Unit 1 Task 5

Welcome back to to vlog number 5, In this vlog I plan on informing you on what there different theories that effect and have an impact on the target audience.

The first thing you need to know about the radio and how it influences people is that there are two main effect theories with how it effects people. The first theory is the hypodermic theory also known as the passive ordinance theory, Marxist theory or magic bullet theory. The theory was made by a group called Marxist, this theory is that anything that people hear on the radio they will believe and the media can control the public in that way making them buy particular product, this theory is a bit outdated now but still applies to games, films and music. But to a radio station it will be down to what the presenters say and the adverts that are aired. In this case it would be what Big John at Breakfast discusses with the other presenters.

The second theory is the active audience theory, this theory was devised by stuart hall. This theory is that everyone is different so all of the listeners will have a different view on what the radio is trying to say than the other audience listeners. Even if there is a preferred meaning everyone will take this differently. The theory also states that peoples opinions will change depending on their background including social grade, gender, age and culture. this gives the media outlet a better understanding of how the audiences will take in what is being said.

The products that are being advertised on the station give a clear understanding on what the audience would be like the type of things they would do. For example, if there is a advert on the station for wonga, this then tells you that the audience could be under pressure from banks and have to take out loans to pay off more loans. This tells you that the audience would more likely be in a lower social grade (C1, C2, D, E) (enter wonga add here) This was found on the Hallam FM which works well with the social grade of people that would be listening.

The next issue is Legal and ethical issues. Nearly all if the time Hallam FM will not comment on big news stories so that there us bi chance that they will stumble in to a controversy. When they talk about on TV shows such as x factor and splash. When Hallam FM plays a piece of music created by an artist, Hallam FM must then pay royalty. This is paying the artist to use their track PRS. (payment to artist) or PPL which is a payment to the record label for use of the artists music. A radio station on the other hand will not want to have to pay over and over again to pay some music, so they can pay for MCPS (payment blanket) this is just a one off payment in which would cover the station for a period of time. If the station fails to pay either one of this then would be breaching the copyright law.

Hallam FM and there for Big John at Breakfast is regulated by OFCOM. OFCOMs job is to look at what is said on Hallam FM to see if anything hateful has been said towards any group, religion or race. There is only one incident that I could find and that's is said when someone who called up and said something racist. They also check to see if they have been promoting alcohol, smoking, drugs and violence. Big John never does this through his show as far as I am aware of. This then means that Big John @ Breakfast didn't break any OFCOM rules by saying or airing anything inappropriate or related to any of the previously stated. Therefore the show is allowed to go on air for people to listen to.

Unit 1 Task 4

Welcome back to Whatsmedia, in this short video I plan on educating you on everything that a radio station would need and use to run often. For examples, adverts that the station plays, sponsorship deals or how to make sure people know the radio station exists and how it advertises itself.

Starting off adverts that are found on a radio station should be linked into the reach and social grade of the listeners to the station, you find that adverts on radio are also always family friendly which means that are always suitable for anyone to listen too. For example, on the radio station that I studied I found that adverts such as this: (Enter advert clip here) are very common on
Big John @ Breakfast, you find that a radio station will have similar adverts on the station though out, but depends on the time of the day because of the type of listeners. The station
Big John @ Breakfast is a radio station that has no direct income, therefore ran from donations and adverts that they had. As far as advertising the radio station itself it has got quite a small budget on it, you find that Big John @ Breakfast will advertise itself on their own station. Because Big John @ Breakfast is a local station it does not have to worry about advertising to much across the nation but just in one local area. You find that adverts for Big John @ Breakfast would also be on places such as buses or billboards in the city. Another major way the show is advertised is though lots and lots of social networking, you will find that all radio stations will provide a good and often updated 'facebook' or 'twitter' account, this is because it is free advertising and so they will use this means as much as possible. They will also use cross media on any other forms of media owned by the same owner, for example: Big John @ Breakfast is run on Hallam FM, Hallam FM are owned by Bauer Media, so Bauer will advertise for Big John @ Breakfast on their other forms of media because it is free advertising and addressing a similar audience. Big John @ Breakfast is distributed in many different ways so that you can listen to it wherever you are. Big John @ Breakfast can be received though the internet, the phone app , radio broadcast and DAB radio. This is effective for the target audience because their audiences are middle aged people and younger listeners, being able to listen to it though any means necessary or possible so as to keep listeners up at all times or at least whenever possible.

Unit 1 Task 3

Key Terms


Gender - From looking at the percentages of genders that listen to the station you can tell a lot about the typical person who listens is like. Big John's listeners are 51% female and 49% male, which shows that very slightly more female listen to the station and so will be slightly aimed more towards them but its nearly 50/50 so will be aimed at both.


Age - The age of the listeners can tell you lots about what the station will be like, because for Hallam FM the age range goes from 25-45 this explains why most of the music is played and also give reason for the adverts too.


Lifestyle - This is what the listeners life is like and the sorts of things they are interested in doing during past time or as hobby's. Lifestyle falls down to a lot of different aspects to make this one, such as, spending power, age or gender. It can also affect they type of music they listen to or the different people they socialise with.


