Radio: Life Hacks
Our first CSP for radio is the BBC Radio 1 show Life Hacks.
Our key concepts for Radio are industries and audience so these are the contexts we need to consider when studying the texts.
Previously on: The Surgery
Before being merged into Life Hacks, The Surgery was an evening radio show on BBC Radio 1 that ran between 1999 and 2017. Most recently, it was on every Wednesday at 9pm and ran for 60 minutes. It featured presenter Katie Thistleton and advice from Dr Radha Modgil.
It worked like an agony aunt column in old teenage magazines and took on controversial subjects such as gender identity, sexuality, relationships and mental health. It featured texts and calls from listeners and the post-watershed slot meant adult topics could be discussed.
The Surgery > Life Hacks
In November 2017, The Surgery was merged into a new Sunday afternoon show called Life Hacks that runs between 4pm – 6pm presented by Cel Spellman and Katie Thistleton. This mostly plays music but offers advice segments with Dr Modgil covering similar topics to The Surgery.
Although both The Surgery and Life Hacks ran in scheduled broadcast slots, in recent years the programme has been available as a podcast and encourages digital consumption and interaction.
The Surgery
Life Hacks: Stormzy interview
Life Hacks: debt advice feature on BBC Sounds
Listen to this debt advice feature on BBC Sounds.
BBC Radio 1: History
BBC Radio 1 launched in 1967 playing pop music and using jingles in the style of American radio. It was a significant change from previous BBC content and was hugely popular in the 1970s and 1980s (some shows had 10m+ listeners).
It became available on DAB digital radio in 1995 but not promoted until digital radios were more popular in 2002. It is available via digital TV and online via BBC Sounds.
Radio 1 is famous for events as well as radio – summer Roadshows, Big Weekends and the annual Teen Awards.
Industries: Radio in decline
Although the BBC still boasts impressive audience figures for BBC Radio 2 and 4, it has struggled to attract young listeners to BBC Radio 1 in recent years.
Since 2010 listeners have declined – and although BBC R1 targets 15-29 year olds the average listener in 2017 was aged 30. Radio 1 is increasingly focusing on digital and social media with 16m weekly YouTube views reached in 2018.
BBC Radio 1 - Life Hacks: Blog tasks
Analysis
Listen to the extracts from Life Hacks above and answer the following questions:
1) What do the titles The Surgery and Life Hacks suggest?
They suggest how this can help someone to change their life.
2) How are the programmes constructed to appeal to a youth audience?
They. use celebrities like stormy which are well known to the youth.
3) What does the choice of presenters (Cel Spellman and Katie Thistleton) and Dr Modgil suggest about the BBC’s approach to diversity and representation?
it shows how they use two cultures and show they are trying to do something different to other radio stations.
4) Go to the Life Hacks iPlayer page and analyse the content. What does this suggest regarding the Life Hacks audience and what the BBC is hoping to achieve with the programme?
This suggest that life hacks is something which can help people in help in order to get an advise and relate to something which they are feeling.
5) Go to the Life Hacks podcast episodes page. Listen to a few episodes of the podcast and explain how the topics may a) appeal to a youth audience and b) help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster.
This suggest that life hacks is something which can help people in help in order to get an advise and relate to something which they are feeling.
5) Go to the Life Hacks podcast episodes page. Listen to a few episodes of the podcast and explain how the topics may a) appeal to a youth audience and b) help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster.
They may appeal to youth audience because they are very much based on them about their health,ethinicty and identify.BBC mission statement fits very well of inform,educate and entertain the youth by telling them about the problems.
Audience
1) What is the target audience for BBC Radio 1?
15-29
2) Who is the actual audience for BBC Radio 1?
40-45
3) What audience pleasures are offered by Life Hacks? Apply Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory.
4) Read this Guardian review of Life Hacks. What points does the reviewer make about Life Hacks and the particular podcast episode they listened to?
she listened to the podcasts and believes that she can relate a lot to them.
5) Read this NME feature on Radio 1 listener figures. What are the key statistics to take from this article regarding the decline in Radio 1 audience ratings?
has lost 200,000 weekly listeners since May
9.2 Bbc Llisteners
Industries
1) How does Life Hacks meet the BBC mission statement to Educate, Inform and Entertain?
They link with this mission statement as they talk about issues which people might not know about but in a very fun and intellectual way for example showing stormy and his scholarship.
2) Read the first five pages of this Ofcom document laying out its regulation of the BBC. Pick out three key points in the summary section.
- The BBC is the UK’s most widely-used media organisation, providing programming on television and radio and content online. The public has exceptionally high expectations of the BBC, shaped by its role as a publicly-funded broadcaster with a remit to inform, educate and entertain the public, and to support the creative economy across the UK.
- 1.2 To meet these expectations, the BBC must deliver the mission and public purposes set out in its new Royal Charter (the Charter). For the first time, the BBC will be robustly held to account for doing so by an independent, external regulator. Alongside responsibilities for programme standards and protecting fair and effective competition in the areas in whichthe BBC operates, the Charter gives Ofcom the job of setting the BBC’s operating licence(the Licence). This sets binding conditions, requiring the BBC to deliver for licence fee- payers. It is also our job to scrutinise, measure and report on the BBC’s performance.
- 1.3 On 29 March 2017, we consulted on a draft Licence setting out requirements for the BBC to fulfil its remit, and plans for Ofcom to measure the BBC’s overall performance. We havecarefully considered more than 100 responses from members of the public and industry.We have taken account of the BBC’s interim annual plan for 2017/18, published on 3 July 2017. We have also carried out bespoke research into audience opinions and expectations of the BBC.
3) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points relate to BBC Radio 1 and Life Hacks?
- Support a wide range of valued genres
Support social action campaigns on BBC radio
Safeguard vulnerable genres such as arts, music and religious programm
4) What do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? Why?
- Support a wide range of valued genres
Support social action campaigns on BBC radio
Safeguard vulnerable genres such as arts, music and religious programm
5) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience?
They plan to examine diversity in one of their BBC programming.
Read this Guardian interview with BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper.
6) What is Ben Cooper trying to do with Radio 1?
he wants to make it like Netflix and amazon prime for the youth to watch it.
7) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest?
by showing how most of the shows. are focusing on topics which a younger audiences are facing today in the current world.
8) Why does he suggest Radio 1 is distinctive from commercial radio?
They will be playing about 4000 tracks.
9) Why is Radio 1 increasingly focusing on YouTube views and digital platforms?
6) What is Ben Cooper trying to do with Radio 1?
he wants to make it like Netflix and amazon prime for the youth to watch it.
7) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest?
by showing how most of the shows. are focusing on topics which a younger audiences are facing today in the current world.
8) Why does he suggest Radio 1 is distinctive from commercial radio?
They will be playing about 4000 tracks.
9) Why is Radio 1 increasingly focusing on YouTube views and digital platforms?
This. is because nowadays the younger audiences only watch things in the digital audience which means they need to get into that to read h out to them.
10) In your opinion, should the BBC’s remit include targeting young audiences via Radio 1 or should this content be left to commercial broadcasters? Explain your answer.
They should be targeting younger audiences because they are showing how important young People are now in. the modern society and attract them will help them to make a connection with them for a long time.
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