, it is clear to see that they mainly encorporate youtube and facebook as part of their marketing campaign. On their youtube channel they feature videos relevant to a particular radio show, and also music events that radio one have set up. In particular they have live lounge footage, which allows the radio listeners to see a different aspect to the live lounge feature.
Facebook is another way of marketing/broadcasting our show to another level. Through the facebook "page" feature it allows you to create a page for a particular business/band/radio show etc. From there you have the option to advertise the page on the facebook side bars, in a real world situation we may have explored this further in order to achieve a much vaster audience. In this instance, i took up the role of being in charge of this facebook page. My main method of marketing was adding people from my friend list and also making sure the other people in my group added people from their friend list. Unfortunatly at the moment we only have 64 likes, but this will all be included in my evaluation.
Internet Radio Box
Internet Radio Box is a popular phone application available for the iPhone/iPod/iPad. It allows these owners to listen to any internet radio station on the go. This is an extract from the October 2010 News Release from RAJAR:
"Radio listening via mobile phone has increased by 2.3% quarter on quarter with 12.8% of adults aged 15+ in Q3, 2010 now claiming to have listened to radio via their mobile phone (cf 12.5% in Q2, 2010). In the 15-24 year demographic 30.7% claim to have listened to the radio in this way; and 14.2% say they listen at least once a week, while 2.3% say they listen everyday. In the 25+ demographic 9.4% of adults claim to listen to the radio via their mobile phone."
As a basis our show is going out as part of StratCast, in particular StratCastoff. StratCast use USTREAM as a means of broadcasting television/radio. Instead of there being a blank screen and then audio, USTREAM allows our show to be able to explore multi-camera techniques if we feel this is necessary. On the other hand we could simple use one single camera to portray us in the radio studio, this allows the audience to feel a stronger connection to the show and it allows for audience interaction which is key for certain types of shows. For example, a quiz show on the radio may require certain visual elements to be explored so that the audience interaction can be at its best, however using visual elements may not be vastly important. Simplicity is often the key.
Facebook/Youtube
To further market our radio show, and to participate the audience further, it is wise to look in to other popular means of broadcasting amongst our target audience. We have discovered that youtube and facebook are amongst the most popular internet sites, for our target audience. Therefore we must find a way of encorporating our radio show on to these platforms.
From looking at Radio One, a popular radio show amongst our target audience, it is clear to see that they mainly encorporate youtube and facebook as part of their marketing campaign. On their youtube channel they feature videos relevant to a particular radio show, and also music events that radio one have set up. In particular they have live lounge footage, which allows the radio listeners to see a different aspect to the live lounge feature.
Facebook is another way of marketing/broadcasting our show to another level. Through the facebook "page" feature it allows you to create a page for a particular business/band/radio show etc. From there you have the option to advertise the page on the facebook side bars, in a real world situation we may have explored this further in order to achieve a much vaster audience. In this instance, i took up the role of being in charge of this facebook page. My main method of marketing was adding people from my friend list and also making sure the other people in my group added people from their friend list. Unfortunatly at the moment we only have 64 likes, but this will all be included in my evaluation.
Internet Radio Box
Internet Radio Box is a popular phone application available for the iPhone/iPod/iPad. It allows these owners to listen to any internet radio station on the go. This is an extract from the October 2010 News Release from RAJAR:
"Radio listening via mobile phone has increased by 2.3% quarter on quarter with 12.8% of adults aged 15+ in Q3, 2010 now claiming to have listened to radio via their mobile phone (cf 12.5% in Q2, 2010). In the 15-24 year demographic 30.7% claim to have listened to the radio in this way; and 14.2% say they listen at least once a week, while 2.3% say they listen everyday. In the 25+ demographic 9.4% of adults claim to listen to the radio via their mobile phone."
This basically means that mobile phone usage for internet radio is on a massive rise, especially amongst our target audience (16-25). This would be an invaluable method of marketing/broadcasting our radio show.
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Secondary Research
RAJAR
RAJAR is an invaluable resource for research in to the radio world. They supply researchers/advertisers/market researchers with information regarding listening figures and also audience information for paying customers. Unfortunatly i am not a paying customer so i can not access this premium information but i was able to find out information about listening figures and also how internet radio has become more popular over the course of a year.
