Analysis of Magic's Schedule

In this post I am going to analyse Magic's weekly schedule. I am carrying out this post in order to give myself an idea of how to create my own schedule for Urban City FM. One of the elements that I will be looking out for is how Magic make the content of the schedule relevant to their audience. 

The first element that I noticed when looking at this schedule is that the radio station runs for 24 hours a day. This is applicable to their target audience (which is mainly women from the age of 20-35) as different shows will be focused on different parts of the audience. For example, the Drivetime shows, will be relevant to the late workers. This can also have the implication of Magic having the opportunity of reaching a variety of different groups within their overall target audience as well as women in general.

All of the shows which Magic broadcast are repeated throughout the week and have the same start and finish timings, except on Saturdays and Sundays. This will result in the audience falling into a routine with their schedule and make it part of their everyday life - tuning into their favourite shows that they know will be on at the same time every day.

Fourth News Story - Movie Premiere - Rough Draft

New romantic thriller premieres in London's Leicester Square.

News Presenter: Last night the crowd were blow away by Emma Smith's walk down the red carpet in London's Leicester Square . The hollywood sensation from Brixton arrived with her co-stars to attend the premiere of her latest film "Is this love?". Hundreds of fans took themselves to Leicester Square to catch a glimpse of Emma and her co-star Andrew Stevins. Our entertainment correspondent Lucy Wagner was there and managed to get a chance to speak to the busy superstar.

(Outside Presenter)
Lucy Wagner: Emma Smith stunned her fans tonight in a very revealings staples dress where she trotted down the red carpet to the delight of the waiting fans. The crowd were already in a good mood after being treated to an exclusive clip of extra footage from the upcoming movie. I was lucky enough to speak to Emma as she made her way down the red carpet.

(On the red carpet)
Lucy Wagner: Emma, how does it feel to be having the premier right here in in your home town.

Emma Smith: Ohh it's amazing,  I really cant put into words how much it means to me to be sharing this moment with all my fans back in London. These are the people who supported me from day one so Im really grateful for having this opportunity.

(On the red carpet)
Lucy Wagner: Is there any exclusive information you can give your Urban City Fm fans?

(On the red carpet)
Emma Smith: Mmm, unfortunately you guys are just gonna have to wait an see.

(On the red carpet)
Lucy Wagner: Thats great, thanks so much for talking to us.

News Presenter: That was our Entertainment correspondent Lucy Wagner talking to Emma Smith at last nights premiere of "Is this love?".

Third News Story - Celebrity - Rough Draft

Former R&B rapper Drake has officially announce his tour dates earlier this morning. 

News Presenter:   Grammy award winning rapper Drake has announced that he's decided to take a trek across the world to celebrate his success of his latest album with his fans. At a press conference in London this morning, the Canadian announced his 'Victory tour' as a way of thanking fans for the success of the album 'Nothing was the sam'. He's scheduled to perform 5 nights at London's O2 arena in November. The tour will take in over 30 countries, including places as far as Australia. Our correspondent Jeff was at the press conference this morning and spoke to some very excited fans waiting outside. 

Sound Bite:
(Screaming Girls)
Vox-Pop 1:I cannot believe Drake is coming to London!!. He deserves a break.... but I still cant wait to see him at the 02.

Another Girl: I love you drake

Vox-Pop 2: "Can I say, that I am possibly the biggest Drake fan.... like int he entire world. I am super ecited for drake to come to the UK! And Drake if you are listening... I love you!!!"

Vox-Pop 3: If we're gonna be honest , Drake is clearly the most inspirational rapper in the game. With the lyrics he is producing at the moment the man can be the next Shakespeare. I am ready for his arrival to the UK and have already brought a ticket.

Second News Story - Murder - Rough Draft

Londoner who convicted at 16 re-sentenced under new Law. 

