Task Allocation Week 2

 

Production Log Week 2

 

Unit 14 - LO1 - P2

Programme Analysis

 

“The Archers” is a radio drama on the BBC that mainly focuses on farming. They release two episodes per day with one being released at 2pm and another at 7pm which are each 13 minutes long. However, on Sunday, they release a one-hour episode called an “Omnibus” which is a one-hour episode that is a collection of all the episodes released in that week. This makes it so people who aren’t able to watch the episodes throughout the week are able to catch up on the narrative as each episode leads into the next. The audience are able to access the show mainly on the BBC website however there are other services such as Spotify and TuneIn that allow for audiences to listen in as well.

 The episode starts by the host announcing the episode and then it plays their opening theme song, it then goes right into the dramatisation. It then plays out the narrative of the episode which for the 29/01/24 episode is the narrative of the characters cleaning the car and trying to open up the pub. They start with them being inside the pub fixing things where it then shifts to two characters who are cleaning a car. They then cut back to inside the pub where they’re talking about how they will be able to open up the pub again where the characters from that scene then join up with the characters from the car washing scene to tell them that the pug is going to be opened. Noises are used in the next scene to display that we are now in the pub when it has opened and that time has passed. We then proceed into another scene where the two pub owners are talking about opening the pub being the correct decision however this scene only lasts a little bit as we then cut again to the main portion of the pub where they’re talking about a beer drinking competition. We then cut to a scene where they announce the winner of the drinking competition and with that the episode concludes and their outro music plays.

The archers aim to fulfil all three declarations in the BBC’s ethos. To Inform, educate and entertain. First of all, they inform with their audience by presenting them with real life news that may currently be occurring. We can see this in the episode aired on the 11^th of September 2022 at the very start of the first narrative as it talks about the death of the Queen, informing the people about her death. It educates the audience about things that they not know about, we can see this in their episode about domestic abuse where they act out a situation where domestic abuse was taking place to display what a situation like this may be like. And finally, they entertain through most of their episodes, whether this is through jokes as seen on the 29/01/24 episode at 05:55 where they play around splashing each other with soap and bubbles.

The episode starts by their host Roifield Brown announcing that the 29/01/24 episode is Monday’s episode of The Archers and that its on BBC 4. This then transitions into their theme song that plays for 15 seconds and then fades for 5 seconds into the first narrative. The first scene starts with scrubbing noises as we learn that someone called “Tracey” is cleaning another character called “Jolene’s” car. We learn that we are outside at 0:50 as another diegetic foley sound is played in the form of birds, creating the feeling that the audience is outside with the characters. They then start talking about how the pub is getting its outside done and the doors are getting renovated. The colloquial language used by each character makes it seem as if we are a person just listening to their day-to-day conversation, it doesn’t make it seem that we are audience and the use of diegetic sounds to convey this. The scene then changes to Jolene and Kenton in the pub talking about how, apart from the electrics, they will be able to start the pub back up, which is promptly followed to another scene of Jolene and Kenton coming outside to Tracey and Emma washing her car. Tracey is trying to splash Emma with water saying that she hasn’t helped her and we promptly hear her do so due to the diegetic sound of laughter and splashing noises assuming that the water is being thrown. The two then get told that they will be able to open up the pub again and we can physically hear a sound of joy, making the audience listening at home feel happy for the pub workers as they eagerly say that they will go home and put on their work clothes while also spreading the word that the pub is opening again. After this display of joy, we then have a time jump, where we are now in the pub. We know this due to the use of diegetic noise to reflect that of a bustling establishment, with noises of glasses linking them ringing for an order. We hear them talking about how they’re going to take the empty glasses out back and they then start discussing how they should announce the winner of the drinking competition, Kenton asks everyone to be quiet where he then promptly announces the winner. This ends the episode and it is then followed out by the end music which slowly fades away. Throughout the episode there are no breaks and no more narration other than the announcement at the very start, this makes for a flowing episode where people can listen to 13 minutes about everything that is happening.

The programme uses sound to give the effect that the audience is actually with the character. They do this in multiple ways, one of which we can see in the 29/01/24 episode where when Emma and Tracy are talking to each other we are able to hear the diegetic noise of birds chirping in the background, this makes the audience feel as if they’re actually outside washing the car with them instead of just being listeners. This allows for them to be more enticed in the episode and allows for a more personal experience while listening to the episodes. There is another example of this via their theme song – their theme song acts as a gateway into the episode allowing the audience to fully immerse themselves into the episode via the theme song. It has become a staple of the show and allows for the audience to recognise the show from just listening to it, meaning that whenever they hear the theme song, they instantly correlate it to.