From these graphs you can see the big rise in the popularity of internet radio. From December '08 to September '08, the listening figures of internet radio have risen from 2.0% of the listening share to 2.8% of the listening share. Although this is not a massive improvement, a 0.8% increase is still great achievement. This is extremely useful to know, instead of us not broadcasting the radio shows at all we know that we may be able to achieve a good share of listening figures from all over the world.
The only bad thing is that we cannot achieve a broader primary research in such a small amount of time with the few resources we have. Within the real world it would be much more achievable to find out more about this 2.8% share of listening figures and we could therefore look to aim our show at a wider audience.
But this does not provide too big a problem for us as we can still aim our show at a big audience within the West Midlands and we could always gain an accidental audience that may be interested in listening to our show. All of this is down to promotion, which i will cover more extensively in another post.
RAJAR is an invaluable resource for research in to the radio world. They supply researchers/advertisers/market researchers with information regarding listening figures and also audience information for paying customers. Unfortunatly i am not a paying customer so i can not access this premium information but i was able to find out information about listening figures and also how internet radio has become more popular over the course of a year.
From these graphs you can see the big rise in the popularity of internet radio. From December '08 to September '08, the listening figures of internet radio have risen from 2.0% of the listening share to 2.8% of the listening share. Although this is not a massive improvement, a 0.8% increase is still great achievement. This is extremely useful to know, instead of us not broadcasting the radio shows at all we know that we may be able to achieve a good share of listening figures from all over the world.
The only bad thing is that we cannot achieve a broader primary research in such a small amount of time with the few resources we have. Within the real world it would be much more achievable to find out more about this 2.8% share of listening figures and we could therefore look to aim our show at a wider audience.
But this does not provide too big a problem for us as we can still aim our show at a big audience within the West Midlands and we could always gain an accidental audience that may be interested in listening to our show. All of this is down to promotion, which i will cover more extensively in another post.
Primary Research
After the relevant analysis was completed in to different radio shows it was a wise choice to pursue research in to a target audience; without an audience it makes a creation of a radio show pointless. Ensuring that we created a show relevant to an audience in every way was our primarly goal.
From this graph you can tell that radio one is the most popular radio station amongst 16-25 year olds. In particular the morning show is the most popular, with the evening show coming second. This is invaluable because it tells us that this particular target audience is interested in listening to a morning show, the show we plan to create.
As a group we decided to create two questionnaires; one finding out what age/gender could listen to the radio in the morning and then a much more complex questionnaire pursuing psychodemographics such as interests/beliefs/opinions.
These are some of the relevant graphs and charts that we made using the collated information. The sample size we had was abot 200, this is not completely ideal but with the time and resources we had this is the best we could have done; it is still far more useful than a 50 person sample size.
We gathered that most the people that could listen to a radio show in the morning were people of mixed genders and people in the 16-25 age range, therefore we decided to explore this target audience further for key psychodemographics that would help us to craft a radio show well suited to them.
These are some of the graphs/charts that we created after collating the data, if more results would like to be seen then simply request them but these are the most important ones.
Favourite Radio Station
Best things about Radio One Morning Show
The next step would be to discover what the 16-25 age range liked so much about the radio one morning show. As you can see the most popular results were chat/banter, music and then games/quizzes. Therefore this is a stable format to base our show upon; having mostly chat and banter with songs and one or two features/games.
Music Interests
Best time to listen to types of music
To further investigate what our target audience would like to hear on a morning show we felt it was important to explore the results in regards to music genres. As you can see, in the morning the most popular genres of music are pop and indie; therefore it would be wise to have these genres as our main music genres within our playlist. There is no use playing RnB as it is clear to see that only a small majority of the people we asked are interested in RnB. At the end of the day, as a group we aim to provide a morning radio show that is heavily suited to the 16-25 age range.
Location
Location is fundamental to the creation of a radio show. As we only asked people from around Stratford upon-Avon college, it is clear that our results will only feature locations from in and around the West Midlands, but because we can find so much out about this demographic it is wise to use it as our target audience. In this graph you can see that the most people live in Stratford, Alcester and Solihull there it is wise that we make our content much more regional, and relevant to this area; the west midlands.
