Big Update!

Right, sorry I meant to update this a lot earlier but I got ill.

Ok so on Wednesday, because we were pretty much ready to go, and no one else was, we went to the studio. I had already done some research, but Nathan and I switched roles so I was now the producer, which was alright because at least it meant I got that bit out of the way.

One of the many problems was that we only had a slight script; we presumed because the show was quite formatted we would only need the base of script, and we didn't want it to sound unnatural.
That was a Big mistake, but i'm glad it happened, because now we know a script is something we definately can't do without.

Another problem we faced was that unfortunately the Radio Studio is far from soundproof, and we had to contend withe noise from outside, which meant re-recording a lot of the links, and all the time I was getting more and more tense.
Eventually there was a big stand-off were evidentally everyone else thought we had been in the studio for too long, but then before we could get out , they went away taking one of our presenters with them effectively ending that days recording.

On Thursday we decided to come in early to avoid conflict but again we were missing a presenter so there was only so much we could do. We worked as much as we could and then though lunch, and then in the afternoon. And then when we had finished laying everything down we moved to an Edit Suite.

I had a hammering headache and felt likeI was going to explode! I find sound editing difficult at the best of times but with all the extra noise and the absenses, we had to record thingd out of sync, and because our show 'The Culture Club' involed two interviews in languages I don't speaks I just found it so difficult.

So I went home on Thursday afternoon because I just felt so ill. Marta very, very kindly said she would finish editing, making all the levels even and fades and basically making it sound professional. I didn't go in on Friday because I still wasn't feeling very well so that's the last I know about it.

So basically two main mistakes

1:Vague Script
2:Vague Job Roles
3:Un-Chronological recording

But you live and learn. Hopefully this week i'm the researcher and I can just get on with that and not be so stressy.

Aha. Ok, untill next time x

Meetings

We had a meeting on Friday where we discussed job roles (I am a researcher this week), and decided what kind of show we were going to do (European music).
Then yesterday we had such a useful meeting where we worked together to create the running order and scoured youtube for tracks we could play from different European bands. We also started working on our script.

We collaborated on all these things because on all the best radio shows there is a team ethic, and I think it will make our show sound more cohesive. Also we all have different music tastes and so do get a consensus on the tracks we will pay will hopefully mean our audience - who have different musical tastes aswell- also enjoy the music.

Today I have sourced all the music we decided on yesterday, and then in a mom ent i'm going to prepare a fact file type thing on all the different artist so our presenters (Marta and Keerah) can have some background information.

These are the songs we chose:
Violetta Villas - Oczy Czarne :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh4_0mk6L48
Marta Sanchez- Deperada:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjgD9W3DnJw
Toxoplasma- Asozial :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag7kRh1k9vY
Rhapsody of Fire- Emerald Sword :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye6YHQ8AZzU
The Beatles- All You Need is Love :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzJ2NKp23WU
Justice- D.A.N.C.E:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49esza4eiK4

Ok...

Well the presentation is done and I finally feel like I can breathe again. I'm so pleased I got a distinction and I managed to conquer the mind-numbing fear of presenting for the time being at least. Today we will have our first group meeting and I will get to find out what I am doing for the first show.

Ideally I would do researching for the first one, then researching then presenting.
Well we'll see :)
I'm going to print a minutes sheet off.

Sunta Templeton - Xfm

I realised that- appallingly- I hadn't listened to any female DJ's. I think this was because I'm trying to steer clear of being to mainstream and the ones I know of- Jo Whiley, Sarah Cox are mainstream,. However I think I'm going to broaden my horizons a bit an so expect a review of Sara Cox later. I also really need some commercial stations.

SO, let me introduce you to Sunta Templeton. Her show is on Sundays, split into two, hour sections either side of the Xfm's live hour. This is the first commercial station I've listened too, and so unlike the others , there are a lot of adverts, and that means Sunta doesn't speak as much as the other stations.

To be horribly honest I don't really mind. I just do not like her voice; and herein lies one of the problems with radio. Whatever good things people have to say, if you have an irritating voice it;s going to put people off.

The problem with it is , she sounds like she';s actively trying to be cool. She does sound enthusiastic, which is definitely a plus point- but i wouldn't be surprised if she's speaks RP when she isn't on air!

XFM is a commercial station,so there are lots and lots of adverts which really irritates me, and which is why I don't listen to it normally. In my opinion it wrecks the flow of the show. However it does give the station more opportunity's for branding. There are drops saying 'This is Xfm' and and 'Sunta' so you are never unsure who you are listening too.

It is a station that Broadcasts in and from London so you can't get it on FM, but you can on DAB and Online. The output of the station has changed since the digital revolution - before it used to be very London centred, but it is less so now, for fear of isolating other listeners.

Sunta also plugs the stations website a lot, which because that is how a lot of the audience listen, means that there website is very active.

