LO1: Report

Comparison of An Audio Media Product

Introduction:

For unit 19 I have been looking at existing audio media products and how they are created. An audio media product is a digital media product in an audio form, for instance a radio show or a jingle. There are many other different forms of an audio product such as Idents, audio books, podcast etc. These all have completely different meanings, forms, styles and compared to each other you can really see the difference and similarities in these. Within this report I will be talking about the following:

-       The Purpose

-       The Form

-       The Content

-       The meaning

-       The Genre

-       The Target audience

-       The Frequency

-       The production process

To talk about these subjects I will be comparing the following audio products which I have looked at and analysed thoroughly to be able to compare the similarities and differences in them I able to see the benefits and disadvantages in them all. These are the products I will talk about within the report:

-       Big John @ Breakfast (Radio Show)

-       Radio 1 Breakfast Show (Radio Show)

-       City Talk (Radio Show)

-       The Archers (Radio Drama)

-       Romeo and Juliet (Audio book)

-       Toby Foster @ Breakfast (Podcast)

-       Wise Buddah Hallam FM (Jingle)

These are the audio products that I will be talking about within this report, about all the similarities and differences within the audio products and how they can be useful and what they can be useful for.

Purpose:

The purpose of an audio product can vary depending on what the form of the media product is. For instance a radio station generally tries to sell products to their listeners, well a commercial radio station does. Whereas a community radio station is there for pure entertainment as they are not for profit. Audiobook is there to keep you interested which is completely different to our other media products which are a jingle and radio drama where a radio drama is for pure entertainment for a mass audience where as a jingle is there to inform you about what show you are listening to.

A commercial radio station like Radio 1 Breakfast show uses advertisements to sell products to their listeners as well as entertain them with the great segments within the show which is why it makes a great radio show, as well as entertaining and informing they are also known to tend to try and promote their own brand to help their brand name expand by advertising their own products. However on community radio stations they broadcast to the local area and are not for profit, however they will often use advertisements for their sponsors of the show, 

Another audio product I have looked at is a podcast. Podcasts are generally all the best bits from one show, one example of this is Toby Foster @ Breakfast which takes all the best and the funniest parts of the show and puts them into one podcast shows that it can be easier to listen to a podcast at times as it may just be the most interesting parts which stops the whole sort of radio show feel to the atmosphere as well as it stops people listening so clearly as it allows people to get interested and skip back or forward etc. An audio book reads the words out loud for you to read along with, This allows the reader to go back to read a part if they missed it,the purpose of this would be to informOne example of this would be Romeo and Juliet unlike a Radio Drama which is broadcasted for about 20 minutes a day and can’t really catch up so they have to listen really carefully unless they want to tune in at the end of the week to listen to the 75 minute omnibus where the purpose of this would  be to entertain as this is quite clear. Jingles are another audio media product one I looked at was Wise Buddah Hallam FM this is a really catchy jingle which helps it become memorable so the listeners want to tune in to that show again, it also gives the listener some idea on what sort of music will be on the show as the jingle has pop music in the background.

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Form:

The form of Radio 1 Breakfast show is in the form of a radio which is informal and conversational this is shows by the presenter trying to get the audience involved into the discussions, this is also shown in the Big John @ Breakfast radio show as the presenters of the show tend to try and get you to tweet/call/ text in, this makes the listener feel a part of the radio show which make them want to listen more frequently. All the radio shows I have looked at’ Big John @ Breakfast, Radio 1 Breakfast show and City talk are all downloadable by app which shows that they are accessible on more modern devices. This is also similar to the Archers radio drama as the show has been around or over 60 years and needs to keep up with the modern times a little so they make their radio drama available to purchase online or listen on demand this helps keep it up to date as well as easier to access, it is done with most radio shows now as it will bring in more listeners.

The Narrative structure of the audio products I have looked at pretty much start with a jingle or theme tune for instance the Archers has a theme tune ‘Barwick Green’ this makes its listeners more familiar with what they are listening to as there is no visuals so all they have to go on is what they hear so if they have a familiar tune right at the beginning of the soap they will know exactly what they are listening to as well as connoting the class of the characters that are in the show. However with radio shows such as Big John @ Breakfast, Radio 1 Breakfast show and City Talk you will get a jingle like the Wise Buddah Jingle for Hallam FM which is generally a short little tune which tells you what show you are listening to and generally gives you some sort of clue into what the radio show is about so for example the Wise Buddah jingle uses pop music in the background this connotes the idea that they will play pop music.

