The demographics of Radio One are nationwide and not segregated to one area of the country unlike a station like Trent FM. This has much to do with the frequency of the station. A radio station that is easily obtained everywhere is much more likely to have a nationwide audience, (not including BBC’s local stations) whereas if somebody living in London wanted to listen to Trent FM, they would have to listen via the internet or Digital Audio Band.
Radio One are all responsible for a scheme called One Life frequently advertised on Radio One and BBC One and Two. A website and advice line dedicated to helping people in all kinds of situations. One Life covers everything from health and relationships to travelling and housing.
Over the years Radio One has changed its image to keep up with its changing audience. Always bringing in new presenters and changing the style to refresh itself. They have a total of 49 presenters all offering different genres and topics. Being part of the BBC their main objective is to inform, educate and entertain although they do it in a more interesting and diverse way.
BBC Radio Four. 92.4FM
Radio Four has a target audience of 40 plus. The station has many topics geared towards a more mature audience. This is very apparent through all different time slots of Radio Four. All the presenters possess that stereo typical accent of an educated person with the majority of their target audience being educated to certain standard also. Many of their slots are discussion based, centred around politics or arts. For example, David Frost appeared on a Sunday morning slot with Sue Lawley discussing the Watergate affair and his interview with Richard Nixon shortly after his fall-a very political event of yesteryear. The slot is a regular Radio 4 show where people are invited to choose 8 tracks to take to a desert island with discussions along the way. David Frost is also a much credited figure within the BBC having worked for them since the 50’s and being recognised as person involved with political broadcasting such as the Frost Report. A character such as himself would never appear on a commercial radio station and most probably other BBC stations such as Radio One.
Radio Four is one of the few stations still airing radio soaps in the present day and also features a daily afternoon play. The Arches is a recognised part of Radio Four even being familiar with people who do not generally listen to the station. It is aired weekday evenings which suggests it is an alternative to BBC soaps on the television-the main one being Eastenders which has a less educated audience generally. It is also aired on Saturday mornings.
The demographics of Radio Four will be very precise meaning regions with larger lower class communities would not listen to Radio Four. These sorts of areas tend to have people doing general industry jobs or not working at all, statistics show these sorts of people listen to local radio stations, or stations which play lots of music rather than discussion based more political stations.
Radio Four do have specialist shows but are still aimed at the more mature listener. Their specialist shows involve complex issues like historic portraits and Theatre of the 1930’s. (Covered by Kirsty Lang on Front Row) The discussions do involve guest experts but the presenter usually does most talking.
One of the most important things I noticed when analysing Radio Four was the lack of music. This is probably the most influential factor on its target audience and demographics. Music is an important part of most people’s lives and will tend to listen to the show playing their preferred style of music. Radio Four rarely play music and when they do it is very specific to the particular topic being covered at the time. It is always old or classical music-never usually music beyond the 90’s. This suggests that you would only regularly listen for the discussions and topics they cover-a less educated person would have no need or desire to listen to the majority of topics covered on Radio Four.
96 Trent FM. Commercial. 96.2 FM
Trent FM is a commercial radio station, which means it, requires advertisers and sponsors to create revenue. Commercial stations will always be local, Trent FM being a station within Nottinghamshire.
The target audience of commercial stations can be very broad, mainly because people within the region will listen. Local stations are played in many workplaces therefore you get a larger age range listening to the station.
The adverts on Trent FM are also mainly companies within Nottingham; these companies being advertised on Trent FM are more likely to play their station as their adverts are played constantly throughout the day.
In the evenings Trent FM due a regular chart show meaning their target audience would then be within the 16-24 age group. Many of the people listening throughout the day might not be listening because of a particular preference to Trent FM but because it is easy listening and local.
Most of the presenters on Trent FM are from in and around Nottingham especially during the daytime and weekends. During the chart shows in the early evenings, media industry people will be involved meaning they may not be from Nottingham.
The target audience of a commercial station will almost always depend on the region of the station. The target audience of Trent FM will have always been from Nottingham up until Digital Audio Band was introduced. Trent FM do promote their DAB station regularly which will mean their audience will now include people outside of Nottingham-although I do not think it will be nationwide due to other commercial stations in other regions being fairly similar in their overall layout.
Trent FM is a very interactive station meaning local people will be the ones phoning in and talking on the shows. This also promotes the demographics being within Nottingham because other local people will relate to this and often talk about it with friends and family afterwards. This sort of thing promotes easy listening which is what people like.
Trent FM will also have a large fan base; the station has been around since July 3 1975 when it was then called Radio Trent, changing its name to Trent FM in 1988. Many people who have lived in Nottingham all their lives will have seen the station change over the years and will listen to it simply because they always have.
Trent FM also involve themselves with events in the community throughout the year. They are responsible for switching on the Christmas lights and have been since as long as I can remember, do a Trent FM road show and their own free festival called party in the park. This also promotes awareness of a local station, people appreciate things that are from their own town or city and their will always be a need for local commercial radio stations.
Jo Whiley. Radio One. Weekdays 10-12:45am.
Jo Whiley is committed to championing new talent and introducing the viewers to a variety of different new music. She comes across as a very approachable person but at the same time very competent at what she does. Many people will listen to the show just to listen to what she has to say because she is an interesting presenter.
