Exam Style Questions

Identify who collects audience data for radio in the UK (1)

RAJAR

How does Radio 1 live lounge meet the PSB requirements? (5)

Live Lounge meet the PSB requirements through 'reflecting the diversity of Britain'. Live lounge include celebrities from the UK who are of different ethnicities, race, religion, etc. This distinctly displays how Britain is full of different cultures as well as talent through these artists, which meet PSBs' aim. Another one of the PSB requirements is to provide distinctive programming. The Live Lounge is distinctive because no other radio station offers this content, and this helps to promote both upcoming artists as well as already popular artists.

Explain one way in which music videos use media language to appeal to target audiences. (4)

Black Magic uses mise en scene to appeal to younger audiences. The music video is set in a high school, with characters being young, innocent 'children' and experiencing stereotypical feuds to gain popularity. Despite the unrealism of using 'magic' to transform into 'cooler' and more popular girls, the fantasy storyline set in a place where younger audiences find themselves everyday appeals to them as they could relate to some of the experiences that the girls go through - wanting to be more respected and attracted to by the good looking boy.

Explain how a social group is represented within a music video. Refer to the music videos you have studied to support your answer. (10)

The girls are represented as typically nerdy at the beginning of Black Magic. This is evident from their clumsy and shy manner when thinking the good looking boy is glancing at them. They become over excited and seem to make a fool of themselves once in realisation that the boy was not looking at them, but instead at the popular, blonde haired girl. A nerdy group stereotypically have glasses, are portrayed as 'dorky' and boring, and not very good looking. They use this social group in a negative way as they evidently hold conventions of an unpopular and disliked group of people, that are not respected in the school.

In Somebody To You, the girls are represented as an attraction to please the boys. Throughout the music video, the girls are wearing revealing clothes and seem to get the boys attention through this. When in the pool, the girls wave at the boys whilst wearing bikinis to get their attention. This is stereotypical as the 'cool', popular boys seem to only be attracted to better looking girls. This is portrayed in Somebody To You as the boys are admiring and taking interest in the girls for not necessarily what they are doing, but instead for how they look. This hetereosexual perspective links to the Male Gaze theory, in which women act as sexual objects for the pleasure of men. Additionally, there is a lack of diversity between races and ethnicities as all the girls are only white throughout the music video. This is a completely unfair representation as there are none, for example, black, Muslim, asian girls in the video, which projects a message that is completely wrong as it implies that you can only seem desirable if you are white. This may lead to a negative response from sensitive audiences of other religions, nationalities, or races, who may feel excluded.

Radio - Lesson 5

Lesson 5

Sam is a 16 year old boy who lives in central London who always wants to be in the know. He is all about new music and loves to discover and support new and upcoming artists, especially from the UK as it is his favourite type of music. Sam always wants to know what is going on in his community, especially in the world of music. Sam is quite young, so he's not a serious guy, but always likes to be taught new things through documentaries and news stories. Sam loves live music, especially rap, and loves to listen to BBC Radio 1's live lounge to see artists personalities, not just their performances.

What is the audience address of The Radio 1 Live Lounge in terms of its content and style? Why is this?
The audience address is to entertain them through either their favourite artists or music genre. The live lounge's dark studio, sometimes with a band, gives off a chill environment. They do this to make the audience feel comfortable with the artists and their performances.

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTER - Their Aim:
1. Have distinctive, high quality programmes.
2. Reflect the diversity of Britain.
3. Inform the public.
4. Make original programmes rather than just importing cheaper American programmes.

Don't confuse this with the BBC Remit: 
To enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain.

'To reflect the UK, its culture and values to the world'.

PSB

Organisations within the media industries produce content with the aim of making money from audiences consumption. – ITV, Channel 4.
Exceptions to this would be public service broadcasters like the BBC.

A PSB television or radio broadcasting that has to meet requirements set by Ofcom, the regulator for TV and radio.

Radio - Lesson 4

Lesson 4

Regulator: Ofcom
Audience Collector: RAJAR (radio joint audience research)
RAJAR is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned by the BBC and the Radiocentre on behalf of the commercial sector.

Sam Smith's Live Lounge

Timeline (songs):

Song 1: Sam Smith - Lay Me Down
Song 2: Sam Smith - I'm Not The Only One
Song 3: Sam Smith - Leave Your Lover
Song 4: Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart (performed by Sam Smith)
Song 5: Sam Smith - Like I Can
Song 6: Sam Smith - Latch
Song 7: George Michael - Father Figure (performed by Sam Smith)
Song 8: Sam Smith - Stay With Me
Song 9: Sam Smith - Too Good At Goodbyes

The episode is constructed of a band accompanying Sam Smith singing mainly his own songs to the audience, with two featured cover songs of Sam Smith's choice. This is done to entertain the audience and leave them wondering what songs he chooses, as well as not only expecting Sam's songs and hearing other songs from another singer.