EMA/ALG
Another step in the analysis of our target audience would be to find out the socio-demographics of our target audience. A way to do this would be to ask whether our target audience recieves EMA or not. As you can see the majority of people we asked do recieve EMA/ALG, this would suggest that our target audience is not from an ABC background. It suggests that they are non-skilled workers, and it is a clear point that they are students. Therefore it would be wise to make the content of our radio show less educated, perhaps moreso like a gossip show.
Interests
In order to improve our content further it was wise to explore our target audience's interests. This is vital because our content must reflect the target audience we are aiming it at. In this particular circumstance the majority of people in the 16-25 age range prefer socialising, shopping, music, films and sports. Therefore we will make sure that our discussions/features reflect these topics, this is particularly important with news stories so that we can create relevant news to the target audience. For example, if there is a big news story about sports or films then we may wish to cover these topics to attract our target audience further.
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Analysis of Relevant Radio Programmes (CIN09/Morning Show)
As we are creating a radio programme that is going to be related to Children in Need, it is important to look at last year's children in need radio event; in particular the morning and afternoon shows as we have to create shows that will be placed at these times.
Pitch, Projection, Pace, Pause
Pitch:
Relatively simple style of presenting. Upward inflections are common within this show, "StratCast Radio", this is said with an upward inflection. The presenter has chosen to use this style for certain sentences because it gets you interested in what they are doing; upward inflections place emphasis on certain points, in this instance the presenter is emphasising the name of the radio station. Another example of upward inflection is when the presenter says to his co-presenter "Josh!", the upward inflection is then followed by a query the presenter has with him. This is typical amongst a conversational style of presenting.
Due to the content of the show, the pace is at a normal speed. This is because the show gives out information about children in need. The pace picks up during certain features, this builds excitement and brings the audience in to the show. If the pace was too quick then the listener would not be able to understand the content being spoken.
Pause:
From what i can tell, there are no massive pauses within the show, this is because it is a morning show. If there was a pause longer than three seconds then the audience would lose interest in the show and perhaps choose to listen to something else.
Mode of Address:
The Mode of Address is most commonly indirect and informal, this represents the codes and conventions of other morning radio shows. The presenter is heard conversing with his co-presenters, this develops the popular "chatty" style of morning radio show.
Institutional Context
This particular radio show is within a college's boundaries, this is reflected in topics discussed. They feature content associated with a younger audience, such as their discussion into the NME awards the night before this particular show. StratCast are not bound by advertisements as they have Stratford upon-Avon's facilities and resources behind them, this allows the show to have more freedom regarding content and the style of the show.
Pitch, Projection, Pace, Pause
Pitch:
Relatively simple style of presenting. Upward inflections are common within this show, "StratCast Radio", this is said with an upward inflection. The presenter has chosen to use this style for certain sentences because it gets you interested in what they are doing; upward inflections place emphasis on certain points, in this instance the presenter is emphasising the name of the radio station. Another example of upward inflection is when the presenter says to his co-presenter "Josh!", the upward inflection is then followed by a query the presenter has with him. This is typical amongst a conversational style of presenting.
The inflections used also reflect the status of each person, the main presenter uses more upward inflections. This combines with the projection, the main presenter's projection is louder and clearer compared to the other presenters. This is an automatic indication to the audience of the heirarchy of the radio show.
Projection:I found the audio to be very loud in places, almost as if the gain on the audio deck was too high. If this was the desired effect then i believe it was done to make sure the audience could hear, and they were very much within the intimate zone. This could be because of the various information they give out, such as "
Pace:Due to the content of the show, the pace is at a normal speed. This is because the show gives out information about children in need. The pace picks up during certain features, this builds excitement and brings the audience in to the show. If the pace was too quick then the listener would not be able to understand the content being spoken.
Pause:
From what i can tell, there are no massive pauses within the show, this is because it is a morning show. If there was a pause longer than three seconds then the audience would lose interest in the show and perhaps choose to listen to something else.
Mode of Address:
The Mode of Address is most commonly indirect and informal, this represents the codes and conventions of other morning radio shows. The presenter is heard conversing with his co-presenters, this develops the popular "chatty" style of morning radio show.
Institutional Context
This particular radio show is within a college's boundaries, this is reflected in topics discussed. They feature content associated with a younger audience, such as their discussion into the NME awards the night before this particular show. StratCast are not bound by advertisements as they have Stratford upon-Avon's facilities and resources behind them, this allows the show to have more freedom regarding content and the style of the show.
