Radio Production Evaluation Chloe Bibby

I have developed, recorded and edited my radio production with Andrew Ellis under the name BLUECAKE ; we decided to work as a pair as we have worked together previously and also so that we could organise the workload more easily. We both had similar initial ideas to target our radio production at a student audience between the ages of 16 and 24 ; this helped when coming up with ideas later on with regards to ideas for stories and the general organisational structure of the production. We decided to base our radio station idea around the college as it includes our target audience and we would have all of the tools needed for research etc.

Our media product represents a particular age group and what they will be interested in knowing about; every story we have picked was picked because of certain stereotypes we have about this specific age group and social class – year old students. We came up with many different things that are stereotypically associated with this age group and used them to plan out the structure of the production and choose the way in which they were delivered.

We decided to have the cannabis story first because this may affect some students as stereotypically, young people are associated with drug abuse. We also decided that we would have vox pops with students from college, as it is supposed to be a college radio station, to try and make the listener feel like the news is aimed at and made specifically for them. Also, it makes the listener feel like the news directly affects them and so makes them more interested and makes them pay more attention to what is being said; it also makes sense for the interviewees to be students as the radio station is made for students.

This is also an example of how we used stereotypes when deciding on how we would actually deliver the stories because stereotypically students are lazy and don’t have a very large attention span and so we tried to make the stories as short and snappy as possible with clear distinctions between the types of stories (news, sport, weather and entertainment) by using different jingles and beds for each section. We also used a completely different bed for a certain section of the main news to bring out the fun and humour of the story. I think that this worked very well.

Also, the way in which the bulletin was delivered was in regards to the target audience. When the script was first written, the language used was more informal ; however, we decided that this distracted the listener from the seriousness of some of the stories. To counter this we decided to keep the bulletin fairly formal but yet still use some phrases such as “50 grand’s worth” to keep the sense of informality. We decided to incorporate sound clips to coincide with the stories to try and add humour and light- heartedness and to also try and interest the listeners a bit more and keep the bulletin more informal. This is to make the news seem less serious – fitting to the general stereotypes of students liking funny things and being bored easily.

By marketing the bulletin to this particular target audience, there are many social groups that could be excluded from the audience, to who the bulletin may not cater for or may not appeal to. These groups could be especially A and B classes of the social structure, who stereotypically may not find the bulletin humorous at all. This is because they are highly skilled professionals and are associated with hard news as they wish to hear news regarding business matters and ‘more important’ national or even international news. The informal and humorous nature of the bulletin may not appeal to their serious nature. Also, the bulletin may exclude older generations such as pensioners. This is because the things in the bulletin that modern- day teenagers find funny, are generally not the same things that amuse pensioners because of the views they have on respect. For example, the ma think that the story about the principle looking like Bruce Forsythe is disrespectful and not very funny.

I think that the version of the world that is portrayed through our news bulletin is one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. However, it still recognises that there are certain serious subjects (the hard news) that are more important than the humorous subjects (soft news). The informality of the bulletin also shows a more laid-back view on life which reflects the stereotypical view that students have on life.

If we were to pitch our news bulletin to a broadcaster, then it would be to BBC Radio One. This is because their primary target audience is year olds, which is broader yet still similar to our target audience. We analysed an example of a Radio One news bulletin and incorporated some of the techniques used in their bulletin in our own; for example, they have very faced paced bulletins with catchy beds and so we decided to also have quite fast-paced beds and have them quite low in the final edit. I think that having low, catchy beds helps to drive the bulletin and keeps the listener interested in what they are hearing. I think that the way in which the bulletin is structured counters all of the problematic attributes of stereotypical students, for example, having the entertainment on its own due to the assumption that all students are interested in entertainment news and music etc and so it has its own section.

Even though BBC Radio 1 is not local, it is a radio station that is very similar to the feel that we tried to give to our news bulletin – a laid-back station aimed at year olds. Local BBC radio stations would not be very appropriate as “The target audience is listeners aged 50 and over, who are not well served elsewhere.” (BBC website) because of the nature of the bulletin, I do not think that this type of production would appeal to this age group. However, if there was a local radio station who was also primarily aimed at the same target audience as our bulletin or a similar kind of audience, then that would be more appropriate as the local news stories could also be included.

