C1 Radio

 Wednesday 27th November 2024

Radio Research

• BCC radio 1- popular pop music
• BCC radio Xtra- Rap, R&B, hip hop etc
• BCC radio dance- dance/ electronic music
• BCC radio 2- folk, jazz, soul, classic etc
• BBC radio 3-Jazz drama culture etc
• BBC radio 5- News, sport, discussion
• BBC radio 6-Classic tracks across eras and genres
• BBC Sports extra- live sports
• BBC Asian Network- Eastern/ Asian music

3. 

Do Now:

1. BBC radio 1
2. A radio that makes money from advertisement / run from profit
3. It reflects the diverse interests of people in British culture
4. What is LIAR? = Language, Industry, Audience, Representation
5. Context is the information included to help something make sense / or the background/origin of a piece of information/ Historical, political, and cultural

Wednesday 4th December 2024

The Radio Industry

LO/

To explore the content and structure of the unit

Public Service Broadcaster: Public funding

Commercial Radio: A radio station funded by profit/ advertising

Community Radio: Low power radio stations, which are meant to be set up and operated by local communities

Podcast: series of spoken word episodes focused on a particular topic/ theme ; digital audio file

DAB radio: Digital radio, requires internet connection

RAJAR: Radio, Joint, Audience, Research- in charge of measuring radio audience in the UK

Licence fee: Any television transmissions in the UK must have a licence before being broadcasted

Royal Charter: An instrument of incorporation, granted by the Monarch; sets out BBC's object, mission, and public puposes

Remit: the remit of radio 4 is to be a mixed speech service

Convergence: the process by which multiple media technologies are brought together into one computerised device

UK radio categories:

• BBC Radio: a public service broadcaster that operates several national stations and many local radio stations; targets several audiences; funded by licence fee
• COMMUNITY radio: not-for-profit radio: covers small areas and serves the interests of a particaular social group ; funded by grants, advertising etc
• COMMERCIAL radio: funded by advertising, e.g. Classic FM

Explain the difference between how public service radio and commercial radio are funded [4]

Public service radios are are broadcasted to serve several national stations and many local stations; and is funded by licence fee, for example BBC radio 1 is a radio station broadcasted throughout the UK, mainly delivering pop and new music. On the other hand, commercial radios are funded by advertisement and might not have 

DAB radios have better quality; you don't need to carry a radio with you to listen on; it streams live; you can download podcasts; you can access other social media platforms e.g. YouTube

Do Now:

1. An active audience is an audience that interacts, questions, and engages with the content
2. A passive audience is an audience that does not engage with the content and passively takes it in
3. The uses and gratifications theory is PIES: Personal identity, Information,

Do Now:

1. A public service broadcaster is a radio funded by the public A radio that is independent of government financed by public money
2. A commercial advertisement is funded by advertisement
3. BBC radio 4 is news talk, comedy and drama Mixed speech/ spoken word
4. Radio is regulated by OFCOM
5. The popularity of radio has been affected by mobile access to music (and DAB?) TV, technical convergence

Wednesday 18th December 2024

The Archers

LO/

To explore the content and background of our set product

Explain why radio is still so popular? [4]

• Music-choose your favourites via podcast or listen again.
• Listen to on the go  ( car, etc)
• Its free, accesible, and national

Radio is still a popular form of media today as unlike many its free and accessible on the go, consists of many genres for different people-for example BBC 4, Heart, BBC radio 1 etc- and, it's a national thing.

The Archers;

• Its a drama
• Broadcasted from 1951 
• over 20000 episodes over 75 years

Soap Opera conventions

-Matriarchs= Strong female protagonists

-Family/work/ relationships

-designed for regular listening

- ongoing stories to keep listeners hooked

- Multi-strand narratives

-set in specific locations

-features more dialogue than action

- We can listen to the Archers via internet, classic radio (92 to 95 FM)

PRODUCTION:

• Monthly script meetings where writers have to produce a weeks worth of scripts
• Recordings take place every 4 weeks and actors only recieve their scripts only a few days before
• a 13 minute episode is only 2 hours worth of studio time

What is the Archers and why is it so popular?

The Archers is an ongoing soap opera fiction podcast revolving around the lives of farming people in a rural setting. It has been produced since 1951, origionally made to help people farm and ration after WW2; it has produced over 20000 episodes over 75 years and remains one of the most popular, on-demand podcasts broadcasted. The Archers podcast is produced daily, but every Sunday releases an omnibus to people wanting to catch up.

Because of the amount of storylines and information in these 13 minute episodes, it keeps people hooked, they get to see the lives, relationships, and work of these people and watch them evolve over the year. the audience is primarily targeted at middle-aged, rural white women- traditionally for women running the home.