Most of the products I have looked at are available online the radio shows were online, the audiobook was available on YouTube, the radio shows were available online on the website at the time as they are also played live to the website, the same goes for the radio drama which is aired straight to the website as well as the radio. The fact the RAJAR state that most of the population are turning digital, like listening to the audio products through things such as mobile phones and digital radios.

"call or delete"

Content & Meaning:

The radio shows I looked at has many different things within is content to keep the listener interested such as the Radio 1 Breakfast Show has segments such as "call or delete" which is when a celebrity has to decide whether to call or delete a number in their phone live which connotes the idea of the listener being interested in the celebrity sort of gossip, whereas Big John @ Breakfast tend to have different discussions and get the listeners to contact them to get involved in the discussion this connotes a friendly sort of feel to the show as it is quite a local show so it makes everyone feel really welcome to be listening. Big John at Breakfast also uses presenters with a local accent which connotes that that they want their listeners to be able to relate to the presenters more and feel more involved whereas audio book reader has denotations of a clear voice rather than the local people can understand as the audio book for Romeo and Juliet you would be reading along with them, so this connotes that the audio book is not aimed at a specific place but more to the people who are interested in the book.

The Radio shows such as Big John @ Breakfast and Radio 1 Breakfast show has denotations of advertisements as they are both commercial shows which are made using the editing software which are then stored on the cart wall so the presenters know exactly what jingle, advert or segment is up next. However on the radio drama the archers they use something called ‘Foley’ which is created in a live studio so for instance for the noise of a horse you would need to hit two coconuts together which connotes the idea that the show is made on low budget. The shows are all different lengths depending on the genre of the show Big John at Breakfast running time is 3 hours whereas radio 1 breakfast show is on for 3 hours 30 minutes which means the show stars half hour earlier than big John at breakfast connoting the idea of big John at breakfast being more aimed at parents on the school run and radio 1 being more aimed at people who work from early hours travelling for quite a while. However the Archers show is only broadcast for 20 minutes a day however there’s the omnibus show on the Sunday where the combine the shows together for any that you have missed during the week so it allows you to catch up on anything.

Genre:

During my research I have looked at 5 different types of audio products, which all vary in genre. For instance the fact that Radio 1 Breakfast show is in the genre of chat and music show and big john at breakfast is in the genre of comedy and talk shows that the radio shows entertain there listeners through two different elements, big john at breakfast with comedy and making their listeners laugh, and radio 1 Breakfast show being music from the 2000’s and generally sometimes older, this helps to tell what sort of target audience they are aimed at as well.  

The genre of City Talk would be under the genres of talk, news and music, this is pretty much like any other radio show as well as the ones I have previously mentioned like Radio 1 Breakfast and Big John @ Breakfast which are all talk shows that start in the morning and use various methods for either informing or entertaining.

The audio book is in the genre of a tragedy, which keeps you entertained with a voice to keep you going and reading with an on-going story where as something like a radio drama is not as easy to go along with as it is a radio drama so you only have audio and no visuals to go along with, so it is quite easy to not hear a piece of information in a radio drama. However although the radio drama is very hard to hear something that is very catchy and upbeat is the Wise Buddah Hallam FM jingle has its connotations of the music being joyful and upbeat which denotes the idea of someone listening to it in the morning to wake them up.

Target audience:

The target audience for Big John @ Breakfast is parents on the school run which is generally shown by the time the show is broadcast which is 7-10am on weekdays, whereas the half hour earlier show of Radio 1 at breakfast seems to be more broadcast at people on quite a travel to work as it plays music which is generally more relaxing on a long journey. These two radio stations are pretty much targeting the same sort of people in a morning. The radio Drama is aimed at the older generation, which is shown by the fact the show, has been running for nearly 60 year and the fact it is played at 7pm every weekday for around 20 minutes shows they must follow the show to be able to understand the storylines, as well as this being shown by the characters dialect as it is quiet hard to understand, so to understand them well you would have to have grown up with the characters.

In contrast to this the radio show City Talk that is played within the hours 9:00 and 16:00 is more aimed at the male population as they talked about all the sport gossip and business bulletins, which is more stereotyped towards men, this is also shown by RAJAR as 75.1 % of the audience is male and 24.9% female. RAJAR also state that the target demographic of their audience is between the ages of 25 to 45 which is the same as Big John @ Breakfast as the younger age groups are generally in education at this time.

The use of Digital radios are becoming more frequent now as RAJAR Stated that for Radio 1 Breakfast show stats are 6% are listening from mobile phone devices, while 10% are listening in the car.

