Media 28/11/08

This assignment is purely based on a radio show called ‘The Broadcaster’. I have to write an analysis of the show with a minimum of 500 words.

My analysis has to explain:

The use of speech.
The use of music.
The use of sound.
The use of editing.
The realism of the play, in other words, how realistic is it?

The Broadcaster.

Speech
The Language of the play is relatively easy to understand, it’s English and the actors are well spoken so that you can understand what they are saying. The storyline in my opinion is quite awkward to get to grips with but I guess it’s like that with any play for the first few minutes. It is also a very strange storyline. It’s about a presenter who works in a normal radio station. He becomes very isolated in the studio by himself and he suddenly realises he gets smaller and smaller until he can climb up his own clothes towards the end of the play. I still don’t fully understand what the play is actually trying to say, even after listening to it lots of times. To be honest, I don’t really like it because I can’t understand it well enough to take interest in it. The accents of the actors sound North American, the narrator as well. The narrator in the play explains what is happening quite well, I found it easy to understand what was going on but I think that the narrating needed more explanations towards the beginning as to what the story is about.

Music
Some of the music in this I thought was quite catchy. The first track that is played in the studio was quite good and it kept me listening. Although there isn’t a lot of music that is played throughout the play. The majority of the play is speech talking about the presenter and the presenter talking about himself. I like the choice of music that was put into the play, some how it fits in quite nicely.

Sound
The sound that is used in the play in my opinion sets the scene. It is used to suggest movement, it suggests activity and it suggests that there is space. For example:

Movement – People walking down a corridor.
Activity – The presenter playing with the Decks
Space – People who talk from one on of the room to another, or down the phone.

These three could have been distorted or filtered to give the desired sound effect. Talking down the phone is a good example of filtering. It works really effectively and is easily believable. I think that all of the sound effects in this play are very good for the time it was made. Fade and silence can be used as an effect to some degree. A fade may be used to signify the start or the end of a play, where as silence can be used to signify a change of scene. In some cases, silence can be used for suspense but for this play, suspense isn't interpreted.

Editing
Editing is an important part of creating a play, if you have a time slot of say, 30 minutes, then it is good to delete or add scenes. For this play, it could have been much longer, maybe up to 50 – 60 minutes which isn’t any good if you want it to last for 30 minutes, which is what the running time for this play is. So it is good to edit the play and get rid of the material that you think wouldn't be any good.

For this play, it was impossible to tell whether there was any editing which is a good thing if you are the producer, you want a play to run smoothly without any glitches a ¼ ½ or ¾ of the way through the play. So I think that the use of editing has been used to its full advantage.

Realism
In my opinion, the play is half realistic and half non-realistic. The first half of the play is realistic but the second half begins to become a fantasy play when the presenter starts to shrink physically and then he becomes so small, the other presenters are able to put him inside the wall of his studio.

Media 17/11/08

For this assignment, I have to make a list of drama slots that have been on previously. I then have to listen to one play and comment on it. The main radio stations I will be focusing on will be BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 7.

BBC drama slots.

BBC Radio 3.

Plays that are played weekly on BBC Radio Three.

14/09/2008 : Blue Wonder.
21/09/2008 : A Disappearing Number.
28/09/2008 : Season of Migration to the North.
05/10/2008 : Tulips in Winter.
12/10/2008 : The Duchess of Malfi.
19/10/2008 : Black Watch.
26/10/2008 : Caligari.
02/11/2008 : Free Thinking.
09/11/2008 : All Quiet on the Western Front.
16/11/2008 : Tamburlaine, Shadow of God.

BBC Radio 4.

The Afternoon Play (Daily).

10/11/2008 : Brief Lives.
11/11/2008 : The Singer.
12/11/2008 : Keep your Pantheon.
13/11/2008 : Quartet.
14/11/2008 :Operation Charlie.

BBC Radio 7.

BBC Radio 7’s play, ‘The world as we know it’. Episodes are as follows.

05/11/2008 : The End.
06/11/2008 : The End.
12/11/2008 : The Election.
13/11/2008 : The Election.

The Play.

The play that I have chosen to listen to is ‘The Singer’ on BBC Radio 4.

