radio

lesson objectives

one Understand how BBC and commercial radio stations are funded and how this affects

their schedules and content

two Understand how music, speech and sound effects are

used by radio stations to

create a house style

three Understand how radio stations research their

target audiences

four Understand how

technology is changing the

radio industry

facts

over 90% of the UK adult

population tune in to the

radio each week.

On average a person spends

3 hours 3 minutes listening to radio each day.

37% of listener hours are

through a digital platform.

funding

The uk radio market is split

roughly 50/50 between

stations owned and operated by

the bbc and commercial

groups.

the bBC is primarily funded

by the tv licence fee, while

commercial stations are

funded through advertising revenue.

Of the monthly £12 it earns

from each licence fee, the

bbc spends £2 on radio.

Most commercial stations serve a local or regional area and are owned by one of

three big groups which

dominate the sector.

global radio

heart

capital fm

bauer media

absolute radio

kiss fm

utv media

talksport

There are over 200 community radio stations now operating

under ofcom licenses for the

benefit of local communities

and interest groups.

style

Compared with television, radio is really simple to

produce.

There are only three ingredients that programme

producers can mix together:

speech, music and sound effects.

Those three simple ingredients

can be made to sound very

different and thus create a

house style for a radio

station.

house style is radio

station’s preferred manner of presentation

which appeals to their

audience.

target audiences

radio is no different from

any other media form when

it comes to thinking about

audiences. It needs to know clearly who it is talking to.

Bbc radio stations have to

prove that enough people listen to them to justify

public funding.

commercial radio stations

only exist if they can

persuade businesses to

buy time to advertise.

Even though radio stations have a clear idea about the

types of people they think are

listening, they constantly need

to check on their audience share.

audience share is the

number of listeners a radio station attracts

compared to its competitors.

radio and technology

56.4% radio listening is

done through fm/am.

37.8% of radio listening is through digital platforms.

digital transmissions via

dab are growing in

popularity with 24.5% listening using this platform.

6.4% of radio listeners

tuning in online and via

radio apps.

While 5% of listeners use

digital television to listen

to their chosen radio stations.