Radio: The Surgery & Life Hacks

Analysis

Listen to the extracts from The Surgery and Life Hacks above and answer the following questions:

1) What do the titles The Surgery and Life Hacks suggest?

-"The Surgery" suggests the dissection of something, suggesting that the radio show "dissects" and breaks down the issues of young people today, which is what is discussed during the show.
- "Life Hacks" suggests that the radio show is revolved around discussing how to take shortcuts and avoid issues in life

2) How are the programmes constructed to appeal to a youth audience?

• Interviewing/Vox Popping fellow students/young people so that target audience feel more engaged and connected
• Referencing relevant topics e.g. student loans/University
• Background music- pace and genre is suited to a youth audience (upbeat, energetic, etc.)
• Presenter legitimises and sympathises with young people's concerns; this is reinforced through the mental health focus
• Content is directed by audience interaction

3) What does the choice of presenter (e.g. Katie Thistleton) and Dr Modgil suggest about the BBC’s approach to diversity and representation?
-Katie represents 90% of BBC's audience (white)
-Her northern accents creates a sense of regional identity (audience pleasure)
-Dr Raja's ethnic minority background suggests that BBC are attempting to keep the show diverse and not restricted

4) Look at this promotional graphic produced by BBC for The Surgery. How does it construct a representation of a youth audience?

-Use of emoji's relates to youth culture

-Use of Hashtag- referential to social media
-Idea that social media has a huge impact on your life- primarily the youth
-Direct address 

5) Now look at the graphic from a digital media perspective: how does it suggest audiences are listening to and interacting with BBC broadcasts in the digital media landscape?

-Social media hashtag as well as call and text- interaction via multiple media platforms
-Website link

Audience

1) What is the target audience for BBC Radio 1?

15-29 year old

2) Who is the actual audience for BBC Radio 1?

Average age is 30, median is 32

3) What audience pleasures are offered by The Surgery and Life Hacks? Apply Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory.

• Personal identity- presenters give their own relatable experiences e.g. paying with countless. This is also touched via anecdotes from interviewees
• Making dry topics more personal
• Knowing other people are going through the same thing as you- feeling of relief
• Regional identity through presenters e.g. Brighton, Southern, Northern.
• Opinion leaders (presenters)- two step flow. Audience create personal relationship with them and trust their opinions 

4) Read these Guardian reviews of The Surgery and Life Hacks. What do the reviews praise the programmes for?

The Surgery Guardian review

Life Hacks Guardian review

• tackling the strange intensities of teenage life with sensitivity and – importantly – practical advice
• Teaches young people essential life lessons such as what rape is
• inspirational

5) Read this NME feature on Radio 1 listener figures. What are the key statistics to take from this article regarding the decline in Radio 1 audience ratings?

• Radio 1 has lost 200,000 weekly listeners since May, when they attracted 9.4 million listeners a week.
• Despite the overall decline, outgoing Breakfast Show host Nick Grimshaw has actually seen a slight increase in his ratings – pulling in an extra 300,000 listeners since May for a new total of 5.3 million.
  
• Radio 1 Controller Ben Cooper said: “At a time of huge change for Radio 1, I’m delighted to see us bringing in 10 million weekly listeners, 10 million social followers, and a record 16 million weekly viewers of our YouTube content.”
  

Industries

1) How does The Surgery and Life Hacks meet the BBC mission statement to Educate, Inform and Entertain? 

• Education- eg how to avoid debt via anecdotes from interviewees and presenters
• Stormzy interview= entertainment. This is an example of lifestyle programming, which is the radio's way of attempting to stay relevant

2) Read the first five pages of this Ofcom document laying out its regulation of the BBC. Pick out three key points in the summary section.

• The BBC is the UK’s most widely-used media organisation, providing programming on television and radio and content online. The public has exceptionally high expectations of the BBC, shaped by its role as a publicly-funded broadcaster with a remit to inform, educate and entertain the public, and to support the creative economy across the UK.
• 1.2  To meet these expectations, the BBC must deliver the mission and public purposes set out in its new Royal Charter (the Charter). For the first time, the BBC will be robustly held to account for doing so by an independent, external regulator. Alongside responsibilities for programme standards and protecting fair and effective competition in the areas in which the BBC operates, the Charter gives Ofcom the job of setting the BBC’s operating licence(the Licence). This sets binding conditions, requiring the BBC to deliver for licence fee- payers. It is also our job to scrutinise, measure and report on the BBC’s performance.
• 1.3  On 29 March 2017, we consulted on a draft Licence setting out requirements for the BBC to fulfil its remit, and plans for Ofcom to measure the BBC’s overall performance. We have carefully considered more than 100 responses from members of the public and industry.We have taken account of the BBC’s interim annual plan for 2017/18, published on 3 July 2017. We have also carried out bespoke research into audience opinions and expectations of the BBC.

3) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points relate to BBC Radio 1 and The Surgery / Life Hacks?

• a) Strengthen news and current affairs rules. To make sure the BBC reaches the widest audiences possible with its news and current affairs content, we have increased quotas for news on BBC One and current affairs on BBC One and BBC Two, and set new regulatory conditions for radio. Radio 2 will be required, for the first time, to air at least three hours of news and current affairs in peak time per week, and Radio 1 will be required to broadcast an extended news bulletin in peak time each weekday
• d)  Support social action campaigns on BBC radio. We are requiring Radio 1 to offer a minimum number of major social action campaigns each year. Providing information and raising awareness of social issues affecting young people and giving them a platform to engage with is one of the key ways Radio 1 can set itself apart from other radio stations
• h) Require the BBC to reflect the full diversity of the UK population. We are requiring the BBC to put in place a new commissioning Code of Practice for Diversity, approved by us, by April 2018. This will ensure that on- and off-screen diversity considerations are embedded in the commissioning process. We will also ensure the BBC is publicly accountable for achieving its workforce diversity targets. It must now report in detail on its progress towards these targets each year.

4) What do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? Why?

5) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience? 

Ofcom's reports show that some groups feel excluded and therefore plan to review programme's offered by the BBC-including peek time shows- in order for everybody to feel as though the BBC offers something for them.

Read this Guardian interview with BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper.

6) What is Ben Cooper trying to do with Radio 1?

• My focus is to bring new audiences and new ways to the BBC,” he says.
• “I want Radio 1 to be the Netflix of music radio,

7) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest?
On the one hand one can argue that radio is doing better due to their influence on audiences through social media as well the timings of the data collected could be inaccurate. 

8) Why does he suggest Radio 1 is distinctive from commercial radio?

He believes that they are distinctive from commercial radio as they play 4,000 different songs whereas commercial radio plays around 400.

9) Why is Radio 1 increasingly focusing on YouTube views and digital platforms?

More focus is being put into digital media platforms because traditional radio is suffering a decline - people (especially young people) don't listen to the radio as much as previous generations did. Younger audiences enjoy video content and an ability to form relationships with the people telling the stories.

10) In your opinion, should the BBC’s remit include targeting young audiences via Radio 1 or should this content be left to commercial broadcasters? Explain your answer.
In my opinion i think content should be more left to commercial broadcasters because is allows BBC to stay within competition and widen their audience. This is especially important as Radio is a declining market with less and less listeners every year.