Radio

Radio.                                                                                                       Friday 6th December 2024

L/o: to explore thee context and production of a radio drama 

Do Now

1- a public service broadcaster us a broadcaster that us independent of government financed by public money and is seen to offer a public service

2- commercial radio is funded by advertising

3- BBC radio 4 broadcasts mixed speech/ spoken word

4- OFCOM regulates radio in the UK

5- technical convergence and streaming platforms has affected the popularity of radio in recent years 

DAB

-Digital radio us widely used due to better quality sound and wider access to more stations.

-Digital technology allows media organisations to offer audiences many way to experience a programme in addition to listening to the radio:

. streaming live

. listening again on na catch up service 

. Downloading a podcast

. Accessing content on social media platforms- e.g youtube

- All this content across a range of platforms offers audiences the opportunity to choose where and when they listen to the radio.

Podcasts

- Podcasts are now regularly produced by radio broadcasters, offering the chance to download a programme

-Many offer additional content or edited highlights from the original programme

- Increasingly podcasts are produced independently of a radio broadcaster these include drama series comedies and factual shows 

RAJAR 

-88% of the uk's adult population or 49.5 million people listened to the radio each week

-commercial radio's share of listening was 54.1% up from 50.9%

- 17% of total listening was on smart speakers, a 22% increase from the previous year

- total combined digital listening is now 72% of all radio listening this is predominantly DAB which is 42.7% and online which is 25.8%

- Radio 1 down 6% from 7.7m to 7.3

-Radio 3 was down from 2m to 1.8m 

- Radio 4 down slightly from 9.3m to 9.1m

- radio 5 live down slightly from 5.5 to 5.25

-radio 6 music down from 2.75 to 2.5

Audience appeals

- radio fulfils a range of uses and gratifications for audiences.

- information: get updates for traffic on the roads.

- entertainment: listening to music. 

- personal identity: companionship and background sound,  finding a Dj you like

- social interaction: talking to people about the news or everyone singing songs together. 

The Archers

• The Archers is the world longest running radio soap opera
• Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as 'an everyday story of country folk' and is now promoted as a 'contemporary drama in a rural setting'
• One of the original intentions of the programme was to communicate information about modern farming methods to increasing food production, as food was still being rationed after WW2
• Today, it is very carefully researched and is informative about many issues to do with farming, rural issues and wider contemporary social issues
• It is a drama but not as you know it
• It's slow-moving subtle and gentle
• It is set in the fictional village of Ambleside.
• storylines are sometimes serious- e.g rape in marriage, racism, drug addiction and family breakups
• More commonly, stories focus on daily rural life- e.g caring for animals marmalade making competitions harvesting crops 

Soap opera conventions 

drama 

crime

set in a village or a town

fast mover

open ended episode

dialogue centered

traditional target audience for soap operas is females and so they often feature strong female characters or matriarch 

stories are often focused on family work or relationships

designed for regular listening (daily)

ongoing stories to keep viewers hooked

multi strand narratives to reflect real life 

set in specific locations where characters come together ( pubs, cafe, workplaces etc.)

tend to feature more dialogue than actions drama arises out of conflict between characters 

How can you listen the The Archers?

download the podcast

listen to it on the radio as it is broadcast on the radio Broadcast on the radio at 7pm everyday except Saturday repeated at 2pm the following day. Weekly omnibus every Sunday morning 

Short running time-13 mins long

 Also available online on-demand for 30 days after broadcast

Weekly podcast of the omnibus available to download 

Available on BBC sounds app internationally

Omnibus- play every episode from the week back to back so if you miss an episode you can listen in and hear the whole thing 

How do the listening options offer flexibility to a wide target audience?

The listening options offer the ability to listen to the The Archers when they can if they can't listen at 2pm then they can listen to the episode at 7pm but if they have a busy lifestyle they can listen to all of the episodes from the week on a Sunday when they are played back to  back to each other. So the episodes are available to anyone who wants to listen and everyone has a chance to listen to the episodes.