Analysis of Radio Programmes (Jamie & Harriet/Heart FM/Morning Show)
Heart FM is a very different radio station to Radio One, for one it is a commercial radio station primarily broadcasting locally over 33 different radio stations around the UK, although each show can be accessed online and the Jamie Theakston morning show is advertised as the flagship morning show therefore people will want to listen online if they can.
From the website itself it is easy to see what format the show is and what audience they are targetting the show at.
(www.heart.co.uk/london/about-us)
"Heart's core audience are aged between 25-44"
Simply, they are aiming their station at this audience range which is a very broad demographic covering 19 years but this age range mainly features people getting in to a professional stage of their life, but also people who are settling down with someone and having kids.
"dispite juggling their various roles as wives, husbands, parents and professionals"
This lets you know that they are targetting the show at both males and females, and this is given away again by the two presenters of the London morning show; a man and a woman.
"they are very social people who enjoy shopping, going out and spending time with their friends and family"
We can gather from this quote that their target audience is within the ABC demographic because they have the money to enjoy shopping and going out; their target audience obviously has enough money to be able to enjoy the finer things in life.
"the playlist is driven by passion, playing songs from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s"
This helps strengthen the signs the previous statements have shown in regards to target audience. Having songs from different decades is a clear indication that the target audience is an older one as they will be playing songs the audience grew up with which helps them to relate better to the show.
To analyse the show in more detail i accessed their podcast from Monday the 11th of October, this features the key parts of their show that have been edited together to fit 16minutes.
(www.heart.co.uk/london/shows/breakfast/podcast)
Pitch, Projection, Pace, Pause
Pitch:
Upward inflections are the most comment device used by the presenters, the effect this has is that it makes the presenters seem energetic and this is exactly what you need first thing in the morning; if you listen to energetic presenters you are bound to feed off this energy, on the other hand if you listen to a calm voice with a low pitch and few upward inflections you are bound to feel calm and sleepy.
An example of this is when Jamie Theakston says "Its Monday the 11th of October!", he says this primarily using a high pitch and an upward inflection; this helps wake you up and it grabs your attention, it reminded me of being woken up in the morning if you oversleep therefore it wakes you up.
Projection:
The projection is in the social zone, this is because the style of presenting is much more conversational, especially when they are interviewing a guest. The volume of speech varies, but it is mainly at a normal level; in some parts Jamie Theakston increases volume, this builds energy and grabs your attention.
Pace:
The pace is steady and there is not much information you can gather from this, although a steady pace indicates a conversation style of show; too slow a pace and you will end up getting bored, too fast a pace and you won't catch a word the presenters say.
Pause:
There are no pauses, a common device used in morning shows. A lack of pauses keeps you concentrated, pauses do the complete opposite (if used in excess).
Mode of Address
The mode of address is blatent within the podcast, it is informal and indirect. You can tell this is the case because the two presenters are discussing topics between themselves and also the pitch/projection stay within the social zone instead of the intimate zone; which addresses the audience.
This mode of address reminded me of a pair of friends chatting and you are with them listening in.
Institutional Context
Heart FM is a commerical, regional radio broadcaster. This means that from each region there is a different version of the show but they promise that each show will feature the same high standard as the London show; this show gets more high profile celebrities in as guests.
This particular radio show is broadcasted in London. The accents that the presenters have are hard to place with any region other than London, there is a hint of posh within their accents.
Other information
In regards to movies that are coming out soon, the presenter also hints at the target audience further. He mentions "The Social Network" (a film about facebook) briefly, but he dismisses a vampire film coming out, "some vampire film, that isn't worth a mention". The presenter places more emphasis on "Despicable Me", as one of the actors that voice acts in it is on the show, but also because families like animation films because the parents can take their kids; this allows us to see again who the show is targetting itself at.
From the website itself it is easy to see what format the show is and what audience they are targetting the show at.
(www.heart.co.uk/london/about-us)
"Heart's core audience are aged between 25-44"
Simply, they are aiming their station at this audience range which is a very broad demographic covering 19 years but this age range mainly features people getting in to a professional stage of their life, but also people who are settling down with someone and having kids.
"dispite juggling their various roles as wives, husbands, parents and professionals"
This lets you know that they are targetting the show at both males and females, and this is given away again by the two presenters of the London morning show; a man and a woman.
