Unit 19: Planning
and Pitching an Audio Media Product Report
In this report I will be analysing and comparing 5 different
types of audio media product, these are; A Music-Talk Show, A Podcast, An
Audiobook, an Ident and a Jingle. Each of these products are made to listen too
and contain only sound.
Purpose
The podcast I listened to was from Huw Stephens on Radio 1,
on this podcast he was playing music from 2 bands that have recently released
songs. The purpose of the podcast was to educate the listener about new music
as well as entertain them at the same time. The music is designed to educate as
it is from new singles from sub genres that aren’t usually played so it helps
the listener expand their musical knowledge.
The first Music Talk Show I analysed was Big John at Breakfast. The
purpose of this show is to entertain the audience, this is due to it being a
show in the morning at a radio prime time, when most people will listen. It is
designed to target adults who will be on their way to work, or dropping kids
off at school as most people will be doing this from 6-10am weekdays, so this
is why it occupies this time. It is fit for its purpose as it is successful in
its entertainment as it includes lots of interesting conversation accompanied
by popular music. The second show I analysed was Jake Thompson on Kerrang
Radio. This show is designed to give its audience something to enjoy both
musically and conversationally so that it can entertain its listener. The music
played is popular rock and indie as well as hits from the past, as well as
engaging the audience in thought with lots of interesting topics of discussion
that make the show fit for entertaining its audience. The show is successful
because of the entertainment value it provides to its audience through its
interesting conversations and music. I listened to the show; Wyatt, on Planet
Rock, the purpose of the show is to have entertaining chat about everyday life
as well as past and modern rock to give the audience talking points. The show
plays rock music from past and present to entertain the listener. It is a
casual music talk show that fits in with the genre that the radio station
displays, however has more music than the average music talk show.
The Audiobook I listened too was The Hitchhikers Guide to
the Galaxy, as read by Stephen Fry. The purpose of the product is to entertain
the reader by representing the book audibly so the listener does not have to
read it. The book is entertaining and fictional, you can tell this by listening
to the audiobook. The purpose of the Radio 1 ident is to advertise the show on
the radio so people know what show to listen too, or which one they are
currently listeing too. It is fit for purpose because it tells the audience what
they are listening too in a manner that matches and connotes the type of music
they are playing and the type of person they are advertising the show to. The
jingle was from BBC Radio 2 and was used too introduce the radio show in a
manner that is consistent with the music and talk that they use in the radio
show, which will connote the type of audience that they aim to attract. When
comparing the media products, the purposes of the radio talk shows and the
podcasts were very much alike, as they all had the same job, which was to
entertain their own listener, which they all did successfully, this is similar
to the audiobook, which was used to entertain the listener by giving it another
dimension to enjoy a book, however it appeals to a much smaller target audience,
which is why you have to buy the audiobook. The Ident and Jingle are both used
to advertise, rather than to entertain. This is why they are kept short and
informative, so that they are quick to sink into peoples head, by the time
someone has listened to a show for a prolonged period of, it won’t need to be
advertised to them, however new shows and ones that a particular person hasn’t
listened too before need to be advertised by jingles and idents.
Style and Content
The Big John @ Breakfast music talk show is presented on the
radio on Hallam FM, it is an informal, regional talk show. You can hear this
from the accents and dialect that used on the show, which give the listeners a
sense of home. It is informal and conversational to entertain the audience as
it is fun, which keeps listeners attention throughout the show. The Jake
Thompson show on Kerrang is also a music talk show, like Big John. It has a
conversationalist style to it that is accompanied by music to break up the chat
on the show, this is also used to switch topics and give the listeners time to
think and/or respond to the points made on the show. The talk is informal as it
is targeted at a younger audience who would relate to the colloquial language
that is used on the show. The show
‘Wyatt’ on Planet Rock is a rock music talk show. It contains a very large
amount of music when compared to the conversation on the show, when contrasting
it to other shows like Big John and Jake Thompson. However this is done because
it is a much more musically focussed than conversationally focussed. It is an
informal show to entertain the audience.