According to Rajar, XFM reaches just 2% of it's target audience, which is a lot less than achieved by fellow London radio station, Capital Fm at 17%. I think this is due to XFm having more of an anti-mainstream output, and also Capital Fm are more established (They have been broadcasting since 1973, whereas XFm have been since 1997)

However,basically all of the London Radio Stations are owned by the capital group, so they do share a lot of their audiences.

There is no bed music in Sunta's show, but you don't really notice as her links are very short so her producers probably thing there isn't much point. She does talk nicely into the intros of songs, and rarely crashes the vocal. There is a three way ration here of adverts, speech and music, I would say it is about 20:10:70. You could very easily be listening to her show for a good twenty minutes before your realise there is actually a presenter. I think this just wrecks the identity, that the branded drops try to build up.

There is also very little audience interaction, which again de-personalises the show.

I don't know if Sunta's show is really appropriate for XFM, there seems to be too many mainstream songs for Xfm's promise of playing non-mainstream tracks. It also doesn't really cater to the whole 15-34 target audience age bracket; there are no older songs played, and a lot of the music is just contemporary and 'Too Cool For School' type music.

I didn't like it. For me too enjoy a show that has adverts, it needs to be brilliant, funny and have excellent, different music. It failed on all of those accounts. Sunta presents so little I'm surprised she gets payed. There are no special points, no features at all. The playlist is stale and often boring.

No good, in my opinion.

Putting the presentation together...

Ok so it's Tuesday today and the presentation is either tomorrow or Sunday. (I wish we knew for sure, i'm not going to be able to breathe properly for 48 hours!). I'm so frustrated we didn't have longer, but we are all in the same boat so at least it's fair.
I'm putting it together at the moment. I handed my questionnaire round yesterday and with a lot of help from Ed, who handed them round hic class, I got 18 responses which i'm very pleased with. I have also given them to my parents to take their respective work places and to get a wider range of responses.
So this morning I have tallied up te respnses so far, and then written my first and second ideas. I'm still scrabbling madly around in my head for a third idea!

Questionnaire

I'm going to hand this questionnaire around today:

1) What's your favourite Radio Station?
2)Why?
3) What's your favourite Radio show?
4) Why?
5)Orders these Items in order of importance of what you thin makes a good radio show:
Good Show
Chart Music
New Music
Phone-ins
News and Weather
Interviews with celebrities
Exciting jingles and sound effects
6) Have you ever heard a DJ you thought was awful? If yes, what was so bad about them?



My printer is being rubbish at the moment but i'm gfoing to print out quite a few, and the maybe post in on facebook and send it too my contacts on hotmail and maybe Yahoo!Answers.

Idea 2

My second idea is a weekly show that would slot in on Saturdays after the breakfast show. It is a show dedicated music in films, new and old, and soundtracks. There would be a theme each week- for example James Bond Songs or Musicals.

To keep the show sounding fresh and up to date, each week there would be a movie review section- but instead of focusing mainly on the plot the focus would be the soundtrack. There could also be interview slots for film composers.

Because there is a finate amount of songs from films that would be broadcastable, it would only be on for an hour each week. That way songs wouldn't have to be repeated too often a month and it wouldn't sound stale.

Frank McCarthy (BFBS Radio)

BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) radio is aired in 23 countries where british troops are in action. It's demographic is service personnel and their family, and their USP is playing messages to and from the troops. The station keeps troops up to date with music and happenings at home.
Every night there are one or two programmes under the heading 'The Specialists'. There are specialist shows is dance, rock, 'songs of the yesteryear', trance, groove, and New Music.



Frank McCarthy is the head of music and presents BFBS'S new music show, Music First on Sunday Evenings.

It's quite a simple show. There aren't lots of sound effects, there isn't any bedding music.There isn't a lot of talk between tracks (I'd say about a 15/85 speech to music radio).

Frank's delivery is that of a friend who is just casually telling you about a band they have heard of; not over enthusiastic but earnest, interesting enough for you to listen to him. He rarely talks about anything other than music; there are fleeting references ot the listener- but a typical 10 minute segment

Introduce Track
Play Track
Back announce track
Introduce next track
Play next track

And that's it.

Music-wise, again not particularly groundbreaking. He plays new music, but not always from new artists. He plays mainly indie music, but there are some mainstream and rock tracks too.

Although it is quite listenable to whilst doing other things, I can;t imagine ever going - 'Oh it's time for Frank McCarthy- let's tune in!'.

I think that's mainly down to 3 things.

1: No interactive features - I just didn't feel a part of his show.

2:Boring Production- Ok so not everyone suits explosions and bombs, and also considering it's a radio show for the armed forces it's a bit innappropriate, but I think he could really benfit from at least some bed music and a more exciting jingle.

