Radio 15 mark Q

Q. Explain why popular music programmes struggle to gain recognition as Public Service Broadcasting. Refer to the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show to support your answer.  

A. A Public Service  Broadcaster, also known as a PSB has three aims. These are inform, educate and entertain. A PSB is not allowed to have paid commercials but they are financed by the public.

Radio 1 is funded through TV licenses other stations tend to be funded by advertisements such as commercials. As Radio 1 is a PSB its main three aims is to entertain, inform and educate, non-PSB music programmes prioritise their advertisers over their audience.
Because of this PSB programmes such as Radio 1 breakfast show can take advantage as they only have to inform, entertain and educate and not have to worry about advertisements. They fullfill the PSB ethos through a wide range of entertainment. For example they have Newsbeat which Informs the audience of the latest news and sports headlines Unpopular Opinion which keeps the audience engaged as it allows them to participate in the game. Greg James recently had Stormzy to comment on the unpopular opinion a child had given which was he dips his McDonalds chips in his milkshake. Other Stations are unable to compete with the amount of games and quizes as they don't have the time as Radio 1 has because they need to advertise their investors.

Looking at the top 10 radio stations in the UK only two station are run as a PSB (Radio 1 and Radio 2).  This on the other hand shows popular music programmes do not struggle too much . This may be because they have record labels who fund them and in return ask to play a certain artist a number of times a day, they also have advertisers who will also fund them but ask to be advertised a certain amount of times a day and/or at a certain time of day. These deals prevent stations from presenting a wide range of different musicians and shortens the amount of time they can plsy games or music before having to play adverts. This can unengage audiences as they have no interest in listening to investors but it appears to not affect the radio stations, as Heart is the most popular radio station as it is not a PSB and they are still able to play over 450 tracks every month which although is not as much as radio 1 with 3,850 tracks it still is enough to attract a big audience.

In conclusion popular msuic programmes do struggle to gain recognition as much as Public Service Broadcasting is because of the fact they do not full-fill the 3 aims a PSB does (which are entertain, educate and inform). Instead they focus on entertaining and pleasing their advertisers and record label deals. So they have to play a certain amount of adverts a day/hour which can upset their audience as their not interested in the advertisers as well as playing an artists song a certain amount of times a day, which is not being diverse with the music. Where as PSB radios such as Radio 1 breakfast full-fill all three ethos and constantly mix things up to make sure the audience does not get bored.


Q2.

Q. Explain how audiences use radio differently. Refer to the BBC Breakfast Show to support your answer.

Audiences listen to radio in lots of different situations – at home, in the car and at work. What all these have in common is that the audience can do something else while the radio is on.

Audiences who listen to their local radio may use the radio to keep up with local news as well as help them feel connected to their community whereas car drivers may use the radio to keep them occupied and to pick up information about traffic jams. Listeners at work (especially builders) may use the radio for unobtrusive background noise.

Listeners at home may use the radio 1 breakfast for companionship, especially if they are alone. This is because the Breakfast show, hosted by Greg James loves to have the audience involved through quizzes and game shows such as unpopular opinion or yesterday’s quiz.

Sports fans will use Radio 5 Live or Talk Sport to find out about sport. Classical music fans will listen to Classic FM or Radio 3 for the sort of music they like. The audience may also use Radio 1 Breakfast Show (who targeted audience are 15-29) to wake themselves up in the morning with some lively music, to feel connected with other fans of pop music with their tales of being stuck in traffic on the way to work, to find out about celebrities in the guest interview. It may be that older listeners still listen to Radio 1 to remind themselves of their youth or keep in touch with their children’s musical tastes. The show is designed to fit around the busy lives of its audience in the morning by only consisting of short pieces that don’t require long periods of concentration, this makes it very suitable as background listening in the home, on the way to school or in the car.

In conclusion audiences use the radio in many different ways such as to keep them occupied on a journey or to have the radio on at work so you have a noise to listen to or to keep updated on your local news. But most importantly as technology has moved on so has the radio. No matter where you go you will always be able to access the radio through downloading a radio 1 breakfast show episode on your phone or having a classic radio player play the radio live.