The Podcast from Huw Stephens is in the style of a radio
show, that has been condensed to a short podcast. It is an informal and
friendly show. It has no other guests on the show and delivers new music in a
friendly environment for people to enjoy. It also gives the audience
conversation starters that the audience can use in their day. The form of
Hitchhikers Guide is an audiobook that is read formally by the reader, without
a particular regional accent to make it understandable for the largest possible
audience. Although it is read formally, the colloquialisms in the text will
still be read, due to it being from a book so it isn’t changed. It is read very
well and is to be listened too rather than to be responded to. The ident is not
conversational, but instead is informative. It does this in a casual manner
too, even though it is informative, as this is how it will best fit with the
audience that the show and station aim towards. The jingle for Radio 2 is
formal, which will appeal to its slightly older target audience, being
informative too. As it is a jingle is obviously is not a conversational piece
like the radio shows and podcasts. As it is much more like the ident, whereby
it informs the audience about a show or station in a way that will be suited to
them. The Audiobook is one that cannot be matched up with the others, as it
does inform the reader, but does it in a manner that is different to the jingle
and ident, as it tells a story instead of advertising a product. The
formalities of the pieces all differ depending on what the product is and what
they are used for. As the radio shows are entertaining and conversational, they
adapt a much more casual approach than the informative pieces like the jingle,
ident and audiobook.
There
is a large variety of things that make up the content of Big John @ Breakfast. Mostly songs from the
Adult Contemporary genre are played as it is the music that most of their
target audience listen to. There is a Subway advert on the show which connotes
that the people listening are in the ABC1 category because they will have the
disposable income to spend on fast food. The jingles and idents on the show
will denote the type of music played, which is AC, but will connote that the
show is for the general listener who enjoys the radio and has a stereotypical
musical interest. The show will influence the listeners conversations in the
morning and give them something to talk about in their day. The adverts,
jingles and idents convey the connotations of a general, stereotypical person
in Yorkshire that goes to work or looks after their family because everything
on the show is played or talked about because it is popular and the general
working public will have an interest in it. Therefore their target audience are
people between the ages of 20-45. The dialect used connotes that the people on
the show are from Yorkshire and will relate to their audience because of this. The Jake Thomson show gives music
and talk to create an atmosphere that is appealing to the audience. The idents
on the show appeal to their audience as well as tell them what sort of music is
played on the show. One of the jingles has fresh, modern rock/indie music in
the background which denotes the music it plays but also connotes that it
appeals to a more modern, young audience. One of the conversations is about the
kerrang magazine as they are part of the larger conglomerate, Bauer Media, so
it is able to advertise its own products on the show. The Jake Thompson show
Ident is very short, but is easy to recognise and remember for the audience. It
is a very modern sounding ident to connote a modern, youthful target audience,
as it is also fast and upbeat. There is an advert about dieting, which is used
on the show as young people are usually very image conscious, so the advert
will appeal to the audience it targets. Both shows include idents and jingles
that work in a similar way as they are both commercial radio stations, so must
advertise to make their money.
Meaning
The
meaning of the Radio 1 the ident is derived from the music in the ident, as it
is modern music that its audience are likely to listen to. The connotations of
the ident are new, fresh music, appealing to a young target audience. It
delivers a short burst of music of the same genre of the station, whilst also
informing the audience what they are listening to. The Radio 2 jingle tells the listener that the music of radio 2 is
classic, yet contemporary, which will appeal to its middle aged audience. It
seeks to engage its listener in thought about the conversation they bring up on
the show. The jingle contains a small brass orchestra, a guitar, drums and a
vocalist, who work together to create this short piece. It delivers information
in a short musical piece to its audience.
