Advertising on the radio is also a way to appeal to a larger audience. They can use catchy slogans which people will remember and increase the sale of their product. Because most people listen to the radio as they are doing other things, they sometimes remember adverts which they have taken in sub-consciously and are more likely to go and buy the product.
The Radio Station and Advertisers have a complimentary relationship. They are part of a cycle which benefits each other and make money because of it.
- Advertisers pay money to Station
- Station pays for equipment and broadcast adverts
- Audience buy products from advertisers company
- Advertisers put some of this money towards Station etc.
This relationship shows how much the Radio Station and advertisers need each other and show how important each one is to the other.
My Project
As part of my Radio work, I had to make recordings of a show which I made up as part of group work. In my radio work, I had to record three adverts, a weather forecast/news slot and a five minute session of a radio slot which included presenting. This all took place in the radio studio and I found that it was quite successful.
Within a few sessions of planning and testing our slots, my group and I started to record. We started off with an advert which we had chosen specifically because of the target audience that we were aiming at. We wanted to make a recording which would be aimed at teenagers (between the age of 13-19) so we chose topics that we thought would be relevant.
The first advert that we did was for Brooks Clinic which handles safe sex and teenage pregnancy. The advert was there to emphasise the need to protect yourself when having sexual intercourse. The way the advert was structured would make it affective for teenagers because it was said in a way which was casual and there was a voice which speaks out to listeners.
The second advert was for a local butchers located near to the school. This was chosen because it was a local company which meant that it would want to be advertised on the local radio station. This advert was carefully planned because we knew how we wanted the advert to sound. We wanted the advert to have a market sound (people talking in the background) and it was spoken in a common way. This is stereotypical to have a person with a common accent working in a market but it was the affect that we were going for.
The third advert was for a driving school located in the school district. The driving school was local and it fitted in with the teenage theme. Nowadays more and more teenagers are taking their driving test when they reach seventeen. This means that if a driving school is advertised then it will appeal to seventeen year olds and above. The advert was structured as if it was advising people to drive but do it the correct way by getting your driving license.
The news came after the adverts and it included articles about a local mugging which took place in a recreation ground near the school. The attack was based on a real incident and it involved one of the school pupils. We felt that it would be important to add this to show that the school cares for its pupils and is trying to resolve issues even if they may happen after school hours. The report would be important as I feel that school pupils will be more interested in local events which may affect them in some way.
The presenting took place after all of the previous things and was presented by two girls. This was done so that the show appealed to a niche target audience. Issues to do with girls were introduced and the whole theme was based on girls between the ages of 13-19. During the five minute slot, music was played at specific points. When the show started, there was some music which introduced it and when the show ended there was music to close it. The way the show was closed was by playing a song which had been request by a listener (this was not real as we were just making a five minute recording).
Evaluation
I thought that overall my work on radio was successful. I done some research before hand so when it came around to doing the radio show, the group was well organised. I felt that a lot of hard work went into producing a quality production and the team work was very good. Everyone had a role which was decided at the start of the project which meant that any problems faced ran smoothly.
The only problems we did face during our work were small matters like ‘what music should be used for each advert’. There were differences in opinion and this wasted some time. Another problem was that after we had started recording, people felt that they wanted to change roles or they didn’t want to do certain things. This meant that some people were inconvenienced and had to do extra work. I am glad that these problems came up although they did waste some time. I think that after we had problems, we changed our plans and in the end it worked out for the better.
If I could change anything, I would change the topic that the radio show was based on. I think that by making the show just for girls, a lot of potential listeners would be put off. I think that a radio show which is targeted at boys and girls would be much more successful and we would have had more of a variety of things to talk about.
By Kyle Newsam