"they are very social people who enjoy shopping, going out and spending time with their friends and family"
We can gather from this quote that their target audience is within the ABC demographic because they have the money to enjoy shopping and going out; their target audience obviously has enough money to be able to enjoy the finer things in life.
"the playlist is driven by passion, playing songs from the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s"
This helps strengthen the signs the previous statements have shown in regards to target audience. Having songs from different decades is a clear indication that the target audience is an older one as they will be playing songs the audience grew up with which helps them to relate better to the show.
To analyse the show in more detail i accessed their podcast from Monday the 11th of October, this features the key parts of their show that have been edited together to fit 16minutes.
(www.heart.co.uk/london/shows/breakfast/podcast)
Pitch, Projection, Pace, Pause
Pitch:
Upward inflections are the most comment device used by the presenters, the effect this has is that it makes the presenters seem energetic and this is exactly what you need first thing in the morning; if you listen to energetic presenters you are bound to feed off this energy, on the other hand if you listen to a calm voice with a low pitch and few upward inflections you are bound to feel calm and sleepy.
An example of this is when Jamie Theakston says "Its Monday the 11th of October!", he says this primarily using a high pitch and an upward inflection; this helps wake you up and it grabs your attention, it reminded me of being woken up in the morning if you oversleep therefore it wakes you up.
Projection:
The projection is in the social zone, this is because the style of presenting is much more conversational, especially when they are interviewing a guest. The volume of speech varies, but it is mainly at a normal level; in some parts Jamie Theakston increases volume, this builds energy and grabs your attention.
Pace:
The pace is steady and there is not much information you can gather from this, although a steady pace indicates a conversation style of show; too slow a pace and you will end up getting bored, too fast a pace and you won't catch a word the presenters say.
Pause:
There are no pauses, a common device used in morning shows. A lack of pauses keeps you concentrated, pauses do the complete opposite (if used in excess).
Mode of Address
The mode of address is blatent within the podcast, it is informal and indirect. You can tell this is the case because the two presenters are discussing topics between themselves and also the pitch/projection stay within the social zone instead of the intimate zone; which addresses the audience.
This mode of address reminded me of a pair of friends chatting and you are with them listening in.
Institutional Context
Heart FM is a commerical, regional radio broadcaster. This means that from each region there is a different version of the show but they promise that each show will feature the same high standard as the London show; this show gets more high profile celebrities in as guests.
This particular radio show is broadcasted in London. The accents that the presenters have are hard to place with any region other than London, there is a hint of posh within their accents.
Other information
In regards to movies that are coming out soon, the presenter also hints at the target audience further. He mentions "The Social Network" (a film about facebook) briefly, but he dismisses a vampire film coming out, "some vampire film, that isn't worth a mention". The presenter places more emphasis on "Despicable Me", as one of the actors that voice acts in it is on the show, but also because families like animation films because the parents can take their kids; this allows us to see again who the show is targetting itself at.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Analysis of Radio Programmes (Scott Mills/Radio One/Drivetime)
In order to successfully produce a radio show it is vital that the correct research is done in to a broad range of radio shows. It is vital because radio stations are established, and it is proven that these stations can attract a particular audience through their well tested means and methods.
Radio Station One: Radio One; Scott Mills' Show
The Scott Mills show, on radio one, is a well established drive-time radio show that has been running since 2004 when the previous drive-time host, Sara Cox, decided not to return after maternity leave.
Pitch:
Scott Mills uses upward and downward inflections to start and finish a point, they also make it obvious for the listener when he is asking a question or being conversational. Scott Mills uses increased pitch in certain places, "Hi Becky!", this automatically tells you as a listener that he is being friendly with whoever he is speaking to; in this particular circumstance he is greeting his co-host in the way a mate would greet another mate.
This style portrays a much more relaxed style of show.
Pace:
The pace used throughout is steady, this allows you as a listener to take the conversation in. If the pace was quicker, the listener wouldn't be able to take the information in, or it could portray excitement but in this circumstance the pace allows you to listen.
Projection:
Scott Mills uses the social zone in most of his show, this allows the listener to take in the information in a friendly way; as if you are taking part in the conversation or listening in amongst a group of friends.