Frequency:

The frequency of the audio products can mean various things. Including the frequency of the radio show, the times the show is broadcasted on air etc.

The times of the show is rather important as it is important to know whether it's a daily thing, weekly or just a one off. So or Big John @ Breakfast for example the show is on every weekday from 7 till 9 similarly to Radio 1 Breakfast Show which starts at half 6 till 10 which shows they are both aiming for the same target demographic time frame. In contrast to this The archers Radio drama is broadcast at 7 for 20 minutes from Sunday to Friday with a special omnibus on a Saturday where it is your chance to catch up on any missed episodes.

On the other hand the things like, the Wise Buddah Hallam FM Jingle is only available online as the jingle is from 2009. The audio book is also available online on YouTube for free for anyone to see, which can help the reader to stop and go whenever they like.

Production process:

In pre-production there is all the pre-recorded things set up for the show, such as all the pre-recorded segments being checked by OFCOM as they are thoroughly investigated for the use of racism, sexism and anything that can be classed as offensive to anyone. The shows must avoid slander and/or defamation which can be quite a challenge during discussions. This applies for any sort of radio show like Big John @ Breakfast, City Talk and Radio 1 Breakfast show. Interviews for these radio shows are pre-recorded for the show to make sure all the answers are suitable for the audience, these are then edited together using non-linear technology products such as Cubase and audition. The scripts for Big John @ Breakfast, Radio 1 Breakfast Show and City Talk are all read by checked against OFCOM before they go live for any profanity to make sure it is suitable for the audience and the time of day it is being aired. For example if the content of any show is only suitable to an over 18 year old then it must be played after the hours of 9 o’clock so that it does not breach any rules. However this rule does not apply to any of the shows that I have analysed as the shows are all aired before the hours of 9 o’clock.

The pre-production for the podcast I looked at also can follow the same lines as the radio shows as the contents was originally a radio show that’s just being cut a par into ‘the best bits’ so the scripts would have been read by OFCOM to make sure the content is still suitable. However this would not apply to the audio book as it follows the script of the book as it is just reading the book out loud. On the other hand the radio drama’s content would also have to be checked to make sure that the content is suitable for the audience they are aiming it at.

Another thing done during pre-production this is also referred to as post production for other audio products other than products that are aired live this is referred to as the editing which is used within the jingle, the podcast, the radio shows/drama, and audio books. The editing of the audio products is used for a variety of things using a variety of different software. For instance the audio book I looked at was in the form of a video on YouTube so the video will have been edited together for both visuals and audio. Whereas the editing for the other audio products would be more reliant on the sound related non-linear software for example audition and Cubase these are used to alter any sound that may not have been picked up properly as well as cutting and chopping any bits that aren’t appropriate. An example of something that is not appropriate for the audience would be within an interview of a radio show/drama with any use of language where children may be listening etc.

The budget is another thing that needs to be considered for pre-production for the radio shows is another important thing in the pre-production process. The archers is a great example of this as it is a radio drama that is clearly on a low budget as they use a process called ‘Foley’ for any noises that need to be made for the production of the show which is for example the noise of horses two coconuts hitting together, this saves the production of the show money as they are a low budget drama show. The technique of Foley could also be used in the audio book of Romeo and Juliet as any sounds made would be easy and cheaper to fake rather than go out and record the real thing.

The budget for shows such as radio shows like Big John @ Breakfast, Radio 1 Breakfast and City Talk have to consider things like the editing software and interviews and such which also have to be recorded in advance by Ofcom. The editing software however needs to be used for things such as jingles and idents to make sure they are perfect and ready for the radio some examples of the editing software shows like Big John @ Breakfast, Radio 1 Breakfast and City talk all use are Cubase, audition, logic etc.

Things during the production process of the radio shows that are broadcast live are that exactly. They use several methods to make sure the show runs smoothly throughout. They use a cart wall to cue up all the jingles and songs throughout to make sure that the presenters know exactly when the next one is to be played as well as the fact that they use a play server to store all their music in which is much easier than storing all the songs on a CD or what not. 

The budget, script, live interviews would be planned  in the meeting with producers and presenter – especially for commercial radio and BBC content.  Permission for copyright would have to addressed too. For example music content. However, planning meetings maybe different for community radio in pre-production as it is mainly ran by volunteers for a niche audience which is a smaller target audience. 

Overall all the Audio products have their similarities and differences within them and I think they are all good for what they are being used for.