(Laurence Gilliam, former Head of features, BBC Radio)
I have analysed three different radio shows, Radio 1 Xtra, Radio 1 and Smooth FM. I have decided to choose these three radio shows becuase the shows are completely different and I can try and understand what they do in trying to target a specific audience.
Analysis 1
Tim Westwood Show, on Radio 1 Xtra, is a well run afternoon show that was taken over by Tim Westwood after a re-formatting of Radio 1 by the chief executive a that time Matthew Bannister, he was given a new, innovative radio rap show.
http://www.youtube.com/user/timwestwoodtv
Audience
It is significant that we will be able to use Radio one Xtra’s specific codes and conventions when we produce our own radio show; as long as the audience that is being targeted is linked to the one we plan to direct our show at. In this case there are a number of ways you can find out what audience the Westwood show is targeting itself at; primarily anything inside the actual content of the show such as the features, the music and the topics talked about between the presenters and guests.
Music that is being played on that radio show is something that can be very exact to a certain audience, for instance, young people who are between the ages of 16-25, are more likely to be more interested in drum and bass, dance and RnB rather than the older age range like 30-40. So, from analysing the types of music within this individual show, it is easy to know that the show is targeting 16-25 year olds.
I recognize that this targeted age is interested in this type of music as the group I am working with, found audience research to see what the demographics and psycho demographics were of our target audience, we found out what type of music 16-25 year olds like to listen to and at what time of day.
Another sign of the young people’s type of show are the presenters themselves, they usually sound young and energetic and it reminds me of conversations between your mates. But in this case there is only one presenter and you can tell by the tone of voice and pitch that he is also targeting to the younger generation possibly not the same type of people that listen to Heart Fm but still targeted at the ages between 16-25.
Young people are not known for their great attention and I believe this specific method of presenting helps grasps the audience's concentration through humorous topics being discussed and also relevant news stories.
Pitch/Pace/Projection/Pause
Pitch:
Tim Westwood uses an increasing and descending inflections to begin and end a point, he also makes it clear for the audience that are listening when he is asking a question or just being conversational.
The pace used throughout is quite fast, this allows you as a listener to understand the that presenter knows that talking too much will reduce the number of listeners so he quickly goes through the talking then gives his audience music that they will enjoy. If the pace wasn’t as quick, the show wouldn't be as much exciting and unpredictable.
In one specifc part the projection of his voice shifts to the personal zone when Tim Westwood talks in to the microphone and adds effect to it like echoes to empower his voice even more and make the people listen to him and pay attention. He uses the personal zone to convey to the listeners that he is announcing something important and that he is taking it very seriously.
Pause
There are no pauses right through his show. Tim Westwood chooses not to use many pauses in his methods of presenting because he tries to keep the audience interested in what he is saying. But He wants to give the listeners the music that he wants to play so he quickly talks through topics to get them out of the way.
Mode of Address The mode of address is how we identify the way someone is talking to us, whether it’ll be in a friendly manner or unfriendly; it can also identify how someone is either directly or indirectly talking to us.
The Westwood show uses an direct/formal style of presenting.
This mode of address is related to the style of show we plan to produce, a fast paced, direct and conversational style of show. But we do plan to use conversational techniques because I feel that our show needs to feel more smooth and have the listener’s get a important relation feel from the show.
When the mode of address changes the projection and pitch also changes to create a interpersonal communication style of presenting (i.e Tell us what you are doing or Can you describe this object to us). I’ve noticed that the projection is lower when he is talking to his guests, and then when he talks directly to the audience the projection gets louder and the pitch gets higher and also as I’ve said he adds different microphone effects i.e. echo to get the audiences attention. He also uses audible techniques so he can represent a certain object more clearly to the audience, this technique is called the surrounding message.
Show Format
The show format features music, chat and features. All these features engage the specific target audience. The music that is played is mostly taken from the A/B/C-list from the Radio 1Xtra website. Tim Westwood plays dance and RnB and Dubstep songs that would be heard in clubs, representing the start of the night/weekend.
Analysis 2
The Scott Mills show on radio one is a really well known mid-afternoon show that has been on air since 2004.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/scottmills/
You know that the show like the Westwood show is targetting at 16-25 year olds because the music is quite recent and fits in with the pop/indie/rock genres, unlike The Westwood Show which targets to the another type of 16-25 year olds. I know that this type of age range is interested in this music at this time of day because our group found out audience research to see what the demographics/psycho demographics were of our target audience, we found out what type of music 16-25 year olds like to listen to.
Pitch/Pace/Projection/Pause
Pitch:Scott Mills uses like Tim Westwood up and down inflections to begin and finish a sentence, he also makes it clear to the listener when he is asking a question to his other presenter (Rebecca Huxtable) or just having idle chit-chat.