News Presenter: A former juvenile delinquent who was sentenced to life in prison at the age of 16 without parole, has now seen his sentence reduced thanks to a new law preventing minors from being given life sentences. 'Trevor Kieff' left Wandsworth Prison earlier this week after having served a 17 - year sentence for the murder of 18 year old 'Taylor Phillips' in Battersea in 1996. Our correspondent Michelle Miller was as Westminster county court this morning, getting a measure of public opinion about the changes brought in by Justice secretary Chris Grayling

        

Outside Broadcast/Specialist Reporter: 
Michelle Miller:
According to Chris Grayling, inmates who are convicted of a crime as a child should be given a second chance. Trevor Kieff'  has spent 17 years in prison after being convicted for murder at the age of 16. Family members of the prisoner made an appearance at today's hearing, showing their support for the 33 year old. 'I spoke to residents of Westminster onside the court to get their reaction new change to the law, and not surprisingly most of them were against the change.

Vox-Pop 1:
If the kid decided to take some one else's life, then his life should be taken from him. Its not just about the victim, its also about the families of the victims. They lost someone close to them, and they cant be replaced.

Vox-Pop 2:
I'm a mum of 4, if some one ever harmed one of my kids, I'd want them to stay behind bars for the rest of their life.

Vox-Pop 3:
I don't think it's that simple, that they can just lock you up and throw away the key. Even people who murder other people should get the chance to maybe turn their life around in 20 year time. I mean... this guy was basically a kid, but was trailed as an adult. I believe everyone deserves a second chance.


Outside Broadcast/Specialist Reporter: 
Michelle Miller:
The trial continues at the County Court this week.

First News Story - Natural Disaster - Rough Draft

Flood

News Presenter: The worst weather conditions for more than 20 years continue to cause chaos 
across the south east. After days of torrential rain and storms, flooding and power cuts have disrupted up to a 1,000's families as of this morning. Several rivers in London and the Home Counties have overflowed leaving several towns centres flooded. Some homes have experienced water levels of up too 3 feet . Patrica Smith' from 'Gilford', told us how she's had to evacuate her family, after seeing water levels rise while preparing dinner for the family. 

(SoundBite - On the phone - Not good quality)

Sound Bite:
Patrica Smith:
As I saw the water coming in, I started to run around, trying to scoop as much as I could. Once the water reached the kitchen, I tried calling companies that could come and pump the water out. We didn't have that much luck, so after an hour of the water coming in, we packed an over night bag and stayed in the 'Holiday In' near us.

News Presenter: The London Met Office is warning that there's still heavy flooding yet to come, so stay with 'Urban Fm' for all the latest weather updates for London. 

News Stories

As I have carried out research such as listening and analysing news stories, I feel that I know the conventions of news stories (the 5Ws, news values and the use of elements like voxpops and outside broadcasts or specialist reporters), in order to compose my own. I have researched all the types of ways news stories can be presented such as, Newspapers, TV and the Radio.

When listening to news stories I noticed that most were compact and detailed. I believe this is because News Stories on the radio do not have much time to be presented - the bulletin is much shorter than it would be on TV news, even local TV news. Therefore the article has to get the information to the audience quickly - hence the importance of the 5Ws.

In addition, News stories on the radio have to a lot more vivid description than news articles on the TV, as radio new stories need to paint a picture to their audience. News stories on TV however, can use pictures and videos to help portray their message.

After a lot of research I have decided that I am going to create four new stories. I have included a variety of different genres such as disaster and celebrity stories.

• Natural Disaster News Story 
• Occurring News Story
• Celebrity News Story 
• Entertainment News Story 

Potential News Stories for my News Bulletin

In this post I am going to come up with a list of potential new stories that I can include in my final radio news bulletin. In the process of exploring a wide range of news articles, I focused on a variety of genres, such as Disaster, Celebrity, Education, Political and Sport articles. Below is a list of potential news stories that I can use when creating my final news bulletin. I have included a variety of genres in my news stories.

• Animal escaped from London zoo.
• MP expense scandal.
• Transport for London go on strike
• Tinie Tempah (Celebrity) performs at the London O2 arena.  
• Movie Premier in London.
• Earthquake kills 8 Brits.
• University prices keep on going up for the teens.

My Final Adverts

After carrying out the research of creating and scripting my adverts, I have decided that I am going to create two out of the three adverts I have brainstormed. This is because I believe the two I have picked are challenging, and the effort I will put into the creating of the adverts will lead to my station sounding more authentic - and they will both give me the opportunity to be creative with the editing software and sound effects to get my ideas and messages across. There is a fine contrast between both of my adverts however, they are essentially targeting the same audience. My adverts are still targeting the various needs of my target audience. This is the main factor I thought about when contrasting my adverts, as in order for an advert to be successful it has to meet the needs of its target audience.

