LO1: Research Notes - City Talk (Radio Show)

Area of research: City Talk 105.9 FM	Notes:
Purpose – What is the purpose of this audio product? Does it entertain, Inform or instruct? How do you know it is for this purpose?	This show is informative and entertaining as it is a talk show so you get to hear people’s different views and opinions on subjects they are talking about for example sport, news, and businesses. The show is also informative because of the fact that they broadcast things like regular news for example on one radio show on they are talking about the police officer in Merseyside which is local to them as they are the main target audience, they also talk about things like sport and business bulletins, this is because their main target audience are males and local people. I know the shows purpose is to be entertaining because they have many comedy features such as the banter they have with each other. I know City talk fit its purpose because they had the average audience of 68,000 viewers a week, with the average listener listening to about 3.4 hours a week, which shows they must enjoy the show to listen to it that frequently, or be interested in one segment of the show at least. The show is also a commercial radio station this shows that another purpose of the radio station is to sell products to its listeners through advertisers to make money of the advertisers, this is displayed on a cart wall for the listeners to know when each advertisement is about to be played giving the presenters enough time to keep the listener interested, so they don't tune out during the adverts.
Form & Style – What form does the product take (podcast, audiobook, audio manual etc.) What style is employed? Conversational, formal, informal etc.	The first thing shown on the radio show is the jingle which lasts about 20 seconds to introduce the show. The show gives denotations of jingles in between each segment this connotes the fact that they are splitting the show up so you know exactly what they are on about during the section. They use adverts such as, 'smoke free quit bag (stoptober)' 'sky go', 'Aldi cycling week', 'home store (save today)' these are aimed specifically at the target audience because of the fact that they are aimed at males or family people as they station is broadcast at times when they are probably on their way to school. Another thing denoted within the show is recent things they've heard of trying to get you involved by getting you to tweet him if your IPhone Is bent as in recent news people IPhones have been bending in their pockets, this gives of positive connotations as they want you to be involved in the show. Sound tracks are denoted on the radio show are, Stevie Wonder - Superstitious, The show denotes the use of the jingle 'city talk 105.9' very often this could connote the fact that they want the station to stay in your head so you don't forget what station it is. The radio show is an informal conversational show we know this because the have a general chat about the things that have happened in the local area and what they think about them, this is also shown by its slogan for the station which is 'Great music and great conversation'.
Content – What is in this audio product, what does it deliver to the audience.	City Talk talks about all the News and sport which shows its targeted towards the male side of the audience rather than female as males are stereotypically more interested in sport than women, plus the greatest hits of the last four decades are played on the show as this is the type of music they play on the show which shows its not just targeting on specific age group, we know this because different age groups will be interested in different decades of music so the fact that it covers four different decades shows them trying to target a broader audience range.
Meaning – What does the product convey in terms of meaning, does it seek to influence or engage the listener in thought.	It engages audiences by getting them to call in with thoughts of the conversation they are talking about, for example they ask people to text in if they have a soup maker, to try and engage in their conversation of having a soup maker. As well as engaging and entertaining them with the show they are also informing them as well as making them familiar with the personalities of themselves like when Toby was telling the audience about him and his wife, its a totally personal happening but made it into something.
Genre – What genre does it belong to? How can you tell?	The show belongs to the entertainment and informative genre as it is informing with information on the male related subjects such as sport and business which are stereotyped to men
Target audience – Who are the target audience? What demographic do they come under? What does any RAJAR data tell us about this group?	RAJAR denotes that the city talk radio show is mostly aimed at men with 75.1% of listeners being males were as the female viewers are at 24.9%, this could be because of the fact they tell people a lot about the football and the leagues and such and its known that men are more interested in sport/football as this is one of the main subjects they talk about.  The male audience would mostly be tuned into the radio station on a Saturday as every Saturday and contains lives match commentary during the football season for Liverpool and Everton. RAJAR also denotes that the target demographic age is said to be between the ages of 25 and 45, this could connote that most of their listeners as they drive to work.  City talk also tells us that the radio show is aimed ABC1 which could mean a lot of people listen through the available app.
Frequency – How often is the audio product available/updated? What is significant about the frequency.	The radio show is broadcast on 105.9MHz at peak times from 9:00 - 16:00 every weekday. The Radio show is available from the android, apple and blackberry app stores as an app as well as live on the radio.
Production process – Where and how is the product produced? How is it made available for consumption?	City Talk is broadcast a commercial radio station which means that they will have more frequent meanings as they are broadcasting to a bigger audience we know this because its total audience reach is 68,000 people which is not just a small community radio.  The radio show is a commercial radio station therefore have the show denotes advertisements within the show these are stored on a cart wall so that the presenters know exactly what the order of things is.