'It is really weird going to the cinema at 8:15 in the morning'
'Was there anyone there?'
'Yeh...Journalists, saying if this was as good as the hangover' (then inpersonates journalist)
Scott Mills also increases the pitch in his voice in certain places of his show, this tells the listeners that he is being friendly with a guest or a presenter he is speaking to.
Pace:
The pace used throughout the show is quite calm and cool, not as fast paced a The Westwood show, so this allows the listeners to take the conversation a bit more seriously and get a lot more detail from it.
Projection
Scott Mills uses conversations to the public (e.g asking the question etc) in most of his show, this allows the listeners to take in the topics and issues that are being broadcasted in a nice & friendly way; as if you are involved in the conversation between the two presenters. Like Westwood he uses the personal zone to announce to the listeners that either he is whispering a secret in the microphone or revealing something that he shouldn't say.
Pause:
There are hardly any pauses throughout the show. Scott Mills doesn't use many pauses in his style of presenting because he wants to keep the audience interested in what he has to say, and also because if you were having a conversation with a friend, and there were too many pauses, the conversation would seem weird and unconventional.
Mode Of Address
The Scott Mills' show uses an indirect/informal style of presenting. You can tell this is in this show because Scott Mills talks mostly to his co-presenter.
This mode of address is really not that relevant to our style of show, we more want a style of show like Tim Westwood's. Sometimes we might include in our show some of the techniques Scott Mills uses in his show, to make our show feel more relaxed and on some topics make it as conversational as possible.
Show Format
The show format features music, chat and features, like the Westwood show, but the type of chat, music and features are completely different due to the type of audience that listen in. The music played is mostly taken from the A,B or C list from the Radio One website, around 6 - 6:30pm he plays popular and recent dance songs that would be found in night clubs and also at the right time for people who have finished school or college for the week.
Analysis 3
The Planet Parsons show with Lynn Parson on Smooth FM is known to be on air on weekends between 10am - 1pm since August 2009.
AudienceI feel the audience to this show is targeted at a much more older target audience instead of the other analysed radio shows where they targeted 16-25 year olds, this show I feel is more targeted at 50-65 year olds. I have decided to conclude this decision due to the much more talk and not enough music that the younger audience would want to listen to. I gave the age range that old because I feel this show is targeted at the retired pensioners who stay at home on saturday and sundays mornings. Also the topics that are being expressed doesn't really interest a target audience younger than 50-65 year olds and also its just her voice, no soundboards or sound effects that is usually found in a radio station that targets a younger audience.
Pitch/Projection/Pace/Pause
Pitch
Lynn Parson doesn't really have any techniques that empahsis' the pitch on her voice to indicate speech that the listeners should listen to. She also makes it very clear when she is just going on about a topic and when she directly asks the listeners rhetorical questions due to upward inflection at the end of the sentence. Unlike the radio shows before the pitch difference is usually identified when the presenters either talk to the co-hosts and when they talk to the listeners, but with the Planet Parson's show Lynn parson is on her own so she only keeps the same style of pitch in her voice.
Pace
The pace of the show is very calm and soothing due to the time of when the show is broadcasted and so the listeners can clearly understand the topics that she is explaining. It also gives the presenter time to go into to vivd detail of each topic and in that time she gives her opinion on it, rather than rushing through it and not having the listeners understand to why the topics are being said.
Projection
Lynn Parsons creates conversations to herself then asks them to the public, this makes the listeners feel like the presenters and themselves are having a conversation between themselves directly, 'I've seen a couple of gigs since we last spoke'. The whole show is more in a personal zone rather than in a social zone, this is because the whole show is presented by one person and Lynn Parson cannot interact with another presenter to make the style of the show more social.
Pause
There are a few pauses that are easily identifed by the audience to to idicate a slight change of tone in the show. Lynn only creates a pause when after asking a rhetorical quetion to the audience and changing topics. Lynn uses hardly any pauses to keep the listeners interested in what she has to say.
Mode Of Address
The Planet Parson's show with Lynn Parsons definitely uses direct/formal style of presenting, you can tell this by the way she only speaks to the listeners and tells them what she finds interesting and asks if they might be interested in those topics too. This type of presenting (like Tim Westwood) is what we are aiming to do in our show but with definitely some soundboards playing whilst our presenters are speaking.
Show Format
The Planet Parson's show with Lynn Parsons include chat and features. The whole format of this show is so different from the other shows that I have analysed. The shows format is based on just chatting with the listeners and wanting to know how the listeners fell themselves about the topics that are being discussed. The features are only played at the beginning and end obviously signifying a start and finish to the programme, but having features in the actual show somewhere(e.g soundboards & features - games on air ) could really improve the quality of the show.
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