Potential Starbucks Advert

After carrying out research on radio commercials I now believe that I have developed the skill required to construct a radio commercial based on Starbucks. From my research, it is clear the interests of my audience are crucial as it determines the success of my advert. This is because the advert must be relevant to the listener or the listener must gain something from the advert.

I have chosen to create a 'Starbucks' advert as it is relevant to my target audience, which are women aged from 16 years to roughly 40. My target audience also includes young/middle-aged mothers who may want to grab a coffee before or after they drop their children at school. Starbucks do not seem to have a lot of radio commercials, this made the constructing of this advert a lot more challenging, as I did not have an idea of a typical 'Starbucks' advert. However, this made the making of this advert a lot more fun and creative, as I came up with a commercial from scratch, keeping it relevant to my target audience. Therefore, I decided to focus the advert on a typical busy schedule of a mother with three kids. Starbucks' slogan comes at the very end of my advert, as it is the main goal of the mother's day, as she finally has sense of relief after a Starbucks Coffee.

Script:

         Hectic Mum (Louise) 

List:

• Plans Alfie's Birthday party and hire entertainer. 

• Pick up Simon's suit from the cleaner. 

• Take the girls to play group. 

• Clean up the whole kitchen. 

• Decide on healthy options for everyone's supper... Alfie's - Lactose intolerant, Bella's Gluten intolerant and Stacy's Wheat intolerant. 

• Pick up Simon's Poker night invites from printers... put them in post. 

• Pick up Girls from school... take them to swimming lesson & avoid chatty mums. 

• Pick up Alfie from school.... Take him to football practice, avoid flirty dads. 

• Then... Go to Starbucks.... Get coffee.... Sit down... relax. 

• VO - Your life can be stressful when you're busy  running everyone else's. Come and have a Starbucks and get the break you deserve. 

Potential Car Insurance Advert

When choosing my second advert  I had a lot of experience through listening to a lot of radio. Urban City FM is mainly targeted at women, which is why I am doing an advert on Car Insurance for women (Diamond UK). This is directly aimed at my target audience.


Script:
Coffee Shop - Clattering in the back ground - Chatter- Small Crowd 

Girl 1 - I'm so looking forward to going away tomorrow,  I can't believe it... Rio. This time tomorrow, I am going to be on a white sandy beach, drinking Mojitos.

Girl 2 - Ohh, that sounds amazing.

Girl 1 - What about you, you going anywhere?

Girl 2 - I dunno.. i've got all these car insurances bills... I'm skint.

Girl 1 - What car insurance are you on?

Girl 2 - Car Saver

Girl 1 - Car Saver, aren't they really expensive, have you not heard of Diamond UK?

Girl 2 - Diamond UK?

Girl 1 - They've got the best deals exclusively for girls, i've save £500 pounds this year, thats what's paying for RIO.

Sound Effect - Brazilian Music 

Diamond Lady Voiceover - If you're female and car insurance is holding you back....Visit Diamond UK, on www.diamonduk.co.uk - you won't believe how much money, you can save.

Sound Effect - Beach - Water 

Girl 2 - Here we are, see what happens when you switch to Diamond UK.

Girl 1 - Let's celebrate with another Mojito.

Potential Boots Adverts

When I listening to different Radio shows it is now clear to me that different radio shows will present different types of commercials as they are targeting different audiences.

Each radio show will present adverts that are relevant to their target audience. The advert needs to be in the interest their audience or something that may be useful to them.

My first potential product that I have scripted is a 'Boots' advert. After carrying out a lot of research on the different types of adverts 'Boots' create and play on the radio, I believe I now have a good idea of how to construct my own 'Boots' advert. However, one factor that I need to take into consideration when creating this advert is that I need to paint a picture to my audience. Unlike TV adverts I do not have the visual side to the commercial, therefore, this means that my audience need to visualize the advert.

