Listening Diaries

In the last few weeks, I have completed several listening diaries for a variety of factual radio programmes and news programmes. From this, I found that different radio stations who cater to different audiences will likely structure their programmes differently. For example, Radio 1's Newsbeat is fast paced and in line with the stations target audience of younger people. Radio 4 on the other hand, whose target audience is older people, have slower paced news bulletins with usually no music beds or jingles like Newsbeat.

The language used in Radio 4's programmes is more complex and formal than that of Radio 1, who needs to keep in touch with younger people, and although Radio 4 can still be friendly with the audience, Radio 1 is more relaxed and informal with the audience, and they often use colloquial terms to relate to the audience more.

Another difference, I found through the listening diaries, is that Radio 1 primarily plays music with little  speech, and Radio 4, as well as other stations aimed at older people, plays less music and has more speech and factual programmes.

The factual programming on channels with different target audiences differ, too. For example, as Radio 1 and many commercial radio stations are music-based stations aimed at younger people, they do not often play factual programmes. Radio 4, on the other hand, plays many factual programmes such as "Book of the Week" and "The Bottom Line," which are both aimed at older audiences.

I found that in almost all speech packages have essentially the same elements to them. These are: presenter, reporter, interviewees, correspondents, experts, and vox pops. Usually, the package starts with the presenter introducing the topic, and then going to a reporter who will interview people, often experts, about the topic. There will then also be vox pops and more from the presenter. This is often repeated several times throughout the speech package, and the format is very similar within all genres.

Ethics and Regulations

Radio stations have to be careful to adhere to regulations set out by independent regulators, and also to laws and other guidelines set out by the station controller. They also need to be ethical in their programming in that they should not invade people's privacy, report on rumors or incorrect information. Radio stations, especially BBC radio, need to check their sources on all information, and they usually try to get it from two or three sources just to be sure. This is so they do not report on something that turns out not to be correct, disappointing their listeners and affecting their reputation. Radio stations also need to think about stereotypes and representation in their programmes. This means that they should be representative of the people they are talking about and they have to be careful not to offend anybody by using stereotypes and being racist, sexist, etc. as this, again, would affect the station's reputation.

Speech-Based Packages

There are two main types of radio programming - factual and news. Factual can be anything from music shows to cooking shows to documentaries, and news programmes can be anything from short bulletins to longer news programmes to current affairs. The types of radio programmes range from channel to channel, and change depending on the time of day and the audience expected to be listening. For example, a short news bulletin will usually play several times a day on public radio, such as Radio 1, as well as commercial radio stations, and they will usually be shortest on commercial radio at peak times. Longer news programmes will usually be played on stations such as Radio 4 because their audience will be more interested in the news, whereas other stations have to focus on the general public and trying to attract as many viewers as possible, and longer news could be seen as boring to their audience, who probably are more interested in the music on the station.

Introduction

There are three sectors of radio. These are public radio, private radio, and community radio.

Public radio includes the BBC's radio stations. These stations are owned by the public, with 17% of the licence fee going to fund them. Below are the main public radio stations.

Privately owned radio is funded by advertising, and is sometimes referred to as commercial radio. There are many more stations of this kind than public stations and many of these are local stations such as, for example, TFM, which is local to Teesside. Some popular private radio stations are Capital FM, Absolute Radio, Smooth Radio and Kerrang! Radio. 

Community radio is a radio station that is funded partly by fundraising and donations and partly funded by adverts. Community radio stations such as Sunderland's Spark Radio are becoming very popular. Most towns and cities will have them, although they are not as well known as the commercial radio stations. Many community radio stations are set up in schools, colleges, universities and hospitals.