Spending Power - Spending power is how much money the listener has to spend and is measured by using ABC1-C2D-E, ABC1 you have the more upper and middle classes of people with a higher disposable income, C2D which is more working class with less of a disposable income and lastly E which falls down to people who are on a very low income or benefits.


RAJAR - RAJAR is a company that measures audience sizes for the UK, for example the approximate listenership for Hallam FM is 1,290,000 listeners and an average or 8.1 hours listened per person.



Below is the listener profile for Hallam FM:















Big John hits his target demographic using a few different ways to discreetly get their attention, one way would be though advertising, subway is one that's often advertised on Hallam FM, this is because its the type of place that his target demographic would eat. He also uses competitions for over the station which keep people interested or listening to see what is to be won and if they got the right answer. Local news is used to keep the listeners attention as though they are a personal friend, talking about a place they know is local to the listener will also keep people listening, this works with local celebrities too.

Audience Profile
Jane is 34 years old and lives in Sharrow in the Sheffield area. She grew up in a working class home and has no real religious background. She works as a care worker for the elderly at the local old people's home, and is in the social grade C2D disposable income. She has been married to her husband Geoff for 10 years and have a child named Duncan. She enjoys her job working with elderly and in her spare time enjoys hanging about with her friend Carol at the Plug to see local bands if she isn't with her family. She enjoys pop music such as Rihanna, Beyonce and Indie Music. Her favourite TV Shows include EastEnders and Doctor Who. In a morning she enjoys listening to Big John @ Breakfast on the way to the home, and enjoys the talks and competitions that are featured. She loves listening to School Years so she can listen to her favourite songs she listened to in school.
She also loves talking about what is said on the news to her friends at work and home. She also enjoys Hallam FM's travel news in a morning to catch up on international stories. She loves shopping at meadow hall for new clothing.


Uses and Gratification: 


1.Personal Identity
This is the way in which the media moulds the audiences behaviour, style and personality around the sorts of things they promote


2. Personal Relationship
This means to create a basis for conversation in social situations, this is often done by talking about local news, Television programs or local celebrities


3. Surveillance
This is to find out more information about something, it could be used for when the radio gives information to the listeners if that's about local news, traffic or school closures.


4. Escapism
This is when people use the media to get away from their own lives into a better one, this can be though watching soaps for example.

Unit 1Task 2

 Big John @ Breakfast is a breakfast show on Hallam FM that is on every morning between 6:00 am - 10:00 am and is hosted by Big John, the show is aimed at a contemporary adult audience to entertain them on their drive to work in the morning. The show that I analysed was broadcast on the 13th of December 2013 from 6-10 am.The purpose is to entertain with the latest music and celebrity gossip as well as inform with Hallam FM's travel news for example road works, traffic jams or collisions. Today we will be analysing a show from the 2nd December 2013 from the times of 6:30 to 10:00 am.
The genre of the show is a comedy talk show, this means that it needs to include aspects of humour in the show in order to entertain the target audience and yet to still show aspects of information on the local area.

The style and form of the show is very clear though it starting off the show straight away clear of it being a typical breakfast show and runs of the same conventions of most others, for example, the clean and jolly jingles and the sorts of music that is played before the host would start talking, more often that not this being an almost advert for the station you are listening to, reminding you of who it is your listening to and the sorts of music played. In this instance it would be all for Big John because it is his radio show. Big John starts off the show by introducing the weather and traffic on Hallam FM's travel news then proceeding to remind the listeners of the competitions that the show is hosting such as the School of the week, this being this best time for this because of people doing school runs with children in the car.

The content and meaning of the show is typical of a music talk show the following as examples of this: During the news section a vox pop was used of James Arthur's interview because of something he posted on twitter which caused controversy within twitter. So as to not "brainwash" anyone with their opinions of the matter they try to cover the story in a friendly and non opinionated way, they also try to exaggerate the story so as to keep it going using colloquial language like "oh" or "wow" because of it being celebrity gossip which adds to the atmosphere and feeling of the report.

Points thought the show I found that pieces of music are used to symbolise the time of day, how you should be feeling or to emphasise a feeling, for example, early on the show Big John plays "Wake me up" by Avicii which is telling you that is still early but its the time that you need to waking up and getting ready for the day, also as the song ends he comes in and says "Morning" this is to show that people are waking up and this is a friendly morning or wake up call.

Through the show you find that Big John stays as friendly as possible, this is so that people feel as though they can relate to him as a friend and so will listen to him and his opinions a lot closer. The language that the presenters use during a show like this one will always be relevant to the target audience and so not to confuse anyone, for example Big John wound not come on air one day and shout, Sup, How all ma homies doin out there! Because it is not relevant to the target audience and so people would either stop listening or feel like they are not being addressed properly and could be offended. This is also shown through how the presenters handle or approach a news story, they tell you as though you are a friend of theirs and so you want to listen more and hear what they have to say.

