BTEC Radio: UNIT ONE: Research Techniques For The Industry

When considering starting your own radio station there a few things you have to do before diving straight into it… I’ll use PGFM as an example

Setting up
You would have to start by looking into how much it would cost to set up the radio station, for example the equipment, and the RSL and possibly the streaming costs if you wanted to consider the option of being able to listen online. Staff would have to be considered, but with it being a school based station, the students and staff would be primarily responsible. Equipment that would be needed includes a transmitter, a set of microphones, an apple mac, two mixing desks, aerial, receiver and most importantly a radio studio, amongst other things.

Content
What would actually be broadcast on the radio would be very important to consider, the different time slots and content would have to be discussed with the staff, different shows could include drive time, the breakfast show, mid morning madness, lunch hour, hot topics, and community hour. There has to be a variety when it comes to a local community radio station to makes sure there’s a show for everybody. Music would have to be quite contemporary, considering the majority of listeners will be students, although a mixture of new and old would have to be played at some point, because a handful of listeners will also be house wives and retired people.

Resources
Obviously, people will be key to running a radio station, and the students and staff will be responsible. It will be key that they have good communication skills, time management skills, technical skills and editing skills. Confidence is also a really desired quality for the staff. Because they are students and school teachers, they will not need paying. Equipment such as a compressor, receiver, mixing desks and more will be needed, but most will be provided thanks to the school.

Costs
The equipment will initially be quite pricey, however the school will be taking care of these, and once the main items have been purchased they can be used again and again. The streaming costs for online, depending on how many streams are used per annum can range from £107 to £536, and for a short term restricted license for less than 28 days will be around £70.

Viability
After taking all of the above into consideration, the plans of running PGFM are looking to be extremely realistic and doable, and the equipment is already set up, and people are all in place. If I wanted to scale down the project, instead of running for two weeks, I could cut it down to one week, and possibly use a smaller group of people which would be easier to manage. I could even consider going on air for a smaller number of hours during the day.

Placement
We would broadcast for two weeks at the end of the school year, and would definitely consider broadcasting online, due to audiences being more fragmented in recent years, so having the option to go back and listen to a show they missed, or listen to a different show from someone else in the house, would be good for the radio station. Podcasts would also do the same for the radio station, and would suit more specific to different audiences, and having these available for download would boost listeners.

Audience and Competitors
My audience will be mainly listening to the station via radio, and possibly phone radios making it easier for students to have access to, and online will be a big factor in making it more accessible I feel. The main competitors will be local radio stations and possibly even a couple of regional station such as Galaxy, BBC Radio Leeds and any other student radio stations in the area.

Task One & Two (P1,M1,D1) - Visit your local library and find out 3 facts about the population of Pudsey and Leeds.... and reference your facts properly

After joining the library, I typed in ‘Pudsey’ into the referencing system, and finding the details of the whereabouts of a useful book in the geography section, under ‘isle L’ and ‘code 914’, I found ‘Pudsey Official Guide’. In the book I managed to find out that the population of Pudsey is 38,000. The author of this book is Ed J. Burrows, and was published by Cheltenam and London. This information was on page 13 and was published in 1970.

Author: Ed J. Burrows (1970, p.13)

According to the BBC*, the population of Leeds is 715,404 in total, there are actually more females than males, as there are 369,570 females, and 345,834 males. And new figures show that the unemployment rate in Leeds is now at 14,165*.

REFERENCES:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/features/facts/index.shtml , http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/pop2001/Leeds.asp, http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Leeds-unemployment-figures-rocket.4594855.jp

Task Three (P1,M1,D1) - You must conduct your own research to find out facts about radio licensing and regional radio

BBC Radio 2 is the most listened to radio station throughout the United Kingdom; this is probably due to the many talented presenters they have, these include Terry Wogan, Jonathan Ross, Steve Lamacq and Chris Evans. The variety of programming and music also makes it very popular. I will be taking my own primary research to find out how many average hours people listen to radio per week, amongst other things, but as part of my secondary research I found some interesting facts and figures on the RAJAR website (click to enlarge):

Galaxy Radio cover the regions Yorkshire and Humberside, North West (Manchester), West Midlands (Birmingham), North East, Scotland (Glasgow & Edinburgh), and South Coast (Hampshire). Although, it is available else where in the UK via digital radio.

A restricted service license (RSL), is a licence that can be allocated to radio stations (and television stations), which allows them to transmit for what can be a short or long term contract. In short term licences, the broadcast will run continuous for a maximum of 28 days, and long term licences, can run either on one-off days for example match days and events days, or they can run for hospitals and universities or even shops. These licenses are granted by Ofcom. To have an RSL for a month (28 days) would cost £700, the table below shows all the tariff rates.

