Radio - Lecture 1

Rizzo introduced us to Radio with the key concept that it is "immediate, intimate and personal". Radio unlike television grasps a more intimate relationship with its listeners, it has a more personal aspect as it is more friendly and inclusive. 

Radio was initially the biggest form of broadcast for news, before television and the BBC came about. Radio Journalism tells its stories differently to other forms of journalism such as print. 

Headlines - One line summary of each main story

Bulletins - These usually start with headlines, and can include two way conversations between reporters, audio cuts of interviews, press conferences, expert comment, actuality and Vox Pops*. Bulletins last between 2-5 minutes. 

News Programmes - These often begin with headlines too, they explore the top stories in greater detail and additional stories too. It can include interviews, either live or pre-recorded, outside broadcasts, two ways, debate, commentary, and packages. 

Magazine Programmes -  These are less likely to include headlines or bulletins. It can include features, letters, competitions, gossip and phone-ins.  It can use the same types of content used by a news programme, and it often covers issues that are both topical and timeless.

Packages - The cue is read by a presenter, packages include introduction and conclusion with links to a reporter either in the studio or at a location. They may also include one of more interviewees, vox pops, music, actuality and archive clips, all of which are then packaged together. 

Documentaries - These are extended packages or features which explore a particular subject matter or issue in greater depth. 

The target audience is the most important factor for radio, it determines the style and format of the show. For instance, Radio 4 is one of few radio stations to be purely speech, the stories go in to depth and they are formal and factual. This appeals to people 40 years plus. Whereas, Radio 1's stories are far more brief and are spoken with backing music which is called a bed. Radio 1 also includes music and is therefore aimed towards younger people in the 16-24 age bracket. Target audience is determined by age and social demographic (A, B C1 C2 D E) peoples occupation is a key clue to their social demographic, as it displays peoples ages and income. 

*Vox pops - This is one question, with a collection of responses from different people with their view on the same question. 

This is what we set out to do. Rizzo set us the task of first booking out equipment- marantz, microphone and headphones (not as simple as it sounds) so that we could be on our way into town to interview the people of Winchester! Although at first it seemed daunting, I soon got over the fact some people were not interested, and moved on when you heard excuses and no's. The question was: "In what ways do you think people act differently on social networking sites, compared to face to face". Even though a younger age group are easier to approach, and they were likely to know more on the subject matter, we managed to get some good clear responses from all age groups and gender; a personal highlight was a police woman! I look forward to editing the audio we got next week!