C1 radio

Do Now                                    Wednesday 11 December

1. An active audience is people who are engaging in the media about things such as movies or games.

2. A passive audience is people who don't interact with the media.

3. The uses and gratifications theory is people use the media for 4 reasons which are; personal identity, information, entertainment, and social.

4. Fortnite engages the audience using different aspects of U&G theory

5. DEL is how to structure your answer.

Wednesday 4th December  

Component One- the radio industry

Lo. to explore the content and structure of the unit

Public service broadcaster: Any broadcasting regime with the ideal of giving priority to the interests of the general public rather than commercial interests

Commercial radio: is a radio station that is run for profit and funded by advertising

Community radio:is a type of radio broadcasting that is owned, operated, and influenced by the community it serves

Podcast: a digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device

DAB: stands for Digital Audio Broadcasting, and it's a digital radio service that transmits radio stations using digital technology

RAJAR: stands for Radio Joint Audience Research, and it is the official organization that measures radio audiences in the United Kingdom

license fee: is a payment made to an owner for permission to use their property, right, or asset

                                                            

 

BBC radio: operates several national stations and targets a specific audience.

Community radio: non-profit and cover small areas with serving the interests of a particular social group.

Commercial radio: funded by advertising and often focused on a particular genre of music, but they are very popular.

commercial radio is funded by advertising and plays certain genres of music. This makes more people more likely to listen through the adverts so that they can listen to the music. Whereas public service radio is funded by the public and they are funded by TV licences. This means it doesn't have any interruptions while listening.

Advantages of DAB: better quality, wider access, streaming live and anywhere.

Do Now                                     Wednesday 18 December

1. a public service broadcaster is a radio station Financed by public money

2. a commercial radio is funded through adds ✔

3. BBC radio 4 broadcasts podcasts ✔

4. OFCOM regulates radio

5. the increase in platforms such as Spotify and youtube has affected the popularity of radio. ✔

The Archers

Radio is still popular because you can choose you favourite music through a podcast or listen again. You are also able to listen to it on the go for example while traveling in a car, and its free which makes it accessible to anyone. Radio is also national meaning that anybody is able to listen to it from anywhere.

Soap opera conventions:

• Targeted at females (matriarchs)
• Stories focused on family/work/relationships
• designed for regular listening
• multi strand narratives
• set in public locations
• more dialogue than action

You can find it on Spotify, BBC radio 4, BBC sounds, TuneIn, Apple podcasts.

The team meet biannually to plan the following months and sometimes a years worth of storylines. 

Monthly script meetings take place where four writers have to produce a week worth of scripts each.

Actors are employed for six days where they record 24 episodes and each 13 minute episode is only allocated 2 hours of studio time.

The archers is the worlds longest running radio soap opera. It began broadcast in 1951 on radio 4 in part to educate returning soldiers about farming. The show, set in the fictional village of Ambleside, explores comforting tales of rural english life. Some stories are more dramatic but most are about relationships or more realistic every day events such as World War 2. Each episode is 13 minutes long and listened to by more than 5 million people. The show is broadcast every day at 7pm, again the next day, and in a weekly on omnibus. The target audience are ongoing.

Do Now                                    Wednesday 8 January

1. the archers first broadcast was 1951. ✔

2. The archers is broadcast on BBC radio 4. ✔

3. Two soap opera conventions are multi strand narratives, more dialogue than action

4. The archers is broadcast at 7pm every day. ✔ except Saturday

5. The BBC's remit is to inform, educate, and entertain

Set Episode

Lo. to explore a specific episode of the set text & target audience

Story Lines- 

The play: Christmas play (Mick playing Santa)

nerves before, after congratulations

Gavin:

sounds ill, poor living, got out of jail

living in a hostel- doss house

he sounds sorry

he was complicit in a crime but then told the truth

Main Characters- 

Kirsty Miller

Gavin Moss- welsh

Linda- posh

Jay- newcastle

Social/cultural

Slavery- modern

Panto- community

Pub- community

Church- christianity, vicar

Living in a van- cant afford a house

How does this episode inform educate or entertain? 

Educate- prison release

Educate- slave labour

Inform- rural life community, close relationships

Entertain- drama

Wednesday 15 January 2025

Audience

The archers:

Age- middle aged women, 55+ 

Gender- female

Location- midlands

Income- high disposable income

Class- C2, skilled working class

Sexuality- straight

Religion- christian

Audience and U&G

You can engage;

 on the website with watching podcasts

 looking at the posts about the actors

 watch the behind the scene videos

 social media pages

 discussions online

 blog

the most controversial topics:

• The relationship between Helen Archer and Rob Titchener. The storyline covered coercive control, a form of domestic abuse.
• Gay marriage
• Abortion
• Thugs- armed robbery 1993
• Racism
• Fraud
• Mental health issues
• Modern day slavery

Do now

1. In the archers the themes are relationships

2. BBC produces the radio station of the archers

3. Its funded through the TV license

What are the conventions of a soap opera?