PRS is the Performing Rights Society for music, what the company does is, collect all the royalties to the existing members when their music is played, broadcast or made available online. The PRS pay the writers, composers and music publishers. The MCPS is the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, they pay the same people and do the same job as the PRS, whilst including the sales of music via CD’s and download, and even music that is used on soundtracks of films and games. MCPS and PRS are part of an operational alliance called the MCPS-PRS alliance. PPL stands for phonographic performance limited; it is a London based company who licence music for public performances, broadcasting and new media usage. They allow shops, restaurants and clubs to play music without consequence. It pays the royalties to the record companies and performers. If paid in advance the PRS is £31.85 per day, the PPL per day is £35, and the MCPS for a month is £54.53 if also paid in advance, when totalled up for the full 28 days, costs around £5000 to run the radio station. To hire a transmitter 50W with a RDS encoder, will cost around £355 per month. In total it would cost around £6000 for the month to pay for everything.

REFERENCES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_in_the_United_Kingdom
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/help/about/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_2#Presenter_history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Scotland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_South_Coast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Galaxy_Network
http://www.galaxyfm.co.uk/
http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php
http://www.rajar.co.uk/content.php?page=listen_market_trends
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restricted_Service_Licence
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/rsls/rslapps/rsl_notes010808.pdf
http://www.prsformusic.com/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.mediauk.com/the_knowledge/i.muk/Running_an_RSL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical-Copyright_Protection_Society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonographic_Performance_Limited
http://www.radiquip.co.uk/1_hire_centre/transmitter_accessories/transmitter_acc_listings.htm

Task Four (P1,M1,D1) - Conduct your own research to find out about radio listening habits in your school

I carried out some primary research asking 16-18 year olds some questions about their radio habits:

Q1. How many hours a week do you listen to radio on average?

Q2. How do you listen to radio?

Q3. What radio station do you listen to most?

Task Five (P1,M1,D1) - Undertake further research

Terry Wogan’s breakfast show is the most listened to in the country, in 2005 it was reported that he had reached around eight million listeners, and recent RAJAR figures show he is still on around 7.93 million listeners. Bob Shennan, the Radio 2 controller said "His unique talent has provided millions of listeners with the soundtrack to their morning. Terry is unequivocably the most accomplished radio presenter of his generation” and the Director of audio and music for the BBC said "Terry is a legendary talent and I'd like to pay tribute, on behalf of the BBC and his millions of devoted listeners, to his unique place in UK broadcasting history.” His popularity comes from his witty charm and popularity has lowered to younger years with teenager’s listening to his morning show. On a news report about Chris Evans taking over, some people commented about Wogan leaving, this is a comment left: “I am sorry Terry is finishing, but he can not go on forever, unfortunately. You cannot replace like for like - Wogan is Unique!” another devoted fan quoted “Sorry but Radio 2 has just lost a regular listener”, but the question is why is Terry Wogan so popular? On a different article about him leaving also, comments include: “I shall miss Terry's giggle - it's infectious and that is what makes him so much fun. He also has that lovely soft, soothing voice and still tells you the name of the music played and the performer(s)”, “Sorry to hear the great man is retiring from the morning show, his cheery wit and restful voice is always a good start to the day” and “I'm only 16 but I love Wake up to Wogan. I always wake up in bed and listen to it before I go to school- I love his gentle humour, especially when he follows a track, like: 'Not the CLEAREST diction in the world' followed by a chuckle”. Who’s better to answer the question than his fans? His chuckle, his voice, his humour and great presence seem to be the reasons behind his continuous popularity, this is the only conclusion I can come to (other than the fact he broadcasts at the most listened to time)

Radio producers tend to have a very stressful job; they are the ones who are responsible for the audio content. They are involved in the process from beginning to end whether it be, generating ideas or organising audience responses. They work with a variety of people from DJ’s to assistants. Some of their duties include undertaking interviews, selecting appropriate music, ensuring health and safety measures are met and writing material for scripts. Traits that are very important to this job role are excellent oral and written communication skills, self confidence and willingness to embrace new technologies. In an interview about her job, Sioned Lewis (a radio producer) said ‘We aim to create entertaining, informative and imaginative programmes for people from all walks of life. Although it's mainly about producing radio programmes, these days there is a need for other elements within the media, such as websites and podcasts’, ‘It really depends what sort of programme I'm working on, but the usual process is that I submit an idea for a programme and try to get it commissioned. If a station likes the idea enough to give me the go-ahead, I create a budget, think of a presenter, discuss content with the researcher, and go out to record wherever necessary around the country. I have to think about the health and safety issues of being out on location too. Once all the recording is done, I edit the programme and then work with the station's marketing department to promote it’. Below is a video of a radio producer talking about her job:

Radio presenters can also be known as radio hosts or radio personalities. They can introduce certain songs and sectors, host shows, or give news on traffic and weather. They work as part of a team along side directors, producers, floor managers, and other colleagues. Confidence and a likable personality is vital in this kind of job as you have to be able to connect with the audience. Jill Daley is a broadcast presenter who is contracted 35 hours a week, and in an interview she said, ‘As a radio presenter I am responsible for researching and following up stories, sourcing guests to interview on my show and then going into the studio to present the show’, ‘A typical day starts with going through the newspapers. We have a news meeting to decide what stories we are going to cover and then I can get on with finding the relevant guests to interview. However, when a major news story breaks it can be anything but a typical day’. She also said ‘Communications skills are paramount. It's important to know how to gain most from people, especially those you rely on as studio guests. A thirst for your subject is important too, whether you are working on news or magazine programmes. Research skills and the ability to adapt are important qualities; for example, politics isn't my strong point, but I've interviewed both David Blunkett and Gordon Brown, and had to make sure I'd done the relevant research first’.