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Set Episode.                                                                                                   Tuesday 10 December 2024

L/o: to explore a specific episode of the set text and the target audience

Do Now

1- 1951

2- BBC Radio 4 

3- dialogue centred, open ended episodes

4- Everyday at 7pm, repeated at 2pm the following day, omnibus every Sunday morning 

5- BBC's remit is to inform, educate and entertain

-The Archers is aired on BBC Radio 4, the BBC's main spoken word channel

-This means it is funded by the licence fee

-Although one original function of the show was to educate farmers, it soon gained a large audience and a source of entertainment for a wider audience not just people from the rural communities

-However, the show still prides itself on the quality of it's research and it's ability to portray real rural life.

- The Archers has approximately 5 million listeners- plus 1 million online. 

- Historically radio soap operas have always focused primarily on women's lives, particularly family relationships, domesticity and marriage.

-Therefore, the target audience was traditionally females who looked after the home.

The Archers is  the longest running British soap opera that was first broadcasted in 1951 and is still on going today. Each episode is 13 minutes long and it is broadcasted everyday except Saturday's at 7pm and then 2pm the following day and then on Sunday's there is a weekly omnibus so people who may have missed an episode could listen to in then. The Archers was originally there to educate farmers but it soon gained a larger audience. It is set in a rural area to create the sense that it is set in a real world. The Archers'  storylines are sometimes serious with things like rape in marriage, racism, drug addiction and family breakups but more commonly, stories focus on daily rural life like caring for animals marmalade making competitions harvesting crops.  

Production

• The programme is produced at the BBC studios in Birmingham
• The producers consult specialist advisors when developing storylines
• Different scenes are recorded in different areas to ensure that the sounds match the scenes
• The authenticity of the Amebridge world is very important- from the sound of walking right down to which birdsong you'd hear at different times of year
• Just like life, there's usually one big storyline going on all the time, and smaller domestic ones running alongside. Family-feuds, violent relationships and affairs co-exist with cake baking and the Village show

Episode task

• Storylines- someone moving out of their house, Village show, Gavin was in prison, Explosion, Gavin was in hospital since being released from prison, Homelessness
• Main characters- Emma, Joy, Mick, Kirsty, Alan, Linda, Helen, Philip, Jordan
• Genre conventions- More speech then action, Ensemble cast, Multi-strand storyline 
• Audience appeals- lots of different accents 
• How does this episode "inform, educate or entertain"?-
• How does the episode show the impact of social or cultural contexts?- Church, Litter picking, Christianity.

Segmenting Audiences

Demographics- factual information about the audience.

 Psychographics- a persons internal values, desires, beliefs, attitudes and goal.

The Archers target audience

 -Female (76%)

-55+ (62%)

-ABC1 (middle/upper class)

-White British (81%) 

-Right wing (e.g votes conservative)

-Hight disposable income

-Midlands locations

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Do now

1- 5 million

2- females  ABC1  older middle class

3- everyday at 7pm except Saturday, 2pm the following day, omnibus on Sunday 

4- demographics

5- educate entertain inform

blog, quizzes watch clips, follow social media, find out about the actors, podcasts,  guide of what happens in the year

The Archers as a brand

Big business for the BBC as it's the most listened to BBC programme online

In today's society, marker share and brand identity are massively important and The Archers succeeds on both of these 

If the BBC were to ever lose its licence fee, there are certain shows that it is guaranteed people would pay to subscribe to- The Archers is one of these.

Therefore, it's important that the producers keep the show fresh. One way of doing this is by introducing  new characters or pushing the boundaries on plot lines.

topics covered in the archers

affairs 

armed robbery

rape

gay marriage 

mental health issues

fraud

domestic abuse

 

The most recent was the domestic abuse storyline of Rob and Helen and her trail following his death. The storyline was developed over two and a half years and focused on Rob's emotional and physical abuse to Helen. The storyline climaxed with Helen stabbing Rob in front of their son. The storyline was praised by domestic violence charities and encouraged by many victims to seek help. Some listeners criticised the storyline for being melodramatic. The listeners privlegdged of being able to eavesdrop in on characters private conversations has added a real touch to the storyline. Audiences witnessed first-hand Rob's controlling nature, his coercive behaviour and listened whilst he progressively isolated her from friends and family.

personal identity- relate to some of the storylines

information- earlier episodes educated farmers

entertainment- put it on in the background or something to listen to when they have nothing to do or they like the storylines and are hooked on whats happening

social interaction- talking to people about the storylines or whats happening and what they like about the soap opera able to follow social media and talking to other people about whats on the social media