Task Allocation week 1

 

Production Log Week 1

 

Unit 14 - LO1 - P1

 

Radio Industry Operations	Definition	Examples of Stations	Ethos and Purpose	Funding / Revenue Streams	Typical Content	Reach/ Size
National commercial	A station that generates revenue through advertising and sponsorship and is not owned by the state.	Classic FM talkSPORT	Profit	Advertisement Sponsorship	Music News Weather Talking	RAJAR As of September 2023 Talksport gets a weekly listening of 3 million listeners according to Rajar
Public	Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service	BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 2	Inform, Educate and entertain	Licences	Music News Talk Weather	RAJAR   According to new RAJAR figures for the second quarter of 2023, capturing live listening only across all platforms, BBC Radio reached 31.7 million each week, with a share of 43.2%.
Regional	They originate programmes in the regional languages and dialects. Regional channels are located in the major linguistic-cultural region of every state.	BBC England BBC Scottland	Providing critical information empowering marginalized groups and addressing their issues and concerns	Advertising	Music News Talking	BBC Figures   BBC Nations radio and Local BBC Radio in England had a combined audience of 7.7m.
Community	Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular and relevant to a local, specific audience.	10 Radio 1055 the Point Fun kids L	A space for people to make radio in their own way, talk about meaningful issues in their lives and connect with others through respectful discussion listening and collaboration.	Crowd funding	Music Talk Gossip News	Coverage map   The station broadcasts to the people of Stevenston, Saltcoats and Ardrossan.
Internet	Internet radio is a digital audio service transmitted via the internet.	Reprezent Radio Cinemax	To communicate and easily spread messages through the form of talk	Advertising Crowd funding Sponsorships	Music Podcasts News Talk Sport	Beatles FM   540 people listen to the Beatles FM
Non-profit	A non-profit radio station means that any profits generated by the community radio station cannot be given to shareholders	College Radio Desi Radio	To not earn money!!!!!	N/A	Music Sport Local events Charity appeals	Desi radio   The estimated total number of listeners of Desi Radio was 133,093 (85%).

 

 

 

 

Talk/Music

Talk and or music radio programmes such as BBC Radio 5 Live’s Dotun Adebayo will usually talk to people who phone-in and discuss things like life or things that are happening. They will play music across the entire hour that the presenter will be there with some presenters changing throughout, not only this but the type of music may change with the presenter. They will have conversations with the people who phone-in with topics that they bring to the table.  They will talk to people about how their day was and anything they may be doing; they may usually even have a co-host that they talk to and will talk to each other about things they’re going to do.

Sport

Sport radios such as BBC Radio 5’s “5 Sport Extra” will discuss anything to do with sport. The sport may change depending on what is currently happening with some presenters being specific to their sport. If a sport event is happening live, they will usually narrate over what’s happening so that people who may not be able to watch it or have a subscription to watch it they will be able to listen to a sports presenter talk about what is happening. They may even have after game discussions where they will talk for a while after a game about what happened, what they think would be better and anything in the future.

Current Events

News radios such as BBC Radio 1’s “Newsbeat” are radio stations that provide information about current things happening in the world. Much like news stations on TV, radio news stations will provide the listeners the latest news that is happening in the world. They report on things that are important as of right now and things such as the weather. Most people will listen to this on their way to work in the morning and will act as some people’s main source of information.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle radios such as BBC Radio 5’s “Martin Lewis Podcast” are radio programme’s that just talk about things about their life. They will talk about things that are personal to them and converse with others about them. They may usually talk about recent events that happened to them and how they feel about it. Often lifestyle radio shows will have guests on them so that the host has someone to bounce off of so that the conversation isn’t entirely flat. Lifestyle radios may either be local or global shows, with local shows more often touching on events that are happening around them.

Dramatisations

Dramatisations such as BBC radio 4’s “The Archers” are radio programme’s that have the soul purpose of creating a narrative. The shows while usually trying to strive for entertainment purposes will have information and educated topics scattered throughout them as to meet the BBC’s ethos. These shows all have a narrative with episodes leading into each other. Some of these programmes may have breaks mid way through the show so that the presenters can explain what may be happening.

 

Comparing “The Archers” to the “Martin Lewis Podacast”

“The Archers” and “The Martin Lewis Podcast” are both very different types of radio programmes as while they both follow the ethos; they still place weight to different aspects of that ethos. In The Archers they mainly focus on entertainment as it is a dramatized radio show, and we can see that their episodes follow a similar structure each episode with each one leading into the next. Not only this but The Archers will use sound to make the audience feel as If they’re there with the characters. However, the characters in The Archers will never directly talk to the audience unlike in The Martin Lewis Podcast where he often will ask the audience questions. Not only this, but the Martin Lewis Podcast differs to The Archers in the fact that the episodes have nothing to do with each other. Each episode has an independent theme meaning it may be much easier for a new audience to get into the Martin Lewis Podcast than is would be to get into The Archers.

Not only this but the presenter of the Martin Lewis Podcast is much more present. In The Archers we can only hear the presenter as the very start of the show with him announcing the episode number and when its being aired, this makes it easier for people to follow where they’re at in the episode order if they’re trying to catch up with the show. However, The Martin Lewis Podcast has Martin Lewis as their main presenter and he is talking most way though the podcast (except when a guest may be speaking). He will talk more about his personal life and things going on with him rather than having a direct narrative which is very different to the archers as the have nothing to do with anything of the personal life of the actors and their aim is to have a narrative.