Radio used to be the primary source of entertainment, and it lacked diversity, and this showed in the number of channels that were available. But now, in the 21st century, with audiences being so fragmented, it is hard to be diverse with so many different target audiences. Nowadays television and the internet have taken over, making it easier to access programmes again, which give us more than radio can. This shows, as the popularity has gone down, however with the internet, people are now able to ‘listen live’ online, and listen back to shows they have missed, and download podcasts. This is keeping radio alive as it widens the availability of it, and advances in technology make it even more available, for example being able to listen on your mobile phones. As for the future, who knows whether further advances in technology will help or diminish radio, but in all for now, radio seems to be keeping up with time, as it is working with technology to its advantages.

REFERENCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Wogan,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/09_september/07/wogan.shtml
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbiz-News/Chris-Evans-Versus-Sir-Terry-Wogans-TOGs-Fans-Radio-2-Breakfast-Show-Move-Sparks-Row/Article/200909215377847?lpos=Showbiz_News_Top_Stories_Header_4&lid=ARTICLE_15377847_Chris_Evans_Versus_Sir_Terry_Wogans_TOGs_Fans%3A_Radio_2_Breakfast_Show_Move_Sparks_Row
http://www.radiotimes.com/blogs/727-news-terry-wogan-quits-breakfast-show/

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/downloads/occprofiles/profile_pdfs/Y5_Radio_producer.pdf
http://www.connexions-direct.com/JOBS4U/index.cfm?pid=80&catalogueContentID=2020&parent=711
http://www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u/index.cfm?pid=80&catalogueContentID=2118&parent=494
http://www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u/index.cfm?pid=57&catalogueContentID=494
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_personality

Task Six (P1,M1,D1) - Further Qualitative Research

Task Seven (M1,P1,D1) - Demographics in research

In terms of demographic, the way an audience relates to and interacts with media texts are very important. Self image and the way you categorise yourself can differentiate the way a person sees certain genres and texts making them not relatable and unattractive in a way that could make it uninteresting for them. For example someone who would be classed as a ‘chav’ would be interested in different programmes and view things differently from someone who would class themselves as ‘indie’ or so most people would believe. These stereotypes are so set in stone, that any one who comes anywhere in between two maybe three stereotypes, it makes them unrecognisable and people can’t create media texts for people they don’t understand and can’t categorise. Differences in gender also mean contrasting likes and dislikes. Males are more contrary to sport, and comedy whereas females are more partial to drama. These are the main assumptions that people make about males and females, and some could argue that people are influenced to be interested in what society expects them to be drawn to for example males interest in sport but like any other demographic, there are exceptions. Females can be interested in Football and Top Gear and males can be interested in dramas and romcoms. Obviously these media contexts won’t be made primarily made for these exceptions, but it is this fact which makes them interesting to those. Age is also a very dominant demographic, as we age our interests change. We become more interested in real life and news, and facts, and out programming and media texts mature. From radio 2 to radio 3, the Bill to midsummer murders. Age perhaps shouldn’t make a difference but in the media industry I think it does. Programming such as murder she wrote and antique road show wouldn’t still be getting air time if it didn’t.

Back when there was only one television per household in the living room, and people were restricted to one or two channels, there was such thing as a family audience, but nowadays it much more rare and valuable to find. Audiences have become fragmented and it isn’t often mass family audiences are found, some texts that appeal to a majority of people such as X-Factor can create an element of a family audience as it appeals to all ages, but still audience numbers may be big, but compared to a decade or two ago it is still less than half of what was achieved. In terms of radio, in my opinion I don’t think that kind of thing exists; family radio is a dubious thing and whether a family all listening to the same radio station in the car can be classed as a family audience is a personal opinion.

Class has a lot to do with the kinds of media texts you enjoy, for example it would be on the rare occasion someone upper class would watch big brother every night and same goes for someone classed as lower subsistence watching question time. I think different classes does affect what programmes and stations your attracted to, partly because of upbringing and partly because or surroundings and intelligence and preference. When you are associated with other people in the same class, you’ll become friends and engage in conversation and in terms of uses and gratifications theory, media will be a talking point, and this is where personal relationships become engaged so perhaps what people expect and feel their class should be drawn to is what they engage in. Religion is a very sensitive subject when it comes to producing, different religious denominations will be present and precautions must be taken to avoid making any one feel uncomfortable or upset any one by any touchy subjects. The kind of education you receive also plays a part in the way media contexts are received, a well educated university graduate is going to differ from the way they interact and receive media texts from someone who dropped out of school age 16 and went into a full time job. Media producers sometimes shape texts for differently educated people, but I think every aspect is addressed and aimed at; there is no one who isn’t targeted for in the media industry by any context. I think where you live can be important to the media producers but only for the reasons that where people live is determined usually by class and money which usually gives an indication of education and self image. Location falls under the other demographics and I think that is the main reason why it is important.

Task Eight (P1,M1,D1) - Presentation 'The Proposal'