Monday, 30 December 2013

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.


Thursday, 19 December 2013

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. 

Wednesday, 18 December 2013

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 

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

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.





Monday, 16 December 2013

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



















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.

Tuesday, 3 December 2013

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



Sunday, 1 December 2013

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.