This can be done through sound effects, music and editing effects. As Christmas is approaching I thought it would be a good idea to make my advert relevant to the festival spirit.

Potential Products

After listening to a range of different adverts that appeared on different radio stations I know have an understanding of what type of products are sold and advertised and how they may appeal to the target audience. This allowed me to come up with some potential products that may appear on the adverts of my upcoming Radio Show. This will give me a better understanding of what I need to offer in order to satisfy my target audience (women, under 40).

• Cosmetics (Boots & Superdrug)
• Cloths (Next & H&M)
• Accessories (Claire's Accessories)
• Phone Providers (O2)
• Car Insurance for women (Diamond UK)
• Home Insurance (Direct line)
• Supermarket (Sainsburys & Waitrose)
• Coffee Shops 

Analysis of Radio Commercials

In this post I will be analysing a range of  existing radio commercials. I want to explore who the target audience is for these adverts and how they are achieved, and how the adverts are appropriate for the intended audience. I am going to have adverts on my show that directly target my chosen audience as I see my station as a commercial radio station. Adverts are one of the most obvious conventions of commercial radio so if I want my station to sound authentic I know I will have to script some.

Below I have have analysed each advert individually and provided a Red hyperlink to the advert.:

Auto-Glass Commercial (Chipped Windscreen)

This commercial is based on an existing business who provide a replacement service for car windows. Auto Glass is targeting a wide target audience as anyone who is a driver, is a potential customer. Therefore, Auto Glass's advert must be suitable for all customers. This is achieved with a simple and catchy advert. The advert starts with their familiar Jingle. This is effective as it attracts the listener, engaging them in the advert and giving the name of the company to create awareness of the brand.

Below is the script of this advert














Barclays Commercial  (Sound da big ting)

This commercial is based on Barclays student current accounts. The advert highlights how it has been voted number one by students in the 'Money Facts Awards'. This advert is clearly directed towards students. This can be shown through the excessive language of the youths. In the script below, you can see examples of this language such as B-T-W, which is a representative of the phrase, 'By the way'.

Below is the script of this advert







                                 Persil Commercial (Small & Mighty)

Despite the use of children in this advert, it still has a direct link to mothers. The advert is focused around the opinion of children to whether or not the stain would be hard to remove.The use of children is just to make the advert more effective and appeal to mothers. This is because the idea of children deciding what stains are hard to remove is not the norm. This will then lead the listener to be more attracted to the ad (mothers will understand that children often get dirty, with their clothes covered in stains that are hard to remove).

Below is the script of this advert

Sainsbury Commercial

The advert is promoting its offer on 'Beef Roasting Joint for half price'. It is clear this advert is directed to meat eaters but also to a family audience as the food is good value and will feed many people. This advert can be suitable for any shopper as it is a general product, but may appeal most to mothers who, are more likely to do the weekly shop for the family.

Audience Research - OFCOM

In the post I will be looking at a variety of different Character of Service Sheets for different radio stations in  the UK. This will give me an understanding of what each radio station is like in terms of the genre of music played, the type of content that can be found on the station and who the target audience is.

Once I had looked at enough existing OFCOM formats, from a number of different Radio Stations, I decided to create my own OFCOM format for 'Urban City Fm'. This gave me an idea of what my target audience will be.

Below is a nmber of exsisting OFCOM formats, that led me to design one for 'Urban City FM'.

OFCOM for Heart FM

OFCOM for Kiss100 FM

   
  OFCOM for Magic FM    

OFCOM for Capital FM

Analysis of Three Radio Stations' Homepages

In this post I will be analyzing a number radio stations and the 'Homepages' to their websites. The reasoning of this post is to get a deeper understanding of how the conventions used by the radio stations online, help promote the station to its audience. In order to make this post relevant to my final station, I will be looking at radio stations with a similar style, content and target audience to my radio station. 

I will be looking a Capital, Radio 1 and Magic.  