Do Now:

1. The Archers was first broadcasted in 1951
2. It was broadcasted on Radio 4
3. Long-running storylines and dramatic
4. The Archers broadcast everyday (except Saturday), and have a Sunday catch-up where all the episodes that week is put into a single episode. strong-female protagonists 
5. BBC's remit is music and mixed speech BBC's remit is to inform, educate, and entertain

Wednesday 8th January 2025

Set Episode

LO/

to explore a specific episode of each set text and the target audience

Storyline:

-Helen has moved

- It's Christmas and theres a show? but it got cancelled so they are going to do their own show

- Gavin has returned and found Christie (Gavin has had a bad history?), they are re-connecting as , Kirsty asked him to leave after conflict

- Glinda saw Gavin and is distressed

Main characters:
Joy, Christie, Gavin, Wicken, Jorden, blake, kenzie, Glinda

Genre conventions:

Audience appeals:

How does it 'inform, educate, and entertain'?:

- 

Social or cultural contexts:

- Nick/ Mick is living in a van on a pub parking lot, suggesting he is too poor to afford a house

- Modern slavery

- Pub- community base

- Vicar suggests religion and christianity

Play-

• Christmas play with Nick (or Mick) as Santa
• plays the before and after the play

Gavin-

• Gavin just got out of prison
• coughing suggests he is ill and is in poor living
• living in a hostel
• trying to make amends and sounds rependent
• complicit in a crime, but then told the truth
• mother disowned him, dad we are not sure
• labourer on a building site
• ran a building business with his dad( Philip), which was secretly using slave labour

Kirsty-

• upset and shocked that he's there
• Gavin is/ was her stepson

Educate and inform: prison release + slave labour + shows the close relationships between characters

Entertain: Christmas show

Question= How does the archers portray the social and cultural contexts ...

• Soap operas is daily life and events that people experience fitted into shorter time periods

Do Now:

1. The archers was first broadcasted in 1951
2. Gavin re-unites with his step-mum (prison, modern slavery) and Christmas play
3. Matriarch protagonist, dramatic long-running storylines, multi-strand narratives
4. 7 pm (and repeats at 2pm in the morning) every day except Saturday; Sunday Omnibus
5. to inform, educate, and entertain 

Wednesday 15th January 2025

Audience

Target Audience

• Middle age 30-49 ish
• Female
• England midlands
• Skilled working class and below
• Heterosexual (straight)
• Religion: Christian, Catholic etc (anything involving the Bible I guess)
• Income: Comfortable income, or 

Factual:

- 76% female audience  

- Age: 55+ (62%)

- ABC1 ( middle/ upper middle)- serious and educated topics discussed

- 81% are white British

- Conservative / right wing (traditional in their values)

- High disposable income

- Midlands location

- " Educate, Inform, and Entertain"

What do the listeners say?:

Audience and U&G

LO/

to explore the audience reactions to set and apply U&G theory

Audiences can engage in the show by reading, discussing,  and researching the show. The audience can also watch the background production of the show (behind-the-scenes), look at social media accounts, clips online.

THEMES AND CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS IN THE ARCHERS:

• Helen's domestic abuse plot-line (There was debate of whether Helen's choice of murder supported or badly concluded a controversial topic ), some thought it was too melodramatic
• themes of robbery and theft
• racially motivated assault and attacks
• Breast cancer fight and survival
• Rape + victim blaming (2005
• LGBTQ+ topics and characters
• Affairs and cheating
• Abortion (1992)
• Death, manslaughter, murder
• Female vicars
• Mental health issues
• Modern slavery

Do Now:

1. Themes explored in The Archers: Domestic abuse, mental health issues, racism, homophobia etc
2. The BBC produces the Archers
3. The Archers is funded by TV license
4. The funding allows the show to continue their remit of educate, inform, and entertain
5. ABC1 older female.

Wednesday 22nd January 2025

Audience and Industry research

LO/

To explore the audience and industry in relation to set text

CONVENTIONS OF SOAP OPERAS:

• Focuses on romance, betrayal, drama etc
• More dialogue than action
• Matriarch protagonist
• Different narratives
• takes a look on social issues ( this is usually shown in a short period of time; e.g. a romantic arc may only take a couple episodes to get together, then break up as they always do)
• emphasis on domestic and social drama 

Four key characters of the Archers:

• Jill Archer
• Lilian Bellamy
• Helen Archer
• Kirsty Miller

Jill Archer:

Jill is the first person to pop up when you open up the characters list, she is one of the oldest and most influential of the Archers ( their matriarch). She has four children and 7 grandchildren, and is a tough determined character who fuels the story. Her husband died in 2010, but now enjoys the company of Leonard Berry.

Lilian Bellamy:

Lilian is one of the anti-stereotypical older women of the Archers- she likes partying, drinking, smoking (affairs) etc, but she is still a headstrong women and makes the soap opera interesting. She is in a 'forever' relationship with Justin Elliott, and is now busy going between farms.

Helen Archer:

Helen is there to make you release catharsis and empathise with the story ( also making it pretty tense). Her biggest, and one of the most controversial, storyline was her domestic abuse plot with her hasty marriage with Rob Titchener; the 2 year storyline went out with a bang when Helen ended up stabbing Rob. The jury cleared Helen of attempted murder in defense of abuse ( she was pregnant while it happened and was rewarded custody of the child). With all the things happened to her throughout her arc, Helen has the title of the unluckiest woman in Ambridge.

