How I Contributed To The Task

When we first started to plan at the beginning of the year i helped organise how we would lay out our radio show with help from all of the other members of my group.

When we started recording our preliminary task, i helped with the editing and getting everything sounding good. I spent about 10-11 hours of my own private study time out of Media lessons to piece together our preliminary task.

I researched into local weather and traffic ready to present my findings on the preliminary radio task and also looked into local and national news for all of our group so we all had a story we could discuss. I also found music from my own computer at home and put it onto my memory stick so we could transfer it onto the schools website, ready to play on our radio show.

I have researched and looked into a variety of local radio stations, varying from Heart FM in Oxford, to Red Dragon in Wales! I have looked into the typical conventions of all of these radio stations and how they vary and differ.

Timeline of My Radio News

Jingle (Introduce Hosts) 0.30

David with Headlines: 0.10

Haiti 1.00

National Television Awards 1.00

Jen with local news 0.10

Local Headlines 1.00

Outside Broadcast/Voxpop 0.30

Sam with sport 0.15

Football 0.15

Rugby 0.15

Olympics 0.15

Jack and Jen with weather and traffic 0.30

Ending credits and jingles 0.10

Total: 6.00

Red Dragon FM (South Wales, 97.4 and 103.2)

Pauses/slang/catch phrase

"Red Dragon FM" - in echoed voice. Voice made lower to sound almost dominating!

"We Play The Hits Non Stop. Red Dragon".

Talks about themselves?

"I'm Tony Scott and that was the Script". The DJ doesn't particulary talk about himself and his personal opinions nor himself as a person.

About the record

Once again, the DJ doesn't talk about the record specifically, he just mentions what has played and also what songs are coming up.

About or to the listener

Audience are able to call in. The DJ asks what she has been up to today and also wishes the caller's mother a happy birthday. He also asks what the listener would like to listen to. Adverts play and then the chosen song plays.
Talk to caller about Christmas and how they are putting up their Christmas decorations.

Digresses to another subject

Talks about a song that has just played and then disgresses quickly to a competition Red Dragon are holding: "If you want to win tickets you will need to find the ticket monkey at Cardiff's Tesco and ask him for a ticket!" Shortly after this he then digresses to another competition being held for a chance to win fuel money. Digressing helps to keep the audience interested.

Say what’s coming up

"More coming up after Chipmunk, this is Red Dragon".

"That was Westlife. Stay tuned for Cheryl Cole coming up next"

"Beyonce coming up after JLS".

Lots of talk on what is coming up next, another good way to keep audience listening. Whilst i was listening lots of chart music was being played which is what i would like to listen to as part of a young audience. Having quick cuts of speech mentioning what is coming up and then carrying on with chart music is a good way of informing and entertaining at the same time.

BBC Radio Newcastle FM (95.4)

Pauses/slang/catch phrase

“BBC Radio, Radio for the North East” – catchphrase.

Talks about themselves?

Yes, they talk about Christmas presents and what they have bought their family members in the past.

About the record

"Its ten to eleven, this is Pixie Lott". This radio show focuses more on talking to the listener. Radio 1 for example, focuses most of its chat on music whereas BBC Newcastle doesn't really focuse so much on music.

About or to the listener

Yes, people text in about their Christmas presents and what they have brought for each other. They then discuss the texts and give their opinion on it. They talk to the listeners about bad traffic and how new bridges/roads are being made and how to avoid the jam. Asking people to call in to talk about songs that remind them of certain things.

Digresses to another subject

Yes, very quickly they change from Steven Gately’s funeral; to I’m a celebrity and then straight over the X Factor.

Say what’s coming up.

Yes talks about how artist from the Spin Doctors is coming into the studio to chat . Duffy coming up; "We'll talk politics after Duffy".next.

Heart FM (Oxfordshire, 102.6)

Pauses/slang/catch phrase

“Heart Breakfast, with Matt and Gisele”. Slang is rarely used, standard english with the occasional 'dunno' instead of don't know. No really noticeable slang used. Pauses not really used.

Talks about themselves?

Local radio stations tend not to talk about themselves on air. They mainly talk about the news and things that involve the listeners such as competitions and chances to call in to discuss. Occasionally Matt and Gisele (who appear to be friends as well as colleagues) will talk about random matters such as their cars or holidays and where they are going in the week. Otherwise, there is not much chat on the presenters.

About the record?

They Just talks about the artist, no real info on the record. Occasional 'Oh i love this song, buy the album!' but this doesn't happen very often. Whilst listening and analysing Heart FM i have noticed, particulary in the morning that there is very little chat and there will be a jingle followed by more tracks. Presenters don't really get the chance to talk about the record.

About or to the listener?

Yes, they have phone calls with listeners and talk about many categories, they were talking about granny ‘boobies’ when I tuned in! Listeners will occasionally call in but this happens more at night when everyone is driving home from work . More people are tuned in so this seems the best time to talk to the listeners. Listeners driving home from work tend to call in and they will talk about the traffic and accidents etc.

Digresses to another subject?

They tend to digress only slightly, for example whilst talking about the X Factor, presenters ask listeners to text in their thoughts and who they want to win.

Say whats coming up?

Yes, there is a jingle and then a presenter talks how 'Blue' and 'James Morrison' are coming, also they mention to stay tuned for some more 'club classics'.

Update on coursework

We are now working on getting our actual coursework started and finished. We are discussing our vox pop and where we are going to interview some of the public. We think we will go to Oxford and ask members of the public their opinions on some stuff - what is it we will be asking has not been confirmed yet!

For our recorded interview we are going to use the idea we had for our preliminary and use an archive sound clip of T-Pain, a famous rapper which we can access from Jack's Iphone or if neccessary, my sister's Iphone.

Roll on coursework! :]

Preliminary Exercise

We have finally finished our preliminary! We took quite alot of recording out of our practice exercise and changed it into a 40 second sound clip. We found it really difficult uploading the sound clip onto our blogs but David has managed to convert it into a video file so it should be posted soon!