We decided that the anchor should introduce the news with a sentence before the news jingle, we tried to keep this fairly informal – “It’s one in the PM”. We thought that this could appeal to the target audience because the bulletin comes across more relaxed and not like a lecture about what’s going on and what students should be paying attention to. I think it make the anchor seem more appealing because it seems like she talks like them and has a similar outlook like them and so they would be more likely to pay attention to what she’s saying. Next, there was a jingle to introduce the start of the news, the anchor then introduced herself and the news and began to read the news.

The vox pops came between the national news (before the vox pops) and the local news (after the vox pops) especially because the two stories were linked as they were both about cannabis. I thought this worked well and linked the two stories very well as local people were commenting on national news that was also then linked to local news. For the vox pops we used different opinions that students had on the story and then also made sure we used short clips to allow the story to progress and so that the listener does not get bored.

The next story was international news regarding Barack Obama changing American laws; this was included because of its headline status. All of the first three news items are hard news, this is because in the majority of the textual analyses we did, the hard news came before the soft news, and so we did not want to disrupt the traditional structure of a news bulletin too much as then people may not recognise it as one.

The next news story was the new college principle story; this was included because it would directly affect the students listening to the news bulletin as it is supposed to be from a college radio station. This story is also supposed to be humorous as the newsreader/anchor says that the old principle looks like Bruce Forsythe, this fits in with the stereotypical idea that a students like silly jokes or ‘cheap’ jokes. This story also makes way for the next two soft stories and clearly defines the line between hard and soft news by the way the first thing said regarding this story is a loud and sarcastic “BREAKING NEWS!”

We then included a vox pop of the principle which was also cut down to depict the points that we wanted to get across; this due to the listener not needing to know everything that the principle talked about and also to make sure that they did not get bored.

The penultimate news story was regarding a Japanese robot and was also delivered in a jokey way – “Now then criminals and wrong doers beware” ; I think that this helps to keep the bulletin informal and also caters to the target audience’s desire for humour and silly jokes, this is also delivered via the voice clip of Robocop that is inserted after the first sentence. I think that this helps to get the listener’s attention and yet still allows the story to maintain its flow.

The final story is about comic relief and has a completely different bed to the rest of the news stories; this is to help to try and give the story more of a ‘theme’ as pirate music is playing underneath the anchor reading the first sentence in a ‘pirate voice’. This helps to keep the bulletin informal as it shows that the radio station is not completely serious which stereotypically appeals to students. Another audio clip is featured between the first sentence and the main story like the Robocop story, I think that this also helps to keep the listener’s attention and maintains the jokiness of the story.

The outro is read by the anchor and introduces the sport reporter; there is then a sport jingle and a new bed for the sport. This is to clearly define the change in type of stories and also the change in reporter. After the results from the questionnaires, we decided that we would include football and rugby in the national section of the sport; this was also common in many of the bulletins we analysed. The local sport then followed the national sport, in the same way that the national news came before the local news; this was to try and keep the substructures of the different sections consistent.

There is also slight humour and sarcasm in the sport when the reporter speaks in regard to the injured player – “We hope he gets better soon!” ; this continues to fit in with the stereotype that students like cheap jokes. The outro is used to clearly end the sport section and also introduces the next reporter and next section that will be heard. There is then another jingle and a different bed for the weather; this is also to clearly define the change in type of stories and also the change in reporter.

The reporter reads the weather first, this was because this section had been introduced with weather being said before traffic – “And now it’s time for your weather and traffic”, and so staying consistent with what has been said before the weather came first. The traffic news also included a news-type story about free parking, this was because only drivers would really be interested in this story and so they are more likely to pay more attention to the traffic news and so they will be well informed of this event. The outro clearly ends the weather section and gives the opportunity for the anchor to introduce the next section of the bulletin.