She has also worked in the industry for a long time and had her own late show on the television in the past. A music related programme also with guests and discussions.
Although the show is two hours and forty-five minutes, many topics are covered daily so the show has a very upbeat style. She covers new music, competitions, live lounge performances, film reviews and two interactive slots, which are not competitions. These are ‘What Rocked, What Sucked”- listeners will tell her what rocked and sucked in their opinion at the end of the week. Whether it be Radio One related or from their own personal experiences and ‘Changing Tracks’- listeners are invited to tell a story about a record that has changed their life. This slot is often quite intense with some stories being quite tragic.
The speech content within Jo Whiley’s show never stuck in my mind as being something in particular. She has quite a flat accent although her voice is fairly soft and approachable. The flat accent suggests she is a professional presenter who speaks properly but no too posh at the same time. It also adds to the style of her show being mature.
The target audience of Jo Whiley’s show is 18-26 year olds. I also noticed when listening to the show that the majority of listeners taking part in the show are male. She has a very distinctive style and in my opinion it is hard to have a dislike to her show. Although the music may not be to everyone’s taste it is generally very in offensive and good for easy listening. I also found it to be very educational when it comes to new music.
Mick Smith. Radio Nottingham. 92.6 FM.
Mick Smith runs a show with no particular name held on a Sunday morning. He runs many competitions that are geared towards older people. All of the music he plays is never beyond the 80’s and mainly from the 60’s playing tracks such as Chuck Berry-Riding Along.
The style of his show is very funny and often seems to be non-scripted. For example a local Nottingham man had phoned in to report a loss dog and to appeal for anybody who may have seen it. Within ten minutes a lady phoned in to say she had found a dog and had it at her home. The two turned out to be neighbours and the presenter then bought the two together. Slots like this are very warm and funny at the same time to listen to.
Mick Smith is obviously a Nottingham resident, as he will always reminisce with the callers about where they do or used to live. His accent is also local but nothing like the local accent of the younger generation. This suggests his target audience is 55 plus. He will often say thinks like, “we are approaching 25 minutes past the hour of 12.” This is something that a younger person would never say but the speech style is still very apparent in Nottingham’s local older generation.
Although the station belongs to the BBC, the presentation seems to be more relaxed. This is because it is a local radio station and has to appear to be less political and more easy listening otherwise it loses its title of local radio. Local radio is a very important part of the community and the BBC is very aware of this. They currently have a total of 40 local radio stations not including Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Fyber and Nu Sense. Freeze FM. Pirate Radio. 107.9FM.
This is the show most similar to my own show although it is pirate and my show will be properly licensed. Fyber and Nu Sense also do a Friday night slot on KindaFunkyRadio.com, an internet radio station running from Nottingham.
Freeze FM is a Pirate radio station operating in Nottingham. Due to pirate radio station being illegal, they will have no organisation to regulate them. Therefore they will have no audience figures and no style to adhere to making it very distinctive and raw.
Pirate radio stations will always charge a fee to anyone wanting to do a show on their radio station. This is because they need to create revenue and because the artists will use it as an advert to promote their own music.
The style of the show is a constant mix of music with the MC (Master Of Ceremonies) doing intermittent vocals such as shout outs from callers, personal shout outs and his own lyrics or someone else’s from a popular track. The MC will be the presenter although it is a totally different style of presenting to any other of the stations analysed.
The speech content will be a strong Nottingham accent almost always; although guests from other cities will appear. The presenter will have no need to follow particular codes of conduct and will just say what he feels at the time-the style is quite laid back yet upbeat at the same time. The MC also occasionally holds competitions; he will ask a relative question to the show with the first person to text the correct answer wining tickets to a local event that evening.
Adverts are played once every hour and have a constant stream of approximately eight adverts; mostly companies or events within Nottingham although events within outlying cities will sometimes be aired.
The target audience of Freeze FM will be the same more or less throughout the different shows. Their audience will be younger; 17-25 age range, although some older people will listen to this show also. These older people will be friends of the hosts who are of late 30’s age and people who have been followers of the underground dance scene since a young age.
Digital Audio Broadcasting
In 1998 DAB was introduced to keep up with the changing world. It has progressed massively since then and as we now live in a digital world it seemed to be an inevitable transition from analogue radio. Although FM. AM and MW are still widely used DAB promised to give us a near CD quality of sound and new services-although people will still say that FM has much diversity when receiving a good reception offering hi-fi sound.
Over 475 million people across the world now have access to 800 different DAB services now on offer. This is obviously a widely used service although I do not think it will supersede analogue just yet.
Internet Radio
Internet Radio is still being improved and updated all the time. With Internet radio it is now possible for anybody to set up a radio station. It is much cheaper to obtain a license and generally does not operate on a 24 hour, seven-day week basis.
It also means that the content of the show will be the choice of the person or people running it. This means it will be very specialist and will stick to a certain genre.
There are many websites devoted to educating people on Internet radio. Offering advice on what is needed to start it, ideas and inspiration and tips to make it achievable.
Internet radio is rapidly increasing and getting better all the time. It offers a wide range of services and most importantly specialist stations rather than specialist shows which are included in radio stations operating on a 24/7 basis.