Radio C1

 Friday 6th December 2024

Do now: 

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

2. how is commercial radio funded - advertising 

3 what kind of content does BBC radio 4 broadcast - mixed speech/spoken word 

4. who regulates radio in the UK - 

5. what has affected the popularity of radio in recent years -  

why digital audio

• digital radio is widely used to better quality sound and wider access to more stations 
• digital technology allows media organisations to offer audiences many ways to experience a programmes in addition to listening on a radio (WHY? streaming live, listening again via a 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 where 

podcasts

• podcasts are now regularly produced by radio broadcasters, offering the chance to download a programme 
• many offer additional content ore edited highlights from the original programme
• increasingly podcasts are produced independently of a radio broadcaster, these include drama series, comedies and factual news 

radio audiences 

• 88% of UK adult population (45 million) listen to radio each week 
• commercial radios share of listening was 51.4% up from 50.9% in 2022
• 17% of listeners was on a smart speakers, a 2% increase from the previous year 
• total combined of digital listening is now 72% of all radio listening. this is predominantly DAB which is 42.7% and online which is 25.6%
• some BBC radio stations saw a decline in listeners, including BBC Radio 1,2,3,4,5,6

Audience appeals 

• uses and gratification  
• new stations such as BBC Radio 4 provide information 
• music - entertainment, relaxation, escapism 

THE ARCHERS 

• worlds longest running radio soap opera 
• broadcast since 1951 it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country fault" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in rural setting"
• one of the original intentions of the programme was to communicate information about modern farming methods to increase food production
• today it is very carefully researched and it is informative about many issues to do with farming rural issues etc
• its drama, but not as you know it - its slow moving, subtlr and gentle  

soap opera conventions 

• designed for regular listening e.g dail
• melodramatic - open ended narrative, ensemble casts, multi strand narrative 
• target audience is often women so often included strong women character's ( matriarchs )

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