In Store Radio

From 9:30am – 10:30am i visited the fast food restaurant Subway to listen in to their in-store radio programme. Throughout the broadcast there was 14 songs played, covering the majority of genres including pop, easy listening music, adult contemporary. Most of the songs they played were recurrent hits, like the song ‘photograph’ by Nickleback which was released 2005 yet they still play it today.

The hour I listened to only played music however I have been in subway in my own time and I have heard the adverts they play, promoting products and offers, and sometimes advertising jobs available in store.

I think Subway could improve their in-store radio by promoting in store job positions as it would benefit the shop, also by promoting deals or offers on in store so people will be more aware. 

Internet Radio

Another form of radio that we listened to was an internet radio broadcast called North Manchester (Threes a crowd). We tuned in and listened to this broadcast online, similar to how you would listen to a podcast online. We listened to the broadcast for 7pm – 9pm, however we could play, pause, rewind or fully stop it whenever we wanted to make notes. This radio station played no advertisements throughout the whole broadcast.

The radio station we listened to plays all dance and remix’s of songs, because the music is all the same or similar genre they blend really well. We found this station was 95% audio/music and 5% speech, so as you can tell the presenter spoke nowhere near as much as on the other radio stations I have covered. In fact, the only time the presenter spoke was to introduce the song or sometimes to give his own opinion on the song. The presenter for this particular internet radio station spoke very informally and used common slang when he talked that you wouldn't usually hear on the radio.

I think the reason why there was a vast majority of music to speech was because the presenter knows their target audience is about 18+ who listen to dance or house music, so their audience doesn't tune in to find out the latest news, they just want to hear music. Also, the broadcast we listened to was 7 pm - 9 pm, which is around the time where people start getting ready for a night out clubbing, so some would possibly tune into this radio station because they want to hear the music whilst they get ready to go out clubbing. I also think the reason for the fact the presenter used common slang and spoke informally whilst talking is for the same reason, the presenter knows their target audience and what people in the ‘scene’ of clubbing/house or dance music speak with the same slang, so the presenter will do this not only to fit in with the scene, but make the whole broadcast feel friendly and informal.

Because this radio station is broadcasted via the internet, the station has no responsibilities it has to apply to. So they have no obligation to play commercials, or have news reports played through the broadcast. They can basically broadcast and play whatever they would like to. However this radio station chooses to give shout outs to people who ask on social networking sites like most other radio stations

Commercial Radio

Capital FM-

From 11 until 12 we listened in to Capital’s broadcast to analyse its content, record the content and attempt to understand how commercial radio is different to other radio types like Public Service Radio. Capital is classed as a contemporary hit radio, this basically means they focus on playing current hits, pop and chart music. However unlike radio 1 they play commercials, so we wanted to find out similar things as with Public Radio Service like, how many and when do they announce the radio station ID or play their jingle, what do they talk about and what type or genre of music they played.

In this hour of the broadcast we found like most other radio station the presenter introduced herself at the start of the broadcast, at this particular time the presenter was called Pandora. Because the target audience for Capital is 15 – 24 years old she spoke in an informal way, she seemed very enthusiastic and happy, similar to Scott Mills. Pandora mostly spoke about current competitions the listeners can participate in, before playing a song she would introduce it along with the radio ID. After she spoke about something she would mention the radio ID to inform and remind everyone what radio station they are currently listening to. I counted there were 12 jingles/times radio ID was mentioned throughout the whole hour.

After Pandora had mentioned everything she needed to she would talk about the song that was about to be played, or if the song had finished she would mention what that song was called and the artist. I counted an average of 19 songs played throughout this hour, and found there is around a 60 – 40% percentage of music to speech.

As Capital is a commercial radio station, they play adverts through their broadcast, around 18 adverts were played during the hour we listened to, which amounts to about 9 minutes of the whole show. A short news broadcast was played around every half hour of the show, which included information about sport, weather, news and traffic information.


Smooth Radio-

Another commercial radio station we listened to was Smooth Radio from 3pm until 4pm, again to try and understand the broadcast and how this particular commercial radio station works.  

We found this radio station plays easy listening, calm music to suit its target audience which for this radio station is ages 40 years of age. When we listened we found the presenter spoke in a very calming voice and spoke very maturely, however also chatty to the listeners. I believe he speaks in this way especially to cater the audience age range, because majority of 40 (and over) years old are thought of as being mature adults who probably wouldn't particularly enjoy a fast paced loud radio show that plays pop and chart music, I think this is why he is so calm throughout the hour broadcast. However he presented similarly to other radio presenters, like the way he would introduce himself at the beginning of the show, he would also tell the audience who was presenting after him and what would be happening.  So in some aspects the content of the broadcast was similar to others but in other ways different.

I recorded how many times throughout the duration of the hour how many Radio ID’s/jingles were played and how many adverts were featured. I found they played 16 ID’s or Jingles and a total of 22 adverts, which amounts to more than on Capital Radio. I calculated that if each advert lasted approximately 30 seconds each and 22 adverts were played, that would amount to around 11-12 minutes taken up from the hour broadcast. I also found Smooth played a total of 12 songs through the whole broadcast, which is less than Capital who played 19 songs. However I found unlike the other radio stations they played a news broadcast twice within the hour, and the news report included more information about travel and traffic than other stations.

I found the adverts that were played throughout this hour to be focused on topics like retirement plans and life insurance. I think they specifically chose what they advertise in order to cater for their target audience. For example, on Capital they advertised mainly about shops and different university’s around the country, completely different to what they advertise on Smooth because their target audience is different, Capitals being 15-24 years old and Smooth being over 40. I think Smooth would only advertise what they think their audience will be interested in or like to find information on, like life insurance. 

Public Service Radio

BBC Radio 1

From 3 until 4 we listened in on radio 1’s broadcast to try and analyse its content and try to understand the way a public radio broadcasts, at this time Scott Mills is the presenter throughout week days. We wanted to see how they fill their hour because they don’t advertise, also to find out such things like how many and when do they announce the radio station ID or play their jingle, what do they talk about and what type or genre of music they played.

Throughout the hour of this broadcast we found we found the presenter, Scott Mills, talked in an informal way, mostly talking about the events going on in the year and different competitions available for the listeners to partake in, he also gave his own opinion on the song that had been played. He spoke in quite a casual conversational way, using some slang. I think the way he presented throughout the hour was very appropriate and suitable for the target audience, which is 16-25 year olds, because I think the casualness fitted the common teenager/young adult attitude. It almost felt as if you were listening to a friend casually talking every day because it seemed so natural and informal.

We paid attention to when and how many times BBC Radio 1 used a jingle or announced their station ID. We found that they usually played a jingle just before and after they played a song, before and after a section of adverts had been played and when they had finished talking. They also mentioned their station ID when finishing talking or when they had announced the song, they did this consistently throughout the hour broadcast. They even finished the broadcast off by mentioning the station ID and playing their jingle.

BBC Radio 1 is an adult contemporary public service radio station that plays mainly pop and chart music with some rock and urban, to fit their target audience. We recorded the ratio of music to presenter talking and adverts at 60:40.