Public Service Radio

BBC Radio 1

In my analysis of Public Service radio I listened to BBC Radio 1 for an hour between 3 o’clock and 4 o’clock. The presenter at this time was Scott Mills, who presents the afternoon slot from 1 o’clock till 4. I looked out for various things during my analysis: The number of station ID’s/jingles, adverts, promotions, presenter talk and the number of songs and their type.

During the course of the hour twelve songs were played. At between three and four minutes each the amount of songs equated too roughly 40-45 minutes.  This means that there was approximately 70% music and 30% speech based programming.  The station mainly plays contemporary hits. Eleven of them were recent chart-toppers or new releases while one was a recurrent hit. This was LMFAO’s ‘Party Rock Anthem’ which although nearly three years old is still a very popular song that appeals to listeners. The target audience for Radio 1 is 16-25 year olds, so the pop, RnB and urban music would generally appeal to the wide listener spectrum. Songs were either back announced or revealed before it played, or less frequently played without any immediate announcement but, were revealed to be coming up earlier in the show.  Jingles and station ID’s were regular and were usually played before and after each song.  They differed from short ones, which simply said the station name to longer ones which added a tagline. They were often shown so there was a continuation of promotion of the station throughout the hour and too constantly remind the listener who they are listening to.

There was only one news report at half past 3. The topics covered were a mixture of sports and general news including, politics, unemployment problems for school and college leavers and football and rugby results. It also covered a soldier’s death in Afghanistan, DVD piracy and care home abuse. These things generally wouldn’t appeal to some of the target audience but, some older listeners would be interested in this. However the sport it covered and the news that affects younger people would attract the age range. At times the presenter would engage in chat with his co-presenter, often talking about things such as the music they were playing and current affairs such as film and television as well as news about artists. There were several promotions during the hour, usually about upcoming events such as competitions and songs. They also referred to the BBC website and the BBC iPlayer, which are other departments of the BBC.

The presenter of the show, Scott Mills and his co-presenters type of language was quite informal and jokey, with them having enthusiastic voices. They would often joke among themselves, sounding normal and natural. During a competition that lasted just under ten minutes in the hour, there was a lot of joking between the presenters which seemed to tire after a while, though it remained fluid and they remained happy and enthusiastic. They most likely did this so there was a good music to speech ratio, as they rarely spoke at other times.  Throughout the show they rarely chatted among each other, as it was more of a quick conversation, filling in between songs.

I liked Radio 1 very much as there weren't any silences and they were either talking or playing music. The music was generally good and the presenters were fun and gave the station a smooth flow.