Capital

When analysing Capitals homepage, I was instantly drawn to the website by it's ease of navigation and the user-friendly functions of the website. I could easily navigate myself around the website, allowing me to gather all the analysis I needed to construct this post. Capital Radio  is similar to my final station, as I am too targeting an audience of the ages of 16- 25. Capital, also has a similar style to my final radio station, in the sense that it will also be focusing on celebrity gossip and scandals - something that was very noticeable from the content on the homepage.                                                       

When first looking at Capital's homepage, it is clear that celebrity scandal is a clear topic which the radio station uses in order to promote the station to their audience.This is shown on the Screen-Shot above, as a whole section on the home page is dedicated just to celebrity stories. The screen- shot also includes interviews and videos of celebrities that will appeal to their audience. 

Radio 1

As well as the focal point of my final station being celebrity gossip, my station will also be very modern. This will be done by keeping up with the UK top 40 hits. This is one of the elements in the Radio 1 homepage which links with my final station as they both contain this modern theme. As shown on the screen-shot, Radio 1 clearly emphasizes the convention of keeping modern through the use of music. Radio 1, keeps up to date with the latest releases and news of the UK top 40 on their home page, listing the music that they play as a way of appealing directly to their target audience.

Magic

I have chosen to analyse Magic's homepage, as I believe this station has a direct link to my final radio station as they are both directed to a more female niche audience than most radio stations. This is clearly shown from the Screen-Shot, as the upcoming shows, such as 'Stress busters' and 'Love letters' show a direct link to a female audience. The colour scheme also reflects the chosen gender of the audience. This can be linked to my final radio station as I am too, focusing on the female gender. 

Conventions of News Bulletins

In this post I will be looking at the different ways in which news articles are reported, illustrated and elaborated. These convections include:

• Correspondent
• Voxpops
• Soundbites
• Outside Broadcast
• Experts/Guests
• Archive Clips. 

This task will help me prepare for the developing of my final news stories, as I will include these features across my news stories in order to make them sound realistic.

Below I have given a definitions of each factor, what station I found an example on and how it helps illustrate the story.

Definitions:

Correspondent - "A correspondent is someone who is employed to report for a newspaper or Broadcasting radio station". When I listened to  a number of news stories on stations such as Radio 1 and Radio 4 I heard a number of correspondents or specialist reporters. A news storie I heard on Radio 1 contained a sports correspondent. The sports correspondent added additional facts to the sport stories and was more specialised than the main news presenter.

Vox-pops - "A Vox-Pop is used when journalist or researcher goes onto the street to ask the members of the public for their views on the matter at stake". When listening to Radio 1 it contained a story of 'Banning hands free, for mobile users'. The story contained Vox-pops of the general public and their opinions. The article contained an audio clip of the public's thoughts.

Sound Bite- "A sound bite is a short clip of speech of music that is extracted from a longer piece of audio. A sound bite is characterised by a short phase that captures the essence of what the was trying to portray". Soundbites often come from someone who is an expert on the issue in the story or from a prominent member of society such as a doctor or an MP. When listening to an article about 'Google' on Radio 1, I noticed the used of a sound bite. The sound bite was two opposing views on Google attempting to prevent child abuse.

Outside Broadcast - "An outside broadcast is a radio or television program that is not recorded or filmed in the studio, but in another building or open air". A Radio 1 sport story went directly to the sports correspondent who was live at the Etihad Stadium. This can help illustrate the news story as it creates an atmosphere for the story.

 
Expert/ Guest - "A guest is a person who is invited somewhere, in order to attend a particular occasion. An expert is someone who is very knowledgeable about skilful in a specialised area". Radio 4 contained an expert on health from the NHS to comment on a breaking story. This can help illustrate the story as it makes it more realistic, as an expert is justifying the point at stake. This can make people believe it more as someone who is specialised in health field will have a better knowledge of the issue being discussed.

Archive Clip - "An archive clip is a historical recording of a specific person".
Often archive clips feature when the story involves the death of a prominent individual (like Margaret Thatcher) or when someone prominent has fallen from grace or contradicted a point the made in the past. An archive clip is used in order to reinforce the fact the health service has not lived up to their promised the story includes an archive clip of a former health minister outlining plans of the NHS that they have failed to see through.

Representation

In this post I am going to compare and contrast representations taken from two different news bulletins. I am going to comparing Radio 2 (News Beat) and Radio 4. I will  analyse the language, repartee (banter) and the different type of voices used.

