Commercial Radio

Smooth Radio

The first commercial radio station i listened to was smooth radio. I listened to it from 3 o'clock till 4 o'clock and the music to speech ratio is roughly 60-40% . The show was presented Emma B, who presents smooth radio every Sunday from 2pm-6pm. I looked out for a few things in my analysis, such as the language used, the number of jingles/stations ID's and the type of adverts.

During the hour twelve songs were played, the same as BBC Radio 1. Also in the hour fourteen jingles were played. These differed from long ones which said "This is smooth radio..." to short ones which simply said "smooth radio". The station is aimed at older people and this is reflected in the types of songs being played, which are generally easy listening tracks such as old pop and disco hits from the 70's and 80's as well as rock and roll songs from the late 50's/early 60's. Due to the target audience the station didn't venture outside of it's few selected genres. This means genres such as hard rock, metal or more recent styles of music such as RnB were not played.

For the first thirty minutes of the show, music was the dominant feature. However, for the next thirty minutes advertisement breaks took up fifteen minutes. This is a huge contrast to the first half as no adverts were played then. Due to the long ad-breaks the music to speech ratio was roughly 60% to 40%. The conversations struck up by the presenter was rare as she only spoke to either announce a song or reveal what was coming up in the show. She did however speak about Christmas and things related to it such as presents, food and music. Throughout she was cheery and very informal, with an enthusiastic voice. However, there never raised her voice or presented in an over the top manner, most likely to cater for her listeners' needs and ideal presenter.

The types of adverts played reflected the target audience of the station. As such quite a few of them were health-based, a topic that affects older people meaning they will most likely benefit them. The adverts included cancer screenings, care homes and in-home lifeline cords. Other things that affect older people seasonally were also included like radiators, as freezing during the winter period is a concern for older people.

At the start of the hour there was a four minute news segment. The news was varied but was clearly more tailored for older people, in contrast to Radio 1 or Capital. It covered the Philippines disaster, remembrance Sunday, a Commonwealth meeting, brief golf scores and a weather report. These items are genuine news stories rather than celeb gossip that is most likely found on stations aimed at younger people. The news was followed by a singular advert for help with muscular aches and pains.

I really liked this show as I enjoy classic music from the past few decades. I thought the presenter was more age-neutral than the adverts that featured on the show, which was very good. My only criticism of this show  is the amount of advert breaks. While they were fairly short at around four minutes each they were all shown within the last thirty minutes. As a result of this the show seemed to slow down. If they were more spaced out it would make it more varied and give the show a more fluid flow.

Capital Radio

The second commercial radio station I listened to was Capital Manchester, part of the nine-station Capital network. I listened to the station between 2 o' clock and 3 o'clock, with the hour being presented by James "Bassman" Bassam. The hour consisted of approximately 60% music and 40% speech and other content, the same as Smooth Radio which had the same approximation. As i did with the previous shows in which I analysed, i looked for the types of songs played, advertisements, speech content, jingle occurrences and the type of language the DJ used (for example, the type of voice and use of slang). There were fourteen jingles in the hour, often being played before songs and to separate them. They ranged from short ones which simply said the stations name to ones which said "Manchester's number one hit music station".

During the hour thirteen songs were played, one more than both Radio 1 and Smooth Radio. Though Radio 1 is a public service radio station and therefore has no adverts the similar song-count is due to a higher amount of DJ chat on the BBC station. There were also sixteen jingles played during the hour slightly more than its other radio counterparts. I believe this may be to fill up more time in the hour, as the planned music and speech content may not have got it up to that mark. Capital Radio is generally aimed at teenagers and young adults, with this being reflected in the types of music it plays. The station plays mainstream music, which include genres such as pop, dance and house. Types of songs which fall under these categories are typically loud and fast paced so being played on Capital with its target audience is justified.

The thirteen songs played were all within the top 40, excluding three which were 'recurrent hits' -'This Is What It Feels Like', 'Same Love' and 'Can We Dance' . All three are from different genres: House, Hip-Hop and Pop-Rock respectively. Though they aren't played as much they are still in the public interest as each of them were hits when initially released. Also, including older songs from different genres appeals to a wider range of people, rather than just fans of brand-new music. One song played was "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. This song is from the soundtrack to 'Despicable Me 2' a popular animated film which has appealed to all ages. This makes sense to play it as many will have heard and presumably enjoyed the song during the film. 

The DJ, "Bassman" rarely spoke in the hour as there were many back to back songs played including at the end of the hour when four songs were played back-to-back only inter-spliced with jingles. When he did speak it was either to (back)announce songs or to say what was coming up within the next hour. He also advertised other Capital Radio shows, including a show the next day which featured Avicii, who is a prominent and popular mainstream artist. As many like him this would most likely attract people to watch the show and gain the station more listeners. He was like his Radio 1 counterpart, Scott Mills in his presenting style. He was enthusiastic, loud and had a sense of humour. He used slang words such as 'drop the beat' and 'tune'. This would generally appeal to the target audience. His style was in contrast to Smooth Radio's presenter Emma B, who was more laid back and calm but, this will be down to the more older audience for that station.

There were two advertisement breaks during the hour with a lot of the adverts being repeated for the second airing. These included apprenticeship offerings, shop sales, holidays and film adverts. These would generally appeal to people over 18 as that is the age when people are looking for jobs and have little money to spare, so are looking for sales everywhere. The film advertised, 'American Hustle' also has an '18' certificate so this follows in line with the other adverts being aimed at older people. Car insurance was advertised, which would appeal to young drivers, whose insurance will be very high, meaning they will want to look for cheap options.The adverts also told people what was happening in the stations region, such as art exhibits at the Lowry and the weather. These would also appeal to older listeners. The adverts were primarily based at older people as the younger listeners may not take as much care at listening to the station as others. Parents could also be targeted as compensation companies were also advertised. This makes sense as many parents will have to listen to the station with their child, in the car or at home.

The news was more aimed at older people, not advertising anything that may be deemed fun or interesting for young children and teenagers. The stories ranged from national to regional news. They included a missing child, a rape case and the birth of Mike Tindall's and Zara Philips' baby. They were serious to start off with but strayed into more light hearted stories, most likely as to not end on a bad note. The news ended with a report on the regions weather. The stories were typically aimed at adults, with none of the stories typically of interest to a young person.

I enjoyed listening to the station very much as i like hit-songs which it primarily played. The station also cherry-picked the best songs from the past to play which i thought was very good. The DJ was fun and while he didn't speak much i believe him to be a good addition to the hour, adding an entertainment factor to the station. There were several things i disliked about the station however, as i think more recurrent hits should be played, as this would appeal to more people, me included. The adverts or news weren't of interest to me and most likely people of a similar age or younger. Due to this i think there should be more attention paid to the younger listeners in these areas. The scheduling was also an off-putting factor for me. At the start of the hour songs were being played periodically, with adverts and the DJ talking being played in-between. However towards the end four songs were played back-to-back with only a jingle separating them. I think this should be changed so the songs and other content have a nice, even, smooth flow.