The episode's live audience seemed to be adults or young adults, but target audience is mainly frequent live lounge watchers, of course Sam Smith's fans or people who like slow paced music.

The live lounge targets different audiences through these cover songs. Audiences may be intrigued to see what the artists choices were. Live lounge also targets different audiences through its setup, such as artists being accompanied by a band instead of a DJ may attract people who prefer these types of performances. Live lounge also have performances from a wide range of artists in different genres, at different levels of fame as well as different ethnicities, race, nationality, etc.

Radio - Lesson 3

Lesson 2

Case Study for Paper 2: Section A
Radio: BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge

What is the online content of the BBC Radio One Live Lounge? 

Performances of artists who normally perform one or two of their own songs and then a unique cover from an A List Radio 1 artist who has had a release in the last six to nine months. 

How can people listen to the Live Lounge? 

It is broadcasted on Radio 1 and 1Xtra.

How is it distributed? (iPlayer, watch live, stream, on the radio, catch up)

It can be rewatched on BBC iPlayer as well as on a CD from Sony. 

Radio One’s Live Lounge

Where and When is it broadcast? BBC Radio 1 – BBC Maida Vale Studios Weekdays (not every day, a few times a month) Time: 11am, 1pm Where else can people access ‘The Live Lounge’? On BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra, or on the iPlayer app

Who presents the show? Clara Amfo has presented the show since may 2015 Past presenters: It was originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning radio show and then by Ferne Cotton from 2009 until 2015

Describe what happens in the usual format (e.g. not ones which take place at a star’s home / Maida Vale studios): Performances of artists who normally perform one or two of their own songs and then a unique cover from an A List Radio 1 artist who has had a release in the last six to nine months.

Watch a selection of BRITISH artists performing in the Live Lounge on http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01029mq Write down some conventions of the Live Lounge: Stormzy – dark, red lighting instead of colourful. Stormzy is the main focus, he is in the centre of the room.

Does the Live Lounge an example of ‘convergent’ media? ie. Does it have any products other than itself such as a magazine or stage show? Only merchandise such as jumpers, and talks about other artists but not to promote them. Explain why audiences may want to spend money on this product: Fans of an artist would like to see how they sing live as well as view them not just as a singer/rapper but also as a person.

Go on to the Live Lounge webpage. Draw and analyse the Live Lounge logo: A bold, bright logo that clearly shows what it is. Describe how audiences may be attracted to the webpage because of its design: Its colour suggests that live lounge is a chill environment and would want to watch it.

Radio - Lesson 2

Lesson 2

Ways to Access Radio:

Online
DAB Radio
Mobile phones and other mobile devices
Smart speakers 
TV
DVD

Types of Radio

Local, National and Commercial

Local (Community)

Community Stations serve geographic communities.
They broadcast content that is popular and relevant to a local, specific audience but is often overlooked by commercial or mass-media broadcasters.
Community radio stations are operated, owned, and influenced by the communities they serve.

National

Radio stations available nationally (Capital Xtra, Classic Fm, Heart)

Commercial

Commercial radio licenses are awarded by Ofcom. They have large commercial stations typically reach the largest audience.

Commercial
Large commercial stations typically reach the largest audience.
A single prerecorded interview can kill many birds with one stone, as it will often be broadcast across a number of stations and many areas.
Normally the interviews are edited down into sound bites, meaning the radio stations can select a short clip from a longer interview. The downside, however, is that the branding may be edited out too.
Larger stations favour stories with celebrities.
Smaller stations tend to do longer interviews which are more in-depth and cover more of the research. The commercial radio approach usually shy's away from playing new artists.
To help them make decisions about which songs to play, stations work with labels and promotes to get a better idea of how a song/artist is going to be marketed.
The more the exposure to the song, the more the station will be convinced that played it will increase their ratings since it will be familiar to their listeners.
Adverts  are played 3 different times every hour. Advert during this show are relatable to what the target audience would in be interested in purchasing.

BBC
BBC is much stricter when it comes to brand mentions.
BBC are only allowed one brand mention during the course of an interview. It is likely that a guest will be cut off if a brand is mentioned more than a couple of times.
BBC mid-mornings often do live chats which are great for brand mentions and you get much more air time than you do with a prerecorded clip.
BBC breakfast slots tend to be harder news stories, whilst mid-mornings tend to be more of a casual chat.
The BBC believe in super serving the community with local news, guests and information.
Stations are far more celebratory of new, upcoming artists.
The BBC are fully aware that all commercial stations have commercials before the top of the hour and as a result, they play current chart song deliberately while adverts being played at the exact time. It makes the listener want to listen to a BBC show in comparison to commercial stations because most people would rather listen to music than news and boring commercials.