The final section of the bulletin is the entertainment section and interview with a local celebrity; we decided to put this section on the end of the bulletin so that it did not disrupt the traditional flow of news to sport to weather and traffic. Also, I think that because of the quite lengthy interview, it would have disrupted the flow of the news too much to include it in that section and so it has its own section. There is also a different jingle and bed for this section, which again helps to clearly define the change in type of stories and also the change back to the anchor.

We chose the anchor to report the entertainment news and the main news because the sport and weather reporters are specialists in their own areas and traditionally they stick to their own sections whereas the anchor/main news reporter will report on everything news-like, including entertainment news.

One of the questions asked during the interview was in regards to a rumour about the band, this was included because of the stereotype that students, especially girls, love to hear about the latest celebrity gossip, and so this could interest them greatly.

The bulletin ends with the anchor saying thank you to the celebrity guest and telling the listeners when the next news update will happen. A longer jingle similar to the first introductory jingle is heard. These factors (the anchor saying the outro and the same jingle as the start being played), makes the bulletin seem like it has gone ‘full circle’ and fits.

I now have experience and knowledge regarding sound levels and know how important it is to try and get a take whereby there are no ‘pops’ as this makes the recording sound less professional; this happened in a few of our takes and so during editing a ‘pop filter’ was added to the sound clips. Ideally those sections could have been recorded again to eliminate any ‘pops’ from the bulletin giving an overall smooth and professional sound. I feel that this particular aspect of the bulletin diminishes the overall professionalism of the recording and could have been prevented or corrected with more time.

During the recordings of the vox pops, I set the sound levels on the minidisk to that of the interviewee’s voice before we started the recording instead of the interviewer because during editing the interviewer’s question would be cut out. Also, it helps to get a good sounding clip from the interviewee, especially if they were female because the interviewer’s voice was male and quite deep so the levels would have been wrong for the interviewee had I set the levels to his voice.

I also learned about the traditional structure of radio news bulletins that I didn’t pick up on before studying for this production. I also learned about how different target audiences can greatly affect simple features of radio news bulletins such as the speed or type of bed, or whether there even is a bed and how the news is delivered. For example, for an older target audience there may be a slow bed or even no bed, and the news will be read quite slowly and will be in more depth in comparison to a bulletin aimed at a younger target audience that will have a fast-paced bed and will also have short, snappy stories with humour and trivial stories. The types of stories will also differ, for example a bulletin for an older target audience may have more serious stories and very few or even no trivial stories, whereas a bulletin aimed at a young target audience will more than likely have more trivial stories and humour.

During the editing process, I learnt much about how loud different recordings and clips are in the final edit is crucial in regards to the overall feel and professionalism of the bulletin. For example, if the news bed was very loud it may distract the listener from what the reporter is saying thus not making the bulletin seem very professional. Also, during editing, I have had to make sure that although the bulletin is made up of many different recordings, it seems like the bulletin runs smoothly all the way through. This is achieved by arranging the clips and repeatedly playing them until the appropriate gaps are present. I think that creating a continuous and natural sounding bulletin is fundamental to creating a ‘good’ radio piece as it makes the bulletin sound overall more professional. Also, I think that a good structure is very important as if the structure is particularly mixed or none existent then the news bulletin may not sound like a news bulletin and may confuse the listener.

During the length of the project, I have learnt lots about the structures of radio bulletins and general radio productions. Through textual analyses, I have learnt much about how radio bulletins are compiled and traditionally structured which is something that I had not previously thought about. I have also learnt about the technological side of radio production; for example recording, when I first did my Funky Profile, I did not understand how important setting the right sound levels is to obtaining a good and professional sounding clip.

I also learnt how to edit and the importance of the editing and organisation of the final product. Because I did not edit my Funky Profile, when editing I learnt about the process of which the recordings are transferred from minidisk onto the computer and then into a final product. I learnt about the effect small changes of the volume of the beds can affect the whole bulletin and that the timing of the different sound clips is also important so that they sound like they are one continuous take, this is very important to make the bulletin flow properly and to keep it natural-sounding. I think that the bulletin works well and I am very happy with the end result. If I could go back and change anything however, I would re-record the sections of audio with ‘pops’ so that the bulletin sounds more professional.