Genre
The
Big John @ Breakfast show belongs to the music talk show genre, as there are
large amounts of conversation split up by music. Which is done so that the
listener has time to take in the topics on the show and have things to discuss
or reply to. The genre of music in the show is adult contemporary as it is the
one most listened too by their target audience so they will play it to meet the
needs and the taste of the majority of their listenership. The genre of music
on the Jake Thompson show is indie and rock, you can tell this through the
music the show plays, as well as the idents and jingles that are played
throughout the show. As they denote the genre of music in the show. The station
is not a regional station so they are able to play niche genres as people
across the country can listen to the music, therefore expanding to a larger
amount of people. The
Wyatt show is a music talk show, however contains more music than the average
show does, it plays rock music as it is on a rock radio station, you can tell
by listening to it, with it being a more niche genre, it expands to a larger
audience due it not being a regional station so more people will listen to the
show.
The Hitchhikers Guide
to the Galaxy is an audiobook belonging to
the science fiction genre, you can tell this when listening to the story as it
is told in a fictional way and is evidently not a true story. The Ident plays
an elecro-dance style piece of music, which is an alternative genre of music
different from modern adult contemporary, as this is the music that is played
on the show, so it’s genre connotes a young audience that specifically listen
to this type of music. The Jingle plays adult contemporary music which is the
same genre of music that is played on the show so that the audience can relate
to the jingle due to it connoting the audience that the music they play
attracts by using it in a jingle. All the genres are different in this case due
to the nature of the product and the type of audience they are trying to reach.
For instance, the Big John @ Breakfast show will appeal to a larger audience
than the audiobook as the music it plays will have a larger audience than the
book will due to it encompassing a larger group and being far more accessible.
Target Audience
The target audience for A
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is educated adults, due to the complex
linguistic techniques and advanced words used throughout the book, which will
be hard to understand even with it read by someone else. The maturity of the
story will also put off a less educated or younger audience. Due to the ident
being on Radio 1, the target audience will be people from 15-29, however
official RAJAR data suggests the average listening age is 33, this is why the
music used in the ident is aimed at younger people so they can try and lower
the age of their target audience again to an age that they find suitable.
Recent data for Radio 2 suggests the majority of their audience is over 35,
this is why the jingle is formal and uses adult contemporary music. The target
audience for the Huw Stephens podcast are people aged 15-29, yet it seems to
attract a slightly older audience, it also appeals to people who are interested
in the 2 bands that he shows on the podcast as well as those looking to expand
their musical knowledge.
The
target audience of the Big John @ Breakfast show is both male and female
between the ages of 20-45 as most of these people will have jobs or kids, so
will be able to listen to the show on the way to work or when they are taking
their kids to school. Giving reason why the topics on the show involve talking
about work and kids as most of the listeners will be able to relate to this
when listening. The station has a listener-ship that is 55% women, so the show will be targeted more at women, and reaches 100,000 more C2DE listeners than ABC1 listeners. The audience for the Jake Thompson show is mixed gender between
the ages of 15 and 30, as its youthful advertisements and presenters are designed
to appeal for a young audience, so that they are able to keep their listeners
for a large amount of years. The music is also modern, so the target audience
will know the songs and will be able to relate to the music. The target audience on Wyatt
are people that listen to rock music due to the music played on the station.
The age range is between 15-44, as most people of this age range can follow and
participate with the discussion on social network as well as with other people
and they will enjoy the music played on the show. Rajar figures show that the station its self reaches 1,296,000 listeners per week. The target audience for each
of the products is different. Radio shows tend to target similar ages of people
but with different interests and do not tend to make a cut off point for
intelligence, whereas the audiobook has a target audience that must be over a
certain intellectual standard to comprehend the story properly. Radio stations
tend to pander to people with different musical interests, as people that
listen to Wyatt may have a vastly different taste in music to those that listen
to Big John.
