Radio One Essays

Part (a)Radio 1 target audience is on the decline, discuss the reasons why audience numbers are dropping and the steps taken by the organisation to maintain (and or grow) its audience 600 words.  Discuss the role of technology in maintaining its audience

Radio 1 target audience of 15-29 is on the decline, as recent trends and numbers to show that ratings and listenership is dropping prove this. This has caused Radio 1 to take action in order to maintain its audience and attempt to grow their audience through different avenues. A report has shown that on average people in the target age group of 15-29 consume radio for 7 less hours a week than the average adult. According to OFCOM young people listen to the radio 15% less than they did a decade ago.

The main factor for the audience decline is the advancements of technology. Due to technology being so advanced you are able to listen to music whenever and wherever you want with unlimited choices. Due to streaming websites and services such as YouTube. It enabled listeners to choose their favourite music and genres. YouTube allows them to listen whenever they want and not to be restricted. As well as avoiding music users do not enjoy. Another service that has influenced the decline of Radio 1 is Spotify and Apple Music. These apps are used on your phones and allow listeners to make their own playlists of music they enjoy. Spotify in particular have an algorithm that allows them to find a users preferred music choices and makes suggestions to them. As Radio 1 is an inclusive shows it includes all type of genres and this can stray away audiences as they don’t want to be listening to music they don’t like and instead opt for applications such as Spotify and Apple music. Also with the rise of Bluetooth it gave users the opportunity to users to play their music whenever they want and in the car, where radio is most likely to be listened to, instead users prefer to use Bluetooth and play their own music.

Another technologically advanced that has affected the amount of listener son the radio is the introduction of on demand. As the radio 1 breakfast show is recorded it can be available on demand for 30 days. This changed listener habits, as they are now more likely to listen or watch the show when it is more convenient to them instead of listening to it live. This has been a way in BBC maintaining their audience.

Another reason why numbers are dropping is the amount of competition from other radio shows BBC radio 1 has. With the emergence of new, urban radio shows that are generally more popular audiences such as Capital and KISS. This has aided in the dropping of audiences for radio show. As KISS and Capital play more current music and music that appeals to the wider audience which is pop, RNB and rap.  Younger listeners prefer to go listen to the likes of Capital and KISS instead. This is mainly due as Radio 1 plays a more wider range of audience to appeal and attract a larger demographic whereas Capital, for example, are more concentrated on the current popular music.

Radio 1 manages to maintain their audience by using social media to attract more listeners. Recently throughout their breakfast show they invite big name celebrities such as Demi Lovato and Stormzy in an attempt to bring people to tune in and get to know their favourite artists and celebrities more. With the introduction of BBC live lounge it gave viewers/listeners the chance to see their favourite artists performing a few songs liv this gives it a high level of authenticity which attracts the audiences. Radio 1 uses platforms such as Twitter to improve and involve more of the audiences to increase interactions. It allows them to tweet out their opinons, which could be read out live on air.

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Part (b) From your viewing 400 words (listening) of a radio 1 breakfast show program
Discuss the impact of Radio 1’s funding (from tax payers money) on its production content. (take into account the stations remit…)   
Identify examples from your analysis you must also refer to commercial radio stations Capital One or Radio X to highlight the differences

The majority of Radio 1 funding comes from taxpayer’s money, government, which is paid by the public through their TV license. Which for one year a colour licence costs £150.50. This £3.50 increase from the previous year. Radio 1 itself has a service budget of £34.7million in 2016/2017; this accentuates the fact that there are high levels of funding within Radio 1. This would leave a huge impact on the production content for Radio 1 as this well enable them to further their radio show from other competitors and use the budget to good effect. Radio 1 remit is to inform, educate and entertain. With this budget BBC breakfast show are able to hire top a class celebrities to come onto the show and feature. This will attract a vast amount of listeners, as they would want a more in-depth listen on their favourite artist or celebrity lives. As well as that BBC are able to use the top equipment available with the budget to keep their standard at a high quality and this will entice further audiences. As well they are able to produce content to view on YouTube so audiences can watch. Programs such as Live lounge which shows peoples favourite artists singing their popular songs live to give a real high level of authenticity.

 Commercial radio stations such as Capital, KISS and Radio X rely heavily on advertisements for funding. In Radio X their advertisements are more targeted towards their audience. As Radio X audience is more masculine and is known to be more male orientated. Giant Beer companies such as Strong bow and Greene King advertise their brand on Radio X to attract high amount of audiences. Capital has more of a younger audience and are very popular they are known to advertise current trends in markets and follow popularity. Capital could also ear the money from text in from certain competitions to win prizes.

This shows a clear difference between the two radio breakfast shows with the constant barrage of adverts could frustrate some audiences in to change the radio station. But due to the mass market that Capital and KISS operate in they still have a high listenership daily. Also Radio 1 still have a lot of funding from the TV license and so this will mean they will have to cater for more of the population.