LO1: Research Notes - The Archers (Radio drama)

Area of research:	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?	The purpose of this is to entertain with made up drama to make you laugh, we know this is the purpose because it has denotations of drama and real life situations which connote entertainment as it's similar to listening to reality.
Form & Style – What form does the product take (podcast, audiobook, audio manual etc.) What style is employed? Conversational, formal, informal etc.	This is in the form of a radio drama, as it is the the world's longest-running radio soap opera, it is in a informal style it is held on BBC Radio 4 for 20 minutes.
Content – What is in this audio product, what does it deliver to the audience.	It delivers entertainment to its listeners. The show helps the audience to think without knowing so much about the show as the only have sound to go from so they play on stereotypes The speech of the characters denotes all the stereotypes of a farmer, using the farmers accents, with a few exceptions so this connotes you thinking of farms, countryside's and tractors. The Denotations of animals and wind connotes the idea of the location being outside this is called wild sound.
Meaning – What does the product convey in terms of meaning, does it seek to influence or engage the listener in thought.	The product uses various different sounds like the theme tune of the show which makes the viewers familiar with the tune and the show. The also use denotations of wild sound which connote the idea
Genre – What genre does it belong to? How can you tell?	The product is a radio drama we know this from the denotations of the slow pace and the  pacing doesn't speed up or slow down throughout the episodes, the only time it slows down is during really emotional moments of the drama.
Target audience – Who are the target audience? What demographic do they come under? What does any RAJAR data tell us about this group?	I think that the radio drama is aimed at the older generation as it a very old show, which has been around for over 60 years, so it would take some getting used to for the younger generation. The denotations of the characters speech and dialect also suggest that it is quite hard to understand his could connote the audience being a older generation as they will tend to pick up the dialect and speech better. In the beginning of 2011 BBC Radio 4 where the radio drama is broadcast broke the record for listeners due to the archers show in the months of 2011 this was due to the fact that The station had an average weekly audience of 10.83 million listeners between January and March of 2011. The denotations of the theme tune are quite simple and upbeat which could connote the idea of life on a farm being simple and quite entertaining, which allows the listener to have an insight into their lifestyle with what they can hear. The fact that they are playing the show at night could broaden their target audience range
Frequency – How often is the audio product available/updated? What is significant about the frequency.	The show is broadcast from Sunday to Friday at 7pm. The show is a frequent show and a very old one at that as it has been around for 60 years.
Production process – Where and how is the product produced? How is it made available for consumption?	They use of profanity is used to meet the OFCOM  license so that anything offensive, racist or sexist is removed. Denotations of noises from the animals which is called 'Foley'  this is created live in the studio so for things like horses about they would use two coconuts hitting together. The radio show has to make sure it follows OFCOM guidelines to meet all the regulations.