Frequency
The
Huw Stephens podcast does not have a particular frequency, it will be put up on
the BBC website anytime after he introduces new singles and gives information
from a band. The Big John @ Breakfast show is made
Monday- Friday between 6-10am as this is when a large proportion of people will
be going to work or taking kids to school, so the majority of their target
audience will be able to listen, as the people at work and with kids are a
large section of the shows audience. The Jake Thompson show is on weekdays
between 10am and 2pm, as there is a good chance the target audience will be at
college or at work, so they will be able to pass the time by listening to the
show. The show can be used as an outlet while at work which is why the shows
are produced midweek. The Wyatt Show is every weekday from 10am until 2pm, it
is during this time as people that don’t work can listen to the show whilst
doing errands and housework. Also people at desks who have the ability to
listen to the radio can do so during the day. The 3 radio shows are very
similar in their time slots as they all appeal to a similar target audience.
Big John has a slightly older target audience, which is why it starts earlier,
when parents will be up trying to get their kids ready for school.
The audiobook does not have a
designated frequency as it will only be made and produced once with this
particular person and gets it all done in the one audiobook. The ident would have been used very
frequently throughout the show, usually between changes in presenter, as well
as going back from the news and other areas. It will be played as often as
possible as a form of advertising, which applies also to the jingle.
Production Process
The Big John @ Breakfast show
will be recorded live on air, with interviews usually being recorded beforehand on different days or times. The script will be written out by a team of script writers that decide on the number of
topics as well as what the presenters will talk about. The music will be
selected and put onto a play server to be selected and played on the show,
which are high quality WAV files. The cart wall will be used to select and play
the jingles and idents for the show. Companies that have paid the most money
will have priority air time and will be selected more often than the ones that
have paid less. The production of the Wyatt show will be done in the studio with Wyatt
as the DJ, however the scripting team will write a scripted conversation for
the show which will happen in the pre production process. There will be sound
technicians to set up the microphones and the software, for ease of use. There
will be staff to organise the use of jingles and idents in the show, so that
the procedure will be swift for the host, which is a post production part of
the jingles and idents as they will have already been mixed and edited. It is
made available on DAB radio for anyone who can tune in. Play servers will be
used for song selection on the show, using high quality wav files. The jingles
on the show will be made on non linear editing packages like Cubase, which
makes it much easier to create them. The Audiobook will have been produced
differently as there will have been a
sound team to do the recordings, as well as a team to do the music at the
start. There will be a narrator who will have read from the book, which isn’t
done live unlike most radio, then a producer and editor will mix the final
product. Then it will have been released on the internet and on selected
app stores and CD’s, which again is different to the production of Radio shows. The Radio 2 jingle was made
with a group of musicians, as well as composer and sound technicians. Then a
producer will have finalised the product to make it sound as good as possible.
It will probably have been made on Cubase or other similar software, then
played on the station by the DJ.
Due
to Radio 1 and 2 being part of the BBC, all scripts are checked that they meet
the OFCOM guidelines, so using profanities, racism, sexism and anything else
offensive must be removed from the script before it is broadcast. The shows
also must avoid slandering political parties so as not to face legal action.
More adult themes however can be used after 9pm as they can be dealt with
easier, as it is thought mainly adults will be listening after this time. The
audiobook however has a different approach, as the reader will read the story
word by word, and any racism, sexism, or profanities will be included, if there
are a lot, there may be a warning on the product to keep away younger people,
who may be influenced by it. Political themes and slandering of political
parties also won’t be omitted. There is also no watershed, as the audiobook
will be listened to at any time.
Ofcom regulations state that a production meeting would have to address make sure that the content on the show is suitable for the time that it is broadcasted in, like before the watershed.
• Using sexism, profanity, racism & anything that could be offensive is banned from broadcast so must not be put on or retracted to meet or appease Ofcom guidelines.
• The show must avoid slander or defamation, as legal action could be taken.
Budgets, scripts and live interviews will be
planned during meetings with presenters and producers – which is usually done by the BBC and commercial stations. Copyright for music must be obtained.
Community radios are usually planned by volunteers as it is for a niche audience, so the stations do not have much money to pay staff.