In one particular part the projection shifts to the personal zone when Scott Mills talks quietly in to the microphone, "i don't believe their times", in regards to certain people getting fast times in the great north run. He uses the personal zone to convey to the listeners that he is telling a secret, or saying something he perhaps shouldn't say.
Pause:
There are no pauses throughout the show, no significant ones anyway. Scott Mills chooses not to use many pauses in his style of presenting because he wants to keep the audience engaged in what he is saying, and also because if you were having a conversation with a friend, and there were too many pauses, the conversation would seem awkward or perhaps forced.
Mode of Address
The mode of address is how we define the way someone is talking to us, whether it be in a friendly manner or aggressive; it can also define how someone is talking to us, directly or indirectly.
The Scott Mills' show uses an indirect/informal style of presenting. You can tell this is the case because Scott Mills talks mostly to his co-host 'Becky', "Did you get a lolly?" "I didn't pop in". This mode of address is relevant to the style of show, a light-hearted conversational style of show. When the mode of address is more direct the conversation is not smooth, and it can often be more formal, however this particular show feels more smooth and as a listener you can get a conversational feel from the show.
In certain points Scott Mills uses direct modes of address, "well done to those who did the great north run".
When the mode of address changes the projection and pitch also change. I noticed that the projection is lower when he is talking to his co-host, and then when he talks directly to the audience the projection gets louder and the pitch gets higher (upward inflection). This change in pitch/projection ensures that the listener knows they are being spoken to directly.
Show Format
The show format features music, chat and features. All these features engage the particular target audience. The music played is mostly taken from the A/B/C-list from the Radio One website (refer to radio one research); however on friday this changes to "Wonder Years", where Scott Mills plays various songs from previous years and then at around 6pm he plays floorfiller songs that would be found in clubs, signifying the start of the weekend (this also gives away target audience details, people who have finished school/university/work for the week).
Institutional Context
What type of broadcast the show is greatly affects the content/context that the show is broadcasting. In this particular instance the Scott Mills' show is part of Radio One (BBC). The BBC itself is a public service broadcaster so its main aim is to inform/educate/entertain, something that Radio One is extremely good at doing. It is also a national radio show, therefore they have to take into account a varied range of demographics as people from all over the United Kingdom will have access to the show over the radio, this is addressed by featuring news that relates to the whole of the United Kingdom and not just London where the radio studio is based.
A benefit of Radio One being a PSB is that there are no advertisement breaks, and with no advertisements comes no major input from advertisers which allows the Scott Mills' show to do what it wants, within the laws of the BBC's PSB agreement.
Audience Interaction
Audience interaction is a common device used by the Scott Mills' show, it allows the presenters to change the mode of address to direct, and directly speak to the audience. This is done through features such as "flirt divert" wherein the Scott Mills show give out the "flirt divert" number to people to give to people who try and 'come on' to them in a pub/club etc, they will then play the answer phone messages on the show with funny results.
Interacting with an audience helps the audience to feel closer to the presenters themselves; like they are a part of the show in some way.
Radio Station One: Radio One; Scott Mills' Show
The Scott Mills show, on radio one, is a well established drive-time radio show that has been running since 2004 when the previous drive-time host, Sara Cox, decided not to return after maternity leave.
Audience
Determining the audience is important as we will be able to use their particular codes and conventions when we create our own radio show; as long as this particular audience is linked to the one we plan to aim our show at.
In this instance there are a number of ways you can determine what audience the Scott Mills' show is targetting itself at; mainly anything within the actual content of the show such as the features, the music and the topics discussed between the presenters.
Music is something that can be very particular to a certain audience, for example (through research co-ordinated in other assignments and this one itself) young people, 16-25, tend to be more interested in drum and bass/dubstep/pop/indie etc than an older age range like 30-40. Therefore, from analysing the music choices within this specific show, it is easy to tell that the show is targetting itself at 16-25 year olds.
You can tell that the show is targetting itself at 16-25 year olds because the music is current and fits in with the pop/indie/dance genres that are more commonly liked by people of the 16-25 year old category. I know that this age range is interested in this music as my group carried out audience research to see what the demographics/psychodemographics were of our target audience, we found out what type of music 16-25 year olds like to listen to and at what time of day; you can see these results in the primary research post later on in this blog.
