Radio 1 Essay

BBC Radio 1 Essay Question

How is the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show reaching, targeting and encouraging audience interaction?

Targeted Audience

BBC Radio 1 show aim to target a range of young listeners, using mixes of music tracks alongside talk shows and audience interaction opportunities. This enables the Radio show to entertain and engage their audience to listen. People want to feel like the radio producers are interested in the overall public and they care about them – hence why a presenter, such as Greg James, will encourage the public to call in and get in contact with the Radio show or to sign up for competitions. The target audience is 15-29 year olds, sometimes targeted at younger teenagers for the songs played; where they could listen in the car, on the way to school (in the morning or after school) etc. One way of targeting this audience is to make prizes that appeal to that age – fun, lively, exciting places or objects to win. However, it is shown that 30% of 35-44 year olds think the radio show is aimed at them. Which affects the breakfast show in a positive way due to the fact that it means the amount of listeners is expanded, as there are a wide range of people that are interested in listening.

Timeline Scheduled Findings

Between the time period 6:30am to 8am that our group listened to, we found that around 60% of the songs played were from artists that weren’t British. It was evident that the Radio 1 Breakfast show had no adverts. This means that there was a forward flow of tracks played, talks with the presenter and communications with the listeners to keep the audience entertained.

We also found that during the early time period schedule, there were upbeat songs, including genres such as Indie, Rap, Dance – this suggests that the radio show want to uplift people, making them happier in the morning – to motivate them for the day ahead. This is how the show targets the right audience because the targeted audience will likely preference one of the genres played. If the Radio breakfast show is positive and entertaining, then BBC are likely to have more listeners as a result; as well as a good reputation for the company.

BBC Radio 1 Website

The BBC Radio 1 website consists of the latest music tracks (a way of listening to them - which are updated frequently). It also includes live music and mixes, such as live lounge, where artists sing covers of other people’s songs; the official chart, Radio 1 playlist, ‘what’s new’, news, sport, weather, iPlayer, sounds etc. This reaches are wider audience, including those that don’t have access to the radio wherever they are at a specific time. For instance, if they are busy or don’t have access to a car or the internet, then they can search the Radio 1 website and listen to the Radio on catch-up.

Podcast - Radio 1 breakfast best bits with Greg James - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0703skr The podcast uses interactive aspects such as a chance to ring in and make contact with the radio show to make an appearance or have their phone call played live for the nation. People would enjoy listening to chosen members of the public for the reason that they are normal people, similar to the listeners; this makes it more realistic. The range of audience interaction as well as celebrity interviews providers a mixture, making it more entertaining.

An analysed podcast: “A journey back into fake Britain” - Greg James plays a game by ringing lots of callers and firing random questions, in which they have to respond with the first thing that comes into their head without panicking or thinking too much. The idea is that the person on the end of the phone is under pressure, which makes it more entertaining for the listeners. An example of the sort of questions are: what noise does a koala make? Or a happy butterfly? These questions are unusual which engages the audience because Greg James can be known as a fun, younger guy, friendly, like your best mate - very likeable. His voice is easy to listen to, which makes it entertaining and appealing to listen to.

Social Media

For example: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Text, Email etc.

Greg James had been promoted to the Radio presenter for the morning breakfast show. This is due to the fact that Nick Grimshaw's audience figures had dropped whilst he was still the presenter. Radio 1 figured using Greg James in the morning would increase the amount of viewers - which is exactly what happened. He is very popular with the audience and this is consequently shown through his social media…

When researching Greg James’ social media, I had seen that he had posted a screenshot of a BBC news article stating ‘Rajar figures: Greg James boosts Radio 1 breakfast audience by 230,000’. This suggests that people would rather listen to Greg James presenting that when Nick Grimshaw did. He also posts humorous images and tweets across all of his social media. Some posts are duplicated across a few different types of social accounts, such as Instagram and Twitter for example. A reason for this could be if some viewers don't have a certain type of social media due to preferences of how it works or is set out. Social media is used worldwide and is used daily. It is interactive and enables people to like, comment and share their opinions/views, likes and dislikes. Therefore, making people feel a part of something within society.

Greg James’ social media differs from Radio 1’s due to the fact the radio show has to look professional/have a sense of organisation (layout, text, captions), but still ensures that it ‘entertains, informs and educates’.