3: So little talking! - I actually want to know a bit about him. Something that would make me interested in him, something you might want to talk to him about. Or I want to hear him interact with a second presenter , or a producer , or even someone from a band. When he's not talking, it means I can start talking and when I'm talking i'm not listening.

First Idea- Night Time- Drive Time

My first idea is to do a night-time drive time type of show. Although there are innumerable drive-time shows all over the air-waves in the 4-7pm slot, my idea is to move that kind of show to a night-time slot, for people who have a long commute, or who are travelling somewhere, or on their way back home. Ithink either the 10pm-1am or 1am-4am slot would be suitable.
I've not formulated this idea totally yet, but I have thought of two features :

1: Song to Wake You Up: This would be a high energy, up tempo song - a different one for each of the three hours of air time. It would be chosen by passengers in the car, or by drivers who had pulled in at service stations via text (would have to specify not to text in if you are driving).

2:Driving Game of the Day: Another chance for listeners to interact with the show, people could phone up (same rules as before) and explain there game and then other people could text in and compare notes.

I'm excited about this idea, I think it's something really different and would be fun to make.

Rob da Bank

The Rob da Bank show is on on Saturdays 5 am - 7am, sandwiched between Radio 1's Essential mix - The world's biggest DJs on the world's biggest decks and Edith Bowman Music, entertainment and the latest flim and DVD news .

His show is Radio 1's leftfield show - techno, bleeps, ambient and accoustic. He plays Strange and beautiful leftfield music.

On the Radio 1 schedule I think Rob da Bank is most comprable to Zane Lowe; they both play an extensive range of music and aren't hemmed in by how famous the artists are or their genre. However their presenting styles couldn't be more different. Zane Lowe is hyped and energetic, passionate about the music he plays. He uses a lot of sound effects like klaxons and explosions and it all helps to imbue the listener with his passion. Rob da Bank has a more lazy style. This doesn't mean he's a bad DJ by any means; his style suits his slot. Between 5am and 7am most people are asleep, and the ones that are conscious are just waking up, they want someone to gradually ease themselves into their day, and Rob da Bank more that satisfies that need.

Another reason for his more relaxed style is the type of music he plays. Although, as I have said, he covers a lot of genres, all of it is relatively relaxed. There isn't a lot of Drum n Bass or up-tempo dance music. It would sound wrong if before, for example Julie Andrews & Moondog & Martyn Green — Favourite Nursery Rhymes, which is pretty much what is sounds like, a DJ introduced it in the same way they did a song by Pendulum.

Technically, his show has the kind of dream-like quality his presenting has, although this is all infused with a youthful touch, because is target audience like the rest of Radio 1 is 16-25.

For his bed music, he uses the intros of songs. This is a good method for him, as a lot of the tracks he plays are quite long. This means he gets to introduce the song at the same time as it is being played, which sounds professional and smooth. He also sometimes uses the track he has just played as bedding music when the next song isn't suitable to use a bed music.

His levels are interesting too; his mic is up higher than the bed music than most radio shows. I'm not a hundred percent sure why he does this, but it might be another ploy to keep his audience awake!

As the show is not commercial, there is a continuous flow of content which helps to keep the show fluid and smooth. If there were adverts I think that the ambiance would be ruined, and it wouldn't feel so together. There aren't may shows like Rob da Banks on commercial radio for just that reason; the commercial would just sound incongruous.

There is minimal audience interaction, which I think is down too the early morning slot; most people don't want to be texting into the radio between 5 and 7 on a Saturday morning. This is also because of the amount of music that is played. On this 2 hour show there are usually around 30 tracks played. This is roughly the same amount of song played on Greg James' 3 hour show, so you can see that Rob da Bank has a much higher music to speech ratio, as he doesn't have many features.

There is also virtually no branding; or any stings to show you whose show it is. I wonder if the BBC just puts less effort into the more obscure shows, or just assumes if you are listening at 5am on a Saturday morning you'll know whose talking.

The two features Rob da Banks show does have are both music based, and barely features really- 'ROB’S BEST AND IMPROBABLY GREAT RECORD IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW… POSSIBLY… WELL AT LEAST FOR THIS MORNING…MAYBE' is his tentatively named take on Zane Lowe's ' Hottest Record in the World Right Now'- just a song that he likes. Saturday Skank is a reggae flavoured song that doesn't even get announced until after it's been played.

The thing about this show is there's nothing that makes it essential listening, it's all rather lazy and a little bit boring. I'd turn on if I was driving that early on the morning or wanted a bit of background noise pottering around the house, but I wouldn't make an effort. It's defiantly appropriate for 16-25 because the music is very contemporary, but it's not for mainstreamer's as it's too out there.

First Post

Hello!
I've been given the genre of Music radio, which i'm pleased about as it is very vast and so I have a lot of oppurtunity to create different show ideas.
There are (obviously) many different types of music. On this assignment for the most part, i want to stear clear of pop. I'd like to do somethng really really different.