Unit 14: P2: Describe the focus of a chosen radio station

 

P2: Describe the focus of a chosen radio station

BBC Radio 4 background

BBC Radio 4 is a national radio, owned by the BBC. It has broadcasts that include music, spoken shows, drama and news. BBC radio 4 has been around since 1967, making it 54 years old. It is broadcasted all over the UK, including the isle of man, the channel islands and more. Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as today, world at one and chimes of the big ben, the radio station is available across all platforms. they also have a radio 4 extra for behind the scenes.   

Audience profile

Judging by the latest official figures, BBC has a weekly reach of almost 9.5million and has an 11% market share, the percentage of women would be 49% and the rest are men. The majority of listeners are adults 15+, who mostly listen on Monday-Friday, while less listen on the weekends. Majority of listeners listen in the mornings, with the most popular time being 8am. As for nationality, religion, ethnicity, they appeal to all of them since it is the most listened to radio station in the UK, making it being very diverse. As majority of listeners are older than 15+, they appeal to an audience with a lifestyle with either school or work, and listen to the radio as a source of information. For spending power this would be a wide range, this is because some are employed and some aren't. 

The listening figures. 

The structure of a days schedule

The day starts off with the midnight news at 12:00, the midnight news tells you about the most popular current news, and then it gives a description of todays weather. After 15-30 minutes, at 0:30 there is always a show either about someone's life story or an opinion about the current news. After one of the two possible shows, there is a Shipping forecast at 0:48, explaining the latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping. After that at 1am, there is a selection of World service programmes that consist of news, arts and science programmes BBC World Service Online - Schedules. After this the shipping forecast is updated at 5:20, then there is a news briefing at 5:30, a prayer for those who are religious at 5:43, then there is farming news at 5:45, weather at 5:56 and a tweet from an owl at 5:58. 

At 6:00am, there is todays news, including sports desk, weather, and thought of the day, after 3 hours the start of there may be a show about a topic that is discussed with presenters. After that at 9:45 there is a series played, which is followed by the woman's hour at 10am which discusses activism and over-exercising.  After that, at 11am there is a series and then at 11:30am there is a talk show with guests, music and comedy.  To end the afternoon it has news about the PM. 

In the afternoon, it starts out with news summary, then is followed by Radio Shows and Music, then it is followed by Weather up until World at one, where for 45min there is news, analysis and comments. After this there is a series of documentaries and shows. 

The evening starts off with Six O'clock news, followed by a series of radio shows and documentaries, like the archers, and analysis. It ends by what happened in the parliament. Then everything is repeated after 12am. 

The schedule works around the average working adult, who may work from a 9-5, with news at 6pm and leisure after that. The content produced is appealing towards older generations as they discuss more matured topics like the Union and the Woman's hour. This would appeal to people who work by the sea or people who go fishing, therefore there is a shipping forecast.