Media Evaluation- Rachael Dennis. S8242 AS Group 3.
After receiving our brief our group started research into different radio shows, we found that the main show that was similar to ours was “Wish FM” this show has 82,000 listeners, and is very popular in the Wigan/St Helens area. The show is a light, upbeat programme that handles a variety of things. The show has lots of music, but on the hour every hour, has the news, weather and sport. The show also does regular vox pops and outside broadcasts in the Wigan area. They have celebrity interviews and take part in local events around Wigan. Wish FM has been known to do live shows from inside the Grand Arcade shopping centre in Wigan. Wish FM also covers local football and rugby games.
The presenters for Wish FM are normally male, as the ratio for male to female for this radio show is 11:2, showing that the male presenters are in higher demand, for the show. When listening to the show I felt that the presenters spoke clearly, and in colloquial language. They pronounced words properly and maintained a regular volume. After listening to the show, we decided that we were going to have 2 female presenters, as Jade and I both speak clearly and without a heavy accent. We also felt that our voices were compatible, as we both have similar pitched voices, which complement each other. We also wanted to go against the male tendency as presenters. We wanted to have a show, were women could relate to the female presenters, like the TV show loose women.
Following more research into the shows, we found the designated market area of the local station, Wish FM, spanned form the Wigan borough to St Helens, and therefore have a vast target audience that covered a variety of people. Our group then decided to aim our show at Young adults, and families. As we want to have a show that can be listened to by all. We ensured this by no swearing, and keeping the language, colloquial but informative.
Each time our group gathered together to work we made notes of what we did in that lesson so that we could keep up to date with our blog at all times. We set ourselves objectives of what we wanted to do in that lesson. By doing this I felt everyone worked harder, as they had a target to reach, and this helped to motivate everyone.
During the making of the news bulletin we edited it frequently and went back on several occasions to re-record clips that we didn’t feel were to the best of our ability, we also edited out any gaps and unwanted sounds. We edited while piecing things together, as this is what we felt worked best for us, as we didn’t want to have to edit everything together in a hurry at the end, and then realise things need to be re-recorded, etc.
Every radio show has their own sting, and our group decided that our show should also have its own sting. There for we came up with the sting “102.5 Live” I sang the sting, and we added and echo on top of it, to make it sound professional, but also to make it memorable. I personally felt it was catchy, as after recording it, I kept singing it throughout the day. I thought this was good, as if one person finds themselves singing the sting, then the majority of people will, and will then go back to listen to the show.
The ingredients for a news bulletin range from some shows dedicating the majority of their show to news, and other shows that only give a few of the top regional stories. Local News is normally shorter and softer then national news, which has a more serious on look upon the topics. However News, Sport, Weather and Traffic are normally covered by all stations. I believe our show does follow the normal conventions to local news to some extent, as we have two local presenters, and use a more upbeat, and colloquial speech, we also cover both National and Local news, however, we do focus upon one story to more extent then in normal radio, and made that one key point in our show. We also have an outside broadcast to keep the show light and entertaining, to finish of our show we have local and regional sport. All stations have their own “sting” and we have followed this by making our own sting for the show, which is placed at the beginning and ending of the show “102.5 Live”. We did research into our local radio station “Wish FM “ and found that they used a male presenter for the majority, but a female presenter for the news, both spoke with a smooth and clear voice. Taking the information into perspective we choose two women to do the news, as we felt their voices complimented each other and that they both spoke clearly. On our show we have placed background music behind the presenters on a number of occasions, we did this as we felt, that leaving it plain, was too bland, and adding music kept it bit more interesting and listener friendly.
In our news bulletin we will have mentioned a range of things that would have represented a vast amount of people. However our main story which is about the new sex education law will have represented all caretakers for young children and also new mothers. The fact that our main topic was “Children as young as 5 could be taught sex education in and new schooling scheme” shows that the shows main priorities are for families as the shows main story shows the values it holds. On the show we also cover local news which will cover every person in the area that the show is broadcast too, and example of such a story is the case of 10 year old Annie, who was diagnosed with cancer, this is a continuity story, as it can be followed through out a number of weeks (such as following her progress), and will hold the interest of the local audience, the story also holds human interest as it encourages empathy to ordinary local people. Another local story that we cover is the “Pie eating contest” this story will hold pride for Wigan and therefore will be interesting to the local people.