Some of the key conventions included using a cyclical narrative structure, common soap themes like romance and betrayal, focusing on social issues like domestic abuse, and including character archetypes

Jill Archer:

 Jill brought up four children at Brookfield while supplementing the family income with bed and breakfast, selling eggs and honey and at one point running a craft studio with Jennifer Aldridge who passed away in 2023.

A fixture of the W.I. and St Stephen’s, Jill has been a fierce campaigner on local issues but always puts family first, though her concern can sometimes come across as interfering.

When Ruth persuaded David to move north, Jill’s refusal to go was a big factor in his change of heart. Her insecurity over Phil’s first wife, Grace, flared with the arrival of Toby and Rex Fairbrother in 2015, nephews of the woman she’s always worried about measuring up to.

Jill was married to Phil for 52 years until his death in 2010. She now enjoys the company of dapper Leonard Berry who can often be found at Brookfield where Jill returned to in 2015. There Jill dispenses cake, roast dinners and frankly expressed opinions.

Tom Archer:

As an angry young man, Tom trashed GM crops with his eco-warrior girlfriend Kirsty Miller, but ditched her for a glamorous supermarket buyer who ruined his ready meals business.

For his next venture, a posh burger van, Tom sought marketing advice from Brenda Tucker. They fell in love, but she called off their engagement. Tom went back to Kirsty, only to break her heart a second time by jilting her at the altar.

Ashamed, with the help of Rob Titchener, Tom ran off to Canada and came back to Bridge Farm six months later a chastened man. But his and Kirsty’s story was not over. In a one-off moment of passion after Helen’s trial, Kirsty became pregnant. The prospect of becoming a dad, then the grief of Kirsty’s miscarriage, made him rethink his priorities and he is now fully re-focused on business.

While completing his Nuffield Scholarship he met equally business-minded Natasha. After a whirlwind relationship, they married a few months later.

Lee Bryce:

Solid and dependable, Lee was just the tonic Helen Archer needed after a turbulent few years in her personal life. They met at Helen’s son Henry’s karate club, Helen instantly warming to Lee’s uncomplicated and fun nature. Friendship grew into love as she learned to trust again, and the pair moved in together in May 2021.

Whilst outwardly conventional, those who get to know Lee better discover a quirky side to his character. He has a drumkit, and his passion for superhero figures and memorabilia was a source of alarm to Helen initially – but once they’d positioned his giant Bruce Lee poster to both of their liking, all was well at their Beechwood home.

Enthusiastic and eager to please, Lee has occasionally taken on projects beyond his capabilities, but his likeable nature and steady common sense have ensured he’s forged firm friendships in the village. When Helen realised that their relationship no longer worked for her, they parted amicably, with Lee having Henry and Jack to stay for occasional weekends.

Peggy Wooley:

After her first husband Jack Archer succumbed to the ravages of gambling and alcoholism, she waited a long time to find her true heart's desire. It wasn't until 1991 that she married Jack Woolley and began to look forward to a blissful retirement.

All was going according to plan until Jack was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, which brought her a long and difficult period as his carer.

When she had a stroke in 2008, Peggy reluctantly realised that as Jack deteriorated further he needed residential care. She was a very frequent visitor to The Laurels until his death. Peggy's grand-daughter Kate moved into The Lodge with Peggy until Peggy decided it was time to move to The Laurels herself.

How does the archers educate listeners? 

using sensitive topics to create awareness such as the storyline of domestic abuse which created a raise of money for a charity supporting people struggling from it which educates the audience.

How does the archers inform listeners?

they inform the targeted audience of farming and current events.

It appeals to the female audience with the drama and story lines that can be aimed at women such as domestic abuse towards females.

The Archers adheres to the conventions of a soap opera by focusing on character development and narratives that reflect societal norms, facilitating audience engagement and personal connection to the content.

The archers appeals to an older audience with the hard hitting topics.

