There are two different types of broadcast radio stations which are public service and commercial both of which develop their playlists for a number of reasons. Public Service stations have specific demographic profiles to appeal to. Commercial Radio Stations often aim to reach larger audiences by playing a wide range of music, they also regularly allow the audience to choose songs by contacting the station via phone or social networking sites.
An example of broadcast radio is XFM. This station plays three songs of varying genre per hour, although the majority of the music is indie and soft rock. In addition to playing music the presenters occasionally read music related news, with frequent advertisements playing throughout. The theme of the show is conversational, however, the presenters adopt an informal, more personal style. This suits the core target audience of 18-28 year old people, whilst remaining appealing to the spillover of 27-35 year old people.
Another example of a broadcast radio station is Capital FM. This radio station although similar to XFM in some respects, appeals to a different demographic. Here the presenters use a conversation style while remaining informal and relatable by speaking with Manchester accents and the use of occasional slang, this helps them reach their wide target audience of 15-34 year olds. The show consists of mainstream pop and RnB music, along with informational content such as the news and weather. They also identify themselves up to 7 times per hour in between the main content of the show.
Another third example of broadcast radio is Smooth Radio. Here informative content such as the news and weather is delivered by two young presenters in an informal way, by use of slang for example. Jazz and Soul make up the majority of the music played, which could provide a relaxing atmosphere and appeal to their older target audience of people aged 40 and older.
There are so many advantages of Broadcast radio, you can listen anywhere you go but in some places you might not able to listen broadcast radio because you might lose signal of the Radio Station. It could be at home, work or while driving. You can get variety of Broadcast Radios on the car stereo, a stereo at home, television, mobile phones, IPods, the Internet and many other places.
On the 14th March 2013, we went to on the trip at the Media City UK, BBC Radio's Studio and spoke to an public service broadcaster from BBC Radio Manchester who told us some of information, this is below:-
- Playlist Choice - They choose their songs by picking songs that people don't turn off from, rather than being their favourite. A presenter can sell a song more for they say they like it therefore this will help them choose certain songs.
- Amount of Speech - The radio is using 60% of speech and 40% music. They said that the older the target audience, the more speech is used because this is what they want. The target audience is age 55+.
- Station Branding - At the radio station, they told us that they use branding and identification in every link and after every advert. Therefore this can be often throughout the show.
Internet Radio
Internet radio services are a popular type of radio all over the world. They offer all different types of entertainment including news, sports, talk and a variety of genres of music.
Internet radio stations tend to aim towards more specific demographics. This could mean that an audience may spend more time listening if they enjoy more of the content included, whereas listeners may only enjoy certain aspects of the broadcast radio stations. However, the negative side of appealing to a narrower audience also means there will be fewer listeners.
An example of this is an Internet radio stations called Punk FM, which unlike broadcast radio stations, has no presenter speaking in between segments. Instead up to 20 songs per hour are played, which is almost fully interrupted musical entertainment. This Internet radio station like others, tends to play only one genre of music, which in his case is punk rock music from 1976-1979. This is a good example of an Internet radio station with a very specific demographic.
Another Internet radio station is Shock FM which is run and aired by the University of Salford. Although Internet based, this station adopts a style similar to broadcast radio stations. Several presenters deliver content including the news and university related events such as a vote for a new university councillor. As well as this, music is also played, up to 8 songs per hour mainly from dance and Hip
Hop genres. The presenters talk very informally throughout the show, about different topics ranging from current events to personal matters. They also identify themselves occasionally which is similar to broadcast radio stations.
Some Internet radios pretty much play the same as which a Broadcast Radio, but they don't get broadcasted and they're cheaper. They don't have any adverts on which some of the listeners may prefer.
In-Store Audio
Majority of shopping centres and retailers are use in store audio for a couple of reasons. These can be for promotional purposes where songs are used to promote products and sales or where they choose to play ambient sounds to create a relaxing mood or atmosphere while patrons wander around the premises.
An example of In-Store Audio is Topshop, Topshop sell the clothes that are on trend. It is really trendy and it has all of the latest fashion, it is a women clothes for teenagers/ young adult. The clothes they sell are kinda like the young famous women so the songs they used are the music chart like Rihanna, Rita Ora, Justin Timberlake and etc. Sometimes they have presenters to speak on the speaker but only talking about the deals in Topshop and in their area. Like Topshop are in the Trafford Centre, they will talk about any exciting news in Trafford Centre. They won't do adverts at all and they won't use news/weather or anything. Some in the stores will brand/identity themselves, there is mainly music played so the presenter's personality isn't shown.
In-Store is a lot cheaper than running a Broadcast Radio. The presenters of In-Store Audio can only assume you will like the music from what clothing you wear and from the fact you shop in their store, they may not please all of their customers because they don't like the genre of the music or they don't like the songs which they are playing. An advantage of this listening to an In-Store is the signal, the signal will most likely not go fuzzy or anything because it is the actual stores Radio which you are shopping in, but if one of the customers really like the radio they won't able to listen to it unless they were in the store.
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