Level 2 Media Radio

The penultimate part of your planning documentation will tell me what's the ideal time-slot for your show and also what kind of music you'll be playing. Obviously the two are related - if you're broadcasting in the daytime you're not going to be able to play music with adult-content or swearing in it - if you're broadcasting at night your music choices can depart from the daytime playlist for your suggested station, and include songs that are more specialist/obscure. Complete this part as follows.  1. Open up a new Blogpost. Call it 'RADIO PLANNING: TIMESLOT AND MUSIC'  2. Add the heading. 'SCHEDULING' and tell me, even if you have already - what time of the day will your show be broadcast and why? How will that timeslot reach your target audience? What will your target audience be doing at that time - will they be able to hear your show? 3. Add the heading 'PLAYLIST ' and give me a list of at least 5, and anything ...

Trevor Nelson, Adele Roberts, Charlie Sloth       OK, so you’ve decided on the name of your show, and told me the CONCEPT behind it, the INTENDED STATION and about your TARGET AUDIENCE. You'll also have created a RUNNING ORDER and a CONTENT PLAN for your proposed show.     Obviously you’re going to present it but have a look at the criteria you're aiming at. You'll notice that in the merit column it says " Appropriate  suggestions are made  for presenters / DJs that  relate to the proposed  production". Obviously, if you wanted a station to carry your show they'd want to know who would be presenting it - by completing this session you'll give yourself a chance of hitting that Merit criteria by demonstrating that you're aware of the radio DJs/broadcasters who are out there and have made an informed decision, based on the planning documentation you've created so far, as to which of them would be ideal for your show.  ...

If you're this far in your plan for your show should be coming together nicely. You now need to give me, as the spec requires, a running order for at least half an hour of the show. A running order is a plan for the show you are doing. Running orders are used throughout the radio industry and differ in format from station to station. The 'running order' might seem a bit daunting but basically - remember when you analysed a half-hour of a show and listed everything that occured? You're going to do similar for the show you're planning, mapping out how half an hour of the show would unfold and adding timings to it so it's tight. Do this as follows 1. Have a look at the following sites  - there's sample running orders, each different.  Give yourself a flavour of what running orders contain and what they look like. You're going to create one for a half-hour of YOUR show. As you can see they all contain different things depending on how detailed they ...

OK, so you've told me about the basic concept behind your show and the audience your show will try and reach. Now time to tell me (and remember, think of all these planning posts as if you're getting together a proposal pack for a station) what your show is actually going to contain. The more detail you go into throughout the planning the more likely you are to not only hit merit-indicators but also focus your show when it comes to producing and editing it. Do this part of your planning in the following way.  1. Open up a new blogpost - call it 'CONTENT PLAN'  2. Add the subheading 'INTERVIEWS'  Who would be your ideal GUESTS for the show and why would they appeal to your audience? Name a few names and suggest WHY they would be ideal for your target audience. Can you think of a couple of questions you'd ask and put them into your planning as well? 3. Add the heading 'OTHER CONTENT'  JINGLES/STABS/IDENTS - are you goi...

You're probably sick of the idea of 'target audience' (I know I am) but in radio there's no denying that it's particularly important. Why do radio stations care so much about target audience? Well, if they're a BBC station they need to be able to prove they're catering for a part of the UK population that isn't being catered for elsewhere on the BBC network. The BBC has to provide programming for the whole nation or it won't get its license fee. So each BBC station will be keen to establish its own unique audience - the BBC annual reports always contain a firm statement of each station's target audience because having that unique audience is each station's justification for existing. If a BBC station started that basically had the same audience as say, Radio 1, the board of governers would ask why it's getting a bit of the license-fee and probably close it down. If they're a commercial radio station  they need advertise...

Imagine you were going to a radio station or even a bank manager with an idea for a radio show you want them to back. Obviously they’re going to want to see - that you’ve got a good concept for a show - that you’ve planned for what it’s going to contain - they’ll want to hear a snippet/sample of what your show would be like. That last bit will come when you've actually finished PRODUCING the show (recording, editing it) but before then, as you should be used to by now, you need to ensure your PRE-PRODUCTION stuff is in place i.e your planning . As ever, when these units go beyond the analytical into the creative you get more opportunities to get merit/distinction grades. Here's the criteria in the Radio unit associated with planning. As you can see there's a LOT of things to do & the more detail you can go into in your planning, the better your chances of hitting the merit criteria. In your first planning post I want you to deal with P3 part (a) , i.e...

OK, we're nearly done with the analysis part of this unit. You should have already analysed a station in terms of its programme types, genres and audience, as well as a single show from that station in terms of its running order, presenters and content. Just need to slot in an analysis of the specific audience for that show and you're done. Do it in the following way.  1. Open up a new post - called it 'The Show's Audience'.  2. You've already identified the target audience for the station as a whole. Have a look at the post you've written about that and remind yourself who the target audience for the station as a whole is. Then tell me . . .  do you think the audience for this particular show is any different /more specific ?  Do you think the TIME the show is broadcast means it attracts a certain listener (eg a breakfast show might be heard by older/younger people than the station's target audience, a late-night show might not be heard by a...