BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat: Blog tasks

 

BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat: Blog tasks

Newsbeat analysis

Read the notes and listen to the extracts from Newsbeat above before answering the following questions:

1) Use BBC Sounds to listen to Radio 1. Scroll to a Newsbeat bulletin (8am or 12.45pm are good options) and write notes on how the bulletins may: 

a) appeal to a youth audience 

b) help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster. 

Media Factsheet #224: Industrial contexts of Radio

Read Media Factsheet #224 Understanding the Industrial Context of Radio. You'll need your Greenford google login to access it. Answer the following questions:

1) Read the first two pages of the factsheet. How does the Factsheet argue that radio still has cultural significance in the digital age? 

Radio content sparks the imagination in totally different way than visual mediums and

this is why it still remains hugely popular with audiences. Spotify streaming services have created functions like Spotify Radio which acts like a virtual radio station, curating your music and allowing you to skip tracks you don’t want to hear. However,

2) Look at the page 4 section on media theories. Briefly summarise the ideas of Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh and Livingstone and Lunt.

• Curran and Seaton : The horizontal integration of companies and buying up smaller stations leads to the concentration of ownership,this can lead to the reduction of other radio broadcasters being able to reach audiences.
• David Hesmondalgh : Music can uniquely reflect an identity to a listener and smaller stations do not have to make money for shareholders.
• Livingstone and Lunt : Media regulation should have a consumer based production

3) What is the definition of public service broadcasting?

“In the United Kingdom, the term “public service broadcasting” refers to broadcasting intended for public benefit rather than to serve purely commercial interests.

4) Look at the list of eight key principles for BBC Radio on page 6 of the factsheet. Choose the three you think are most significant and explain why.

• Universal appeal – across the board the programming will have something for all an everyone
• Attracts more consumers as the board programming is suitable to everyone.
•  Direct funding and universality of payment – not for profit/ shareholders.
• By ensuring that the programming isn't profit based people might this they will focus on good context as its not about money making.
• Universal geographic accessibility – you can listen to radio anywhere in the country.
• Because it is accessible to very BBC can get more people to listen to their radio.

5) What does the Factsheet suggest is the future of PSB radio and how might Radio 1 fit into this?

It could be that P.S.B radio broadcasting might have to have a separate licence fee, or we may see the development of individual subscriptions to stations.

Industry contexts: reading and research

Read the first five pages of this Ofcom document laying out its regulation of the BBC. 

1) Pick out three key points in the 'Summary' section.

• The BBC is the UK’s most widely-used media organisation, providing programming on television and radio and content online.
• Alongside responsibilities for programme standards and protecting fair and effective competition in the areas in which the BBC operates, the Charter gives Ofcom the job of setting the BBC’s operating licence (the Licence).
• On 29 March 2017, we consulted on a draft Licence setting out requirements for the BBC to fulfil its remit, and plans for Ofcom to measure the BBC’s overall performance

2) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points could we relate to BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat?

•  Strengthen news and current affairs rules
• Support a wide range of valued genres
• Support social action campaigns on BBC radio
• Require the BBC to reflect the full diversity of the UK population

3) Which do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? Why?

• Support a wide range of valued genres : This is due to the fact that without a variety of genres, BBC will lose viewers, both older and younger.
•  Strengthen news and current affairs rules : Newbeats covers lots of short flash news within minutes to grab audiences attention.
• Require the BBC to reflect the full diversity of the UK population : Newsbeat ensures that the whole of the UK is being represented by having a welsh or Scottish news reporter.

4) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience? 

The review will ask what audiences expect from the BBC to understand whether it reflects and portrays the lives of all people across the whole of the UK, ranging from younger and older audiences to diverse communities. We will take into account the outcomes of the review as we shape our future oversight of the BBC, and we will take further measures where needed to ensure that the BBC is delivering for all its audiences

5) Based on your reading and research, do you think BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat offers licence fee payers good value for money?

Not really, because younger audinces can gain free news from other platforms and might not be able to afford it.

Finally, read this Guardian interview with former BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper.

1) What was Ben Cooper trying to do with Radio 1?

The topic that gets Cooper talking is his relentless mission to make BBC Radio 1 a truly multi-platform business that keeps pace, and maintains relevance, with the digital-savvy youth audience it is tasked with targeting.

2) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest?

“You have a target age of 15 to 29, but nothing is measured for under-15s but everything is to death beyond the 29 target, which means, using averages, you are going to get skewed much older,” he says. “I think it is an old-fashioned metric for an old radio industry. You have the maths against you.”

3) Why does he suggest Radio 1 is distinctive from commercial radio?

Cooper highlights his multi-platform presence, success on emerging digital platforms like YouTube, and development of an audience-focused "phone first" programming. 

He says. “We will play something like 4,000 different tracks a month, commercial radio plays about 400. We need to play hit music to get audiences in to expose them to new music. I think we need to look at the fact that we are no longer competing just purely with Rajars against Capital and Kiss.

4) Why is Radio 1 increasingly focusing on YouTube views and digital platforms?

for its YouTube channel, it is 12- to 17-year-old females. “There is no holy grail of one single digital footprint figure in the industry, unfortunately,” he says. With the BBC facing significant cuts across the board, after taking on the £750m cost of free TV licences for the over-75s, Cooper is acutely aware that life is going to get significantly harder.

5) In your opinion, should the BBC’s remit include targeting young audiences via Radio 1 or should this content be left to commercial broadcasters? Explain your answer.

My opinion is that the BBC should quit because Radio 1 has been struggling to reach younger audiences because the average listener age is 32.