A company such as UTV Radio would distribute our media product, as they have a range of radio programs under their name such as, “Wish FM, Central Radio, Wire FM and Tower FM”. These shows are similar to the basis of our Radio show; they are local radio shows, instead of national shows such as BBC Radio1. There for I felt that our type of show would fit well under the UTV Radio family. The show could also be furthered to have its own website, were the show could be listened to live online, and also downloaded as podcasts in mp3 form. Wish FM gets around 82,000 listeners, which is 18% of its possible audience, I felt, that our show, which is also local would be just as popular and would therefore support having a internet site.
Our radio programme is from 4-10 every weekday morning and therefore you have to take into consideration the people who would be listening to the radio at the different points in that time period. For example, between 8-9 am, were most people are going to work, and taking their children to school, this time of day is rush hour and is known as ‘drive time’. It will be the point in that show where there are the most amounts of listeners, therefore you have to cater for every person that will be listening or you could lose numbers. As our show would cover the Wigan borough you would have a vast amount of people to consider therefore, we choose to aim our show at, young adults between the ages of 16-30.
We address our audience in a light and upbeat tone, as we wanted a show that can ensure the listener feels comfortable and almost forms a bond with the presenter. We also use colloquial language, so that all the listeners will understand the use of language, such as “birds and the bees”. In the show, the two presenters chat freely about their views and opinions, so that the show maintains a light and friendly feel, but also so the listener can connect with the views of the presenters. We always tried to keep away from news that was too heavy, and edited out a story about a girl’s death, as we felt that such a thing couldn’t be talked about in the light tone that we desired. The target audience of young adults ensured most of the listeners would be modern people with similar views of the presenters, and also to be people who understand, colloquial language and some slag words. However we did try to steer away from any slag words being used in the show itself. We chose to use colloquial language as we didn’t want to use vocabulary that would need explaining.
Since our preliminary task, I feel I have learnt a large amount. Our first piece was ill written and pieced together poorly, giving it no real appeal to an audience. However our main project is pieced together smoothly and shows a wide range of techniques. Since our preliminary I have learnt how to use the entire recording suite, and how to overlap sounds, and also how to add effects on top off the sound clips, I have learnt about how to fade in and out, and also how to adjust clip volumes and lengths. I have learnt how to use, premier pro, adobe and windows media. When recording I used the digital recording studio, as well as microphones, pop shields and the sound board, these all enabled me to record my product to a very high standard. I also used a piece of equipment that allowed me to record outside in the street; I used this when recording with Maura and Jade in Wigan.
From constructing the project I feel I have become better at group work, as working in a group of four, is not easy at the best of times, as everyone has their own ideas and criticisms, and I feel that since the preliminary I have become much better and sitting down and taking everyone’s thoughts and opinions into perspective. I feel that I have learnt a lot more about the technical side of media, and how to use the equipment involved, as well as all the computer programmes.I thoroughly enjoyed doing this media project as my team worked very well together, and I’m very proud of our final product.
We asked a number of people to listen to our radio show, and give us their feedback of how it could have been better. The majority of people found the show to be very professional, and informative, they liked how we’d added quotes from people, such as Barack Obama into the show, and liked the variety in the show, however some people commented on how at some points in the show, if seems to drag, such as the sports, some people comment on how that could of been shorter, but overall everyone seemed to like it.
“I thought the news bulletins were good; there was the right balance between local and national; however I’m from St Helens, and didn’t find the pie eating contest interesting.”
Mark (19)
“I think the sport was a bit too long, it seemed to take up a big section of the show.”
Claire (Aged 17, lower range of my listeners)
“I thought it was very professional, and sounded like what you hear on the news, the sex education story effects my children, so that topic interested me.”
Andy (Aged 34, just above my target audience.)