Another indication of target audience are the presenters themselves, they sound young and energetic and it reminds me of a conversation between friends at the pub. Young people are not known for their attention span and i believe this particular style of presenting helps grab this audience's attention through humourous topics being discussed and also relevant news stories, for example on one of the news shows the main topic was gaming and an addiction to gaming; young males are primarily associated with gaming therefore it is a news story that has been selected to directly speak to the audience, it would be no use targetting this story at people in the 40+ catagory as not many of these people are massive gamers.
Pitch/Pace/Projection/Pause
Pitch:
Scott Mills uses upward and downward inflections to start and finish a point, they also make it obvious for the listener when he is asking a question or being conversational. Scott Mills uses increased pitch in certain places, "Hi Becky!", this automatically tells you as a listener that he is being friendly with whoever he is speaking to; in this particular circumstance he is greeting his co-host in the way a mate would greet another mate.
This style portrays a much more relaxed style of show.
Pace:
The pace used throughout is steady, this allows you as a listener to take the conversation in. If the pace was quicker, the listener wouldn't be able to take the information in, or it could portray excitement but in this circumstance the pace allows you to listen.
Projection:
Scott Mills uses the social zone in most of his show, this allows the listener to take in the information in a friendly way; as if you are taking part in the conversation or listening in amongst a group of friends.
In one particular part the projection shifts to the personal zone when Scott Mills talks quietly in to the microphone, "i don't believe their times", in regards to certain people getting fast times in the great north run. He uses the personal zone to convey to the listeners that he is telling a secret, or saying something he perhaps shouldn't say.
Pause:
There are no pauses throughout the show, no significant ones anyway. Scott Mills chooses not to use many pauses in his style of presenting because he wants to keep the audience engaged in what he is saying, and also because if you were having a conversation with a friend, and there were too many pauses, the conversation would seem awkward or perhaps forced.
Mode of Address
The mode of address is how we define the way someone is talking to us, whether it be in a friendly manner or aggressive; it can also define how someone is talking to us, directly or indirectly.
The Scott Mills' show uses an indirect/informal style of presenting. You can tell this is the case because Scott Mills talks mostly to his co-host 'Becky', "Did you get a lolly?" "I didn't pop in". This mode of address is relevant to the style of show, a light-hearted conversational style of show. When the mode of address is more direct the conversation is not smooth, and it can often be more formal, however this particular show feels more smooth and as a listener you can get a conversational feel from the show.
In certain points Scott Mills uses direct modes of address, "well done to those who did the great north run".
When the mode of address changes the projection and pitch also change. I noticed that the projection is lower when he is talking to his co-host, and then when he talks directly to the audience the projection gets louder and the pitch gets higher (upward inflection). This change in pitch/projection ensures that the listener knows they are being spoken to directly.
Show Format
The show format features music, chat and features. All these features engage the particular target audience. The music played is mostly taken from the A/B/C-list from the Radio One website (refer to radio one research); however on friday this changes to "Wonder Years", where Scott Mills plays various songs from previous years and then at around 6pm he plays floorfiller songs that would be found in clubs, signifying the start of the weekend (this also gives away target audience details, people who have finished school/university/work for the week).
Institutional Context
What type of broadcast the show is greatly affects the content/context that the show is broadcasting. In this particular instance the Scott Mills' show is part of Radio One (BBC). The BBC itself is a public service broadcaster so its main aim is to inform/educate/entertain, something that Radio One is extremely good at doing. It is also a national radio show, therefore they have to take into account a varied range of demographics as people from all over the United Kingdom will have access to the show over the radio, this is addressed by featuring news that relates to the whole of the United Kingdom and not just London where the radio studio is based.
A benefit of Radio One being a PSB is that there are no advertisement breaks, and with no advertisements comes no major input from advertisers which allows the Scott Mills' show to do what it wants, within the laws of the BBC's PSB agreement.
Audience Interaction
Audience interaction is a common device used by the Scott Mills' show, it allows the presenters to change the mode of address to direct, and directly speak to the audience. This is done through features such as "flirt divert" wherein the Scott Mills show give out the "flirt divert" number to people to give to people who try and 'come on' to them in a pub/club etc, they will then play the answer phone messages on the show with funny results.
Interacting with an audience helps the audience to feel closer to the presenters themselves; like they are a part of the show in some way.
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