Radio: The Surgery & Life Hacks

Analysis

Listen to the extracts from The Surgery and Life Hacks above and answer the following questions:

1) What do the titles The Surgery and Life Hacks suggest?

The surgery has intellectual suggests, and it also has connotations of digging deeper and getting to the root of a problem. 

Life hacks on the other hand suggests something along the lines of helping people in situations and giving tips and tricks for life.

2) How are the programmes constructed to appeal to a youth audience?

The background music is quite upbeat and youthful. The presenters constantly talk about things younger audiences could relate to such as not being sure if they have money in their bank accounts etc. They also have interviews with people who sound like they're in their early 20's and late teens, most likely UNI or College students. 

3) What does the choice of presenter (e.g. Katie Thistleton) and Dr Modgil suggest about the BBC’s approach to diversity and representation?

Firstly they're both female instead of male which is most likely done to relate to females as there's slightly more females listening to BBC R1. Katie Thistleton is from Manchester, whereas Dr Modgil sounds like she's from London or somewhere in the South East giving their experiences from different regions. They also interviewed people from Brighton and Birmingham increasing the amount of regional identity. 

4) Look at this promotional graphic produced by BBC for The Surgery. How does it construct a representation of a youth audience?

The emoji's obviously are to target a more youthful audience who would be interested in technology and be more up to date with newer trends such as emoji's. The colour code is quite feminine, but also the combination of ping and turquoise is a colour code that the BBC has used a couple times before so audiences will straight away know that it's the BBC before reading it is. Also there is not frequency for the radio station, which is odd because it's a radio station instead showing a hashtag and two numbers as well as a website. This suggests their target audience is more youthful and wouldn't particularly use a radio and if they did it'll be one where they can search for the radio station without a frequency.

5) Now look at the graphic from a digital media perspective: how does it suggest audiences are listening to and interacting with BBC broadcasts in the digital media landscape?

There not being a frequency suggests that audiences wouldn't interact with the radio station through conventional radio, and it would be a modern version of a radio where you can search the name, or it would be through the internet.

Audience

1) What is the target audience for BBC Radio 1?

15 to 29 year old's.

2) Who is the actual audience for BBC Radio 1?

The median age is 32.

3) What audience pleasures are offered by The Surgery and Life Hacks? Apply Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory.

Personal relationships through the way they interview people from all over the UK such as: London, the South East, Manchester, Birmingham and Northern Territories. 

Personal identity within the interviews as they speak about experiences most people would have went through (Especially students) such as not being sure about how much money you have or being in debt and the pressures of having a debt at a young age. This then leads onto mental health issues and how to deal with it all.

Surveillance as this educates young people and gives them a form of direction of what to do, and what not to do when you eventually go UNI or beginning working at a younger age which is something a large majority of teens will go through.

4) What do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? Why?

•  Increase requirements around programmes for children.
• Support social action campaigns on BBC radio.
• Safeguard vulnerable genres such as arts, music and religious programmes.

5) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience? 

Ofcom's reports show that some groups feel excluded and therefore plan to review programme's offered by the BBC-including peek time shows- in order for everybody to feel as though the BBC offers something for them.

Read this Guardian interview with BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper.

6) What is Ben Cooper trying to do with Radio 1?

• My focus is to bring new audiences and new ways to the BBC,” he says.
• “I want Radio 1 to be the Netflix of music radio,”

7) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest?

He argues that the averages are skewed as anything under 15 doesn't get measured.

8) Why does he suggest Radio 1 is distinctive from commercial radio?

He argues that they play over 4000 different songs in comparison to commercial radio playing only around 400. He also argues that they try and expose audiences to listening to brand new music and expanding their tastes in terms of genre by discovering something new. 

9) Why is Radio 1 increasingly focusing on YouTube views and digital platforms?

Because their average listener on Youtube is a 17 year old female. And they have a large presence of younger audiences that reflect their targer demographic there suggesting that the digital is doing better than conventional radio.

10) In your opinion, should the BBC’s remit include targeting young audiences via Radio 1 or should this content be left to commercial broadcasters? Explain your answer.

I think Radio 1 should continue targeting youth audiences as it's a more unique idea and there's a gap in the market for it. They are also somewhat successful so there's no reason for them to stop.