Through the program there are adverts littered between breaks in music and the presenters talking, the adverts are all relevant to the typical listener of the station, for example they have an advert for drink awareness by "THINK" this is about drink driving and how dangerous it could be, this fits with it being on the radio because most listeners will be driving themselves and be the type of person who goes out for the odd beer with friends.

The music that you find will be played on Hallam FM is also relevant to the type of listeners out there, in this instance it is more popular music that would be in the charts and are quite smooth or easy going, this gives the listener a relaxed feeling and become more relaxed themselves. But its not all modern music that's currently in the charts or popular at the moment, the station plays older music too that was popular when the typical listener would have been interested in music. The radio program is broadcasted through a digital and analogue signal which means that the radio transition can be picked up through old and new radios and so covering a greater audience.

Production process of the show would have been done by researchers who will look at what is currently trending and is popular for the target demographic that they are aiming at, they would also look at other aspects such as the time of the year. This will then lead onto the presenters who will sit down and structure the show depending on such things and to make sure they stay on topic. While this happens for the presenters there will also be a news team who would have found and written stories of what's happening in the world at the moment, again staying relevant to the type of people listening. Lastly you have people who will choose the days music in order for it to keep up to date with the type of music both the presenter and the audience would want to hear, you can often get information about the music the audience likes by having set times in which the listeners can choose the music.

Unit 1 Task 1

I will now discuss Hallam FM. Hallam FM play adult contemporary music and is the most listened to commercial radio station in South Yorkshire. Commercial means that the company makes money through advertising. Hallam FM caters for an audience of 25-45 year old and makes money through targeted adverts, such as from Subway. Hallam FM is a subsidiary of Bauer Media and it is part of their Place Portfolio of radio stations.  Hallam FM’s operating model is similar to Bauer’s other radio subsidiaries – it makes money through advertising and creates brand awareness through sponsorship, such as when it used to sponsor Sheffield Arena, and advertising the most popular shows (Big John At Breakfast) on billboards and buses. Some of Bauer’s national subsidiaries also sit within a cross media portfolio (such as Kerrang radio, which is also a national magazine and TV channel). Hallam FM follows the model as Bauer’s other local and national stations – it conforms to the conglomerate identity and structure. An example of this can be seen when you look at Hallam FM’s website, and you see the similarity of layout and structure when looking at Magic AM, Viking and Kerrang that Bauer also own. 
Hallam FM makes radio programmes that cater for their audience and feature pop music and competitions. The most popular show is Big John At Breakfast and key presenters are John Harrison, Janine Jones and Steve White who presents the Drivetime programme every day. The main features are School of the Week where Hallam FM pick a local school and children from the school choose songs and enter competitions live on air, and School Years, where all the music played will be older adult contemporary songs that were popular when the listeners were at school.
One of Hallam FM’s main competitors in the area is BBC Radio Sheffield, which is a subsidiary of national public service broadcaster BBC who are funded by the licence fee. However this generally targets a different age range.  Capital FM – which is a collection of nine radio stations across the country owned by Global Media – is a direct competitor because it plays the same music and follows a similar structure, particularly in the morning when it offer’s ‘Hirsty’s Daily Dose’. However Hallam FM is more popular because of the way in which the brand has successfully connected with the listeners of South Yorkshire, particularly with events and competitions at Meadowhall Shopping Centre. One of the most successful competitions is where a member of the public sat in a perspex box in Meadowhall and had to come out after exactly one hour without any watch. If they did they won £2000. Other competitors in the area are Real Radio, Trax FM, Dearne Valley FM.

Website analysis

Notes on Bauer

Bauer Media:

·      2^nd largest media company

·      German company

·      Huge amount of different subsidiaries

·      Has most influential brands in EU

·      ¼ people are always reading or looking at something done by them

·      Radio, Passion/Place 

     Digital radios over whole UK for Passion

Place is more local radios, city radios rather than bigger area radios

Like to make personal,

Passion is for love of music and connects people who like same music

Place is local and connects people with their love of a place

Hallam FM Demographic (15-49)

Magic demographic (40+)

Combined 510,000 listeners each week

Both are place so focus on South Yorkshire and makes it personal

Runs of Rajar to get information on people listening, also gives you views on competitors

% of people doing things during 24 hours (50% TV, Use internet 19%)

AIDA –Awareness Interest Desire Action means you advertise to draw people in then make them interested and desire it, you then draw you in so that do an action. (example, if you want something you will see the advert and go out and buy it, but if someone didn’t want it now but might later, they would remember it because of how often been advertised and so get stuck in head.

Radio is more cost efficient to advertise than TV

Radio reaches a advert avoidance world

Radio links with online because people hear things and then google it to see what It is then they hooked

Radio is seemed as a friend so gives a person friendly bit of advice on what you should buy

91% of the population listens to the radio

Number of people listening to radio has gone up by 8m

Getting people to join radio advertising.

Who?

Hobbies, Employed, How spend day, Social Grade

What?

UTC Sheffield

Why?

New, Most modern up to date, Facilities, Location