I noticed that the representation of people is different depending on the audience and the type of station. In my final script, I know that I am going to have a number of voices in my extract. I know that it will be import to choose the appropriate actors to represent my characters in order to make it sound authentic, and so that the representations appeal to my target audience. I am going to carry out a series of listening tasks, where I will be focusing on the representation of news presenters, but also show presenters, and people in voxpops and adverts.

The first factor I noticed when analyzing both news bulletins is that Radio 2 is less formal in comparison to Radio 4. I noticed this as Radio 4 uses longer sentences, a higher range of more sophisticated vocabulary and accurate pronunciation. Whereas, Radio 2 uses more colloquial language in comparison to Radio 4.

The second factor I noticed is that Radio 2 uses a younger range of presenters, whereas Radio 4
does not. Radio 2 tends to use female voices as they are trying to address a more diverse audience in terms of gender. Radio 2, has three main presenters; one for the main news stories, the second for the gossip stories and the third for sport stories. However, in comparison,Radio 4 only had two main presenters. The first presenter focused on general news stories and the second presenter focused on political news stories.

The tone of voice differs in both news bulletins. The tone of Radio 2 seems to be animated, whereas Radio 4 uses a more serious tone of voice. This has the effect of making Radio 2 sound more cheerful and less formal and indicates that the station targets younger listeners than Radio 4.

Radio 2 also incorporate music bedding behind the reading of their news headlines and news stories. However Radio 4 does not contain any 'music bedding' in their news bulletins. This can have the effect of making Radio 2 sound a lot more informal in comparison to Radio 4, again appealing to a younger audience.

Target Audience

When I was thinking about creating my own radio station, I realised there are various factors about my target audience which my radio station must consider:

• The gender of my audience.

• The location of my audience.

• The age range of my audience. 

• The lifestyle of my audience.

• How often do my target audience listen to the radio?

The underlining factor that is crucial for the success of any radio station is the understanding of the audience's needs. When creating a radio station one must ensure that the audience are completely satisfied with the service that the radio station provides.

My radio station is going to be targeting a specific group in terms of gender, females. My radio is more of a combination between Capital FM radio station and Heat Magazine. When thinking about my audience, it is evident that I will be targeting a more female niche. The age range of women I believe it will appeal to will be between 18- 35. My radio station will also be targeting young mothers.

My Radio station will focus on celebrity gossip and scandal, this will be the main theme of the station. However, at the same time, my station will cover different types of news stories informing my audience of both current weather, current traffic and traffic updates. My station is going to be very modern, playing UK Top 40 hits to an audience based in the London area.

Questionnaire

I have attached a blank and filled in copy of my Questionnaire below. 

I have also produced graphs of some results from my questionnaire:

Blank                                                                                  Filled 

Graphs:

Introduction to Questionnaire

For my primary research I set out by creating a questionnaire regarding relevant information of my audience. In my questionnaire I've included specific questions that are directed to my target audience. This will allow me to gather both information and get an idea of the different features of my audience, such as the age group. By creating this questionnaire, it will also allow me to find the elements of radio people like the most. Lastly, by creating a questionnaire it will enable me to make a judgment on what my audience like most about radio, and apply these features to my station. 

Research Analysis - Audience

In this post I will be analysing the different ways in which I can gather research about my target audience. This consists of primary and secondary research. By me examining and understanding the different types of research, it will allow me to have a clear understanding about who my target audience are. Throughout my blog I will use a mixture of both Primary and Secondary research in order to produce more reliable and higher quality market research.

Primary research consists of information that has not yet been collected. This involves me gathering and collecting my own research.  The most common and effective example of primary research, would the creating of my own questionnaire. This is because I would be getting a direct opinion of my audience based exactly on the things that I want to find out. Another example of a primary piece of research would be conducting a focus group. This is when a group of people come together and suggest some ideas, discussing things like the name of my station and the kinds of news stories that my audience might want to hear. 

Secondary research involves analysing and using research that has already been conducted by someone else. An example of a piece of secondary research would be research found on 'OFCOM' regarding audience figures or looking online at sites such as Rajar or Wikipedia, to analyse information they have gathered about certain radio stations and their audiences.