Do Now

1. The Archers has an average of 5 million listeners. 6 million

2. The target audience for the archers is middle aged females who live in rural areas. ✔

3. The archers is broadcast as 7pm every day. ✔

4. gender, age, and ethnicity comes under demographics. ✔

5. BBC's remit is to inform, educate and entertain. ✔

Wednesday 29 January 2025

Audience and U&G

Explain how the BBC uses different platforms to distribute radio programmes. Refer to The Archers to support your points. [10 marks]

The BBC uses various platforms such as DAB. The archers is available on the radio or on their website where you can watch the episodes, podcasts, blogs and more. It is played on the radio at 7pm and repeated at 2pm the following day. You can also catch up on the omnibus Sunday morning. The podcasts are downloadable and on catch up for 30 days. The archers is promoted through social media such as X or facebook for older users. Fans also engage with topics through fan groups and discussions online, where they have in one case raised nearly £100k for the Refuge charity after listening to a domestic abuse storyline.

Personal identity: relate to topics- storylines free Helen. Characters- various in age interest

Information: Help for topics- modern slavery, prison release, rural life.

Entertainment: Storylines gripping, escape normal life.

Social interaction: Fan pages social media debates

Why might audiences listen to the Archers? Refer to U&G in your answer.

Audiences listen to the archers to get a sence of personal identity. This is available in the podcast due to their relation to personal topics in the storylines. An example of this is free Helen. It can also create personal identity with the different characters that play different roles so there is more range for people of different ages and backgrounds to relate to. The show also appeals to the audience through the uses and gratifications theory of information. This is done by The Archers creating awareness about topics and making help available such as modern slavery, or raising money from Helens storyline to the charity called Refuge. They also create information through the use of rural life which creates more notice to people who may not live in the countryside and doesn't understand personally that way of living. The show engages the audience through entertainment. This is done with their gripping storylines to keep the listeners hooked and wanting to hear more. It also means the listener can escape normal life while they become apart of this normal life and enticing storys. The show also uses the uses and gratifications theory of social interaction to gain more listeners. The listeners of the archers have created fan pages and also begin to have social media debates over certain topics taking place, this can encourage more people to listen to the archers.

Do Now

1. The 3 types of radio is community, commercial and BBC. ✔

2. BBC radio is funded by the tv license. PSB

3. Commercial radio is funded by advertisements. ✔

4. A small broadcasting area is community radio. ✔

5. The archers is broadcast on BBC 4. ✔

Wednesday 5 February

                  Exam Questions and Responses

Name the organization that regulates radio?

Off-com.

Community radio is an example of a type of radio in the UK. Give two other examples of radio types in the UK.

PSB and commercial.

Briefly explain the difference between the two types of radio types.

PSB is funded by the license fee that the public pay whereas commercial is funded by advertisements where other products get promoted on the radio.

Explain why the Archers fits into the BBC remit and the radio type that is classified as.

The Archers is informative because it has mature subject storylines. An example of this from the show is the theme of domestic abuse and modern slavery. This links to the BBCs remit because they are informing people of the real life struggles that any body could be going through and to spread awareness so that people know help is available.

The Archers fit into educating because back in 1951 it was created to educate on farm life post-war and now its been adapted to be more modern but still educating farmers and other people on rural life. An example of this is the close and small community in The Archers. This links the the BBCs remit to educate people who have a city life of life in the countryside.

The Archers Fits into entertain because of their dramatic storylines. An example of this is the abuse, and prison topics. This links to the BBCs remit because its entertaining the target audience with real life and dramatic storylines that will entice people to want to keep up and listen to the episodes frequently.

The Archers Benefits the public because it is educational and shows the side of rural life in different point of views. This can be seen in the show with the multiple different story lines going on within the community that can create awareness and and educate the listeners on topics they might've not previously known about which links to the BBCs remit to educate and inform.

Which radio station broadcasts the archers?

BBC radio 4.

Identify one audience for the Archers.

Middle aged women.

Explain two ways in which the Archers is aimed at the audience you have identified.

The archers is aimed at middle aged women by having storylines following strong female characters which makes the audience feel more confident. Its also aimed at ABC1 women by having mature subjects and gradual realistic storylines that would entice the audience that are older and more sophisticated.

Explain why audiences listen to the archers. Refer to the uses and gratifications theory in your response. 

The audience listens to the archers for the uses and gratifications information reason. This is because in The Archers there are storylines showing domestic abuse and modern labour which creates awareness to the audience of the real life and hard hitting topics going on. This fits to the U&G theory because they are being informed on situations that can be going on for years and become more aware of the impacts. 

Do Now

1. 2 media exams. ✔

2. Each exam is 1hour 30minutes

3. The archers is on BBC radio 4. ✔

4. The BBC is funded through the license fee. ✔

5. Ethos of the BBC is to inform educate and entertain. ✔