Kirsty Miller:

Kirsty is unlucky in romance ( as most of the characters are): she tried pursuing Tom Archer, just to be left at the alter; she then married Philip Moss, just for him to be found guilty of slave labour. She was one of those characters whose only real role is to be hopelessly in love with the wrong person, thankfully now she is graciously spending her time as a single woman. Nevertheless, Kirsty is an ambitious, kind-hearted character who teaches the audience a lesson or two.

Do Now:

1. The archers have about 6 million listeners
2. ABC1 older white women
3. A new episode every week day at 7pm ( repeated 2pm the next day), none on Saturday, Sunday omnibus
4. Demographics
5. Educate, inform, and entertain

Wednesday 29th January 2025

Audience and U&G

LO/

To explore the audience reactions to the set text and apply U&G theory

Explain how the BBC uses different platforms to distribute radio programmes, refer to the Archers to support your points:

• Spotify
• social media
• website / internet: characters, podcasts, interviews, blog
• Radio- DAB
• Sunday omnibus
• Daily 7pm and repeated 2pm following day
• Promote through fan groups and discussions- raised 100k for refuge

The Archers releases a new episode everyday at 7pm, repeated 2pm the following day, with a Sunday omnibus, so the audience can tune in almost every day, while getting the chance to catch up with the episodes they missed. The BBC uses various platforms such as DAB radio as it is a highly streamed, easily accessible platform. You can also listen to the Archers on the internet possibly through their own website, where you can listen to new and previous episodes for free; the BBC also distributes different podcasts surrounding the Archers ( e.g. behind the scenes, interviews with actors etc) so the audience can engage with the show more and build more connections. The Archers is promoted through, for example, social media like X and Facebook to broaden their audience; but fans of the Archers can promote it themselves through fan groups and discussions to raise interest

Uses and Gratifications theory

Personal identity:

• Relate to mature topics ( e.g. free Helen)
• Characters- various ages which different groups can relate to 
• 
  

Information:

• Information on rural life
• Informs about mature subjects

Entertainment:

• Escapism- get away from your normal life and look through the lens of a different one

Social interaction:

• Social media debates and discussions

Ofcom regulates radio

Why might audiences might listen to the Archers?

Audiences listen to the Archers because they can relate to the topics and characters engaged with on the show; for example, Helen's case of domestic abuse can hit hard to people who have experienced a similar thing, it builds a trusty connection with the audience.  It appeals to the audience by educating them on various mature topics; e.g the Archers have dipped into the problem of modern slavery, people who listen to the Archers might not be too aware of issues like this, how it affects the victims, what happens to the people who are involved in it- this follows the BBC's remit of ' educate, inform, and entertain'. The show also gives the audience the privilege to escape their everyday lives and look though things in a different lens; for example, while the Arcge

Do Now:

1. -public service  (broadcaster) radio, commercial radio, and community radio
2. public service radio is funded by tv licence
3. Commercial radio is advertised by advertising
4. Community radio has a very small broadcasting area
5. The Archers is broadcasted on BBC radio 4

Wednesday 5th February 2025

Exam Questions and Responses

LO/

To explore exam question styles and how to respond

MEDIA INDUSTRIES

a) Ofcom regulates radio!

b)Public service broadcaster and community radio

c)A public service broadcaster is funded by licence fee and distributed widely; a community radio is distributed in a small or regional area with a limited budget

d)

Explain why the Archers fits into the BBC's remit and the radio type that it is classified as

The Archers is a public service broadcaster, so it is distributed widely throughout the UK. The show fits into BBC's remit, for one, by informing the public on mature topics that do happen every da, for example, one of their plot lines dives into the subject of modern slavery, this informs the audience that these things happen in real-life, maybe not very explicitly but from underneath a lot of scenarios.

The Archers was originally meant to educate the public, in 1951, on farm life and rationing as it was the post-war era, it also educated people of rural lifestyle and communities, for example, the Archers display in their episodes a close-knit community by displaying people helping people no matter the environment, this educated 'city people' on rural lifestyle and how to act with others in certain situations.

Lastly, the Archers follow BBC's remit by entertaining their audiences with dramatic storylines; for example, some of the characters from the Archers go through trial and maybe even prison( e.g. Gavin for modern slavery, or Helen for attempted murder), this makes their usual nice rural life and daily dose of escapism suddenly tense and on the edge of your seat.

a) BBC radio 4 broadcasts the Archers

b)ABC1, middle aged, white women

c) Matriarch protagonists e.g. Helen Archer; ABC1 female: mature/serious subjects, gradual, realistic storylines e.g. modern slavery

d) Audience listen to the Archers as it provides social interaction on social media. For example, on social media websites such as Facebook or Twitter, fans can create discussions and debates on certain, controversial, topics diverged in the Archers. This links to the U&G theory as people who love to listen to the Archers can dive even deeper into it with other fans of the show.