I found this play very hard to follow at first and had started to lose interest very quickly. In my opinion it took quite a while for it to get going. The scenes were too close together so you couldn’t tell the first from the next scene. Although as it went on, it began getting easier to understand. I think that the sound effects where very convincing. I liked the fact that in every scene they have used some sort of background effects rather than just have silence. For example: the scene is set in a living room of a house or flat of some sort and rather than just having silence, they have the BBC News on in the background which I’m presuming is on the telly. I thought that was quite clever.

I thought the acting was good but not brilliant. I’m not an actor but it sounds to me as if they were trying too hard and when you try too hard at something it doesn’t always turn out as you expect it to. The arguments, for example: They didn’t sound that realistic. Normally, with arguments, you would get shouting in most cases certainly with relationships and affairs which was partly what this play was about. If I could put the arguments into one word, I would say they were blunt, only because in my opinion the voices didn’t have enough power, they just got to a certain level and stopped at that level, almost as if they couldn’t get any louder or any stronger. In terms of accents I thought that was really good. The accents fit in with the storyline which is set in Manchester, so most of the actors have northern accents, whether that was acting or real I don’t know but it is good how they have taken that into consideration.

Over all, I thought the play was good. I don’t normally listen to radio plays that much mainly because I lose interest and then switch over to another station but this was interesting, once it got into it.

Media 11/11/08

For the time being, we have left our radio projects until further notice as we have had a rather important assignment to complete. This assignment is based on radio industry with my main case study as BBC Hereford and Worcester, Please read on.

BBC Hereford and Worcester
Case Study

For this case study, I will be listening to BBC Hereford and Worcester to see how they produce their weekly show and their programmes. I will be answering the following questions.

Summarise the weekly programme schedule – who are the main presenters? What are the dominant genres of programming? Give Examples.

Monday

For BBC Hereford and Worcester, the weekly programme schedule start’s at 5am on Monday morning with Toni McDonald who plays some music and talks. Toni’s show is only on for an hour and so at 6am until 9am, Howard Bentham takes over with his show which is called ‘The best start to the day, with news, sport, travel and laughter. Then from 9am until 12pm we have Tony Fisher, with his show called, ‘Your Show, Your Life!’ Following that we have Andrew Easton for three hours with his news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This show consists of music as well, the news sport and weather is only broadcasted every 20 minutes. Then at 3pm we have Keith Gooden with the news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This is the same, this show also consists of music with news, sport and weather updates and the latest travel information every 20 minutes. This show also lasts for three hours. At 6pm until 9pm we have Mike George’s music including 80’s hour which plays music from the 80’s. Finally we have Rob underwood from 9pm until 12am on Tuesday morning with Rob with the late show. From 12am onwards BBC Hereford and Worcester join forces with BBC Radio 5 Live.

Tuesday

Tuesday starts at 5am with Toni McDonald who plays some music and talks. Toni’s show is only on for an hour and so at 6am until 9am, Howard Bentham takes over with his show which is called ‘The best start to the day, with news, sport, travel and laughter. Then from 9am until 12pm we have Tony Fisher, with his show called, ‘Your Show, Your Life!’ Following that we have Andrew Easton for three hours with his news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This show consists of music as well, the news sport and weather is only broadcasted every 20 minutes. Then at 3pm we have Keith Gooden with the news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This is the same, this show also consists of music with news, sport and weather updates and the latest travel information every 20 minutes. This show also lasts for three hours. At 6pm until 10pm we have Mike George’s music including 80’s hour which plays music from the 80’s. Finally we have Rob underwood from 9pm until 12am on Tuesday morning with Rob with the late show. From 12am onwards BBC Hereford and Worcester join forces with BBC Radio 5 Live.

Wednesday

Wednesday starts at 5am with Toni McDonald who plays some music and talks. Toni’s show is only on for an hour and so at 6am until 9am, Howard Bentham takes over with his show which is called ‘The best start to the day, with news, sport, travel and laughter. Then from 9am until 12pm we have Tony Fisher, with his show called, ‘Your Show, Your Life!’ Following that we have Andrew Easton for three hours with his news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This show consists of music as well, the news sport and weather is only broadcasted every 20 minutes. Then at 3pm we have Keith Gooden with the news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This is the same, this show also consists of music with news, sport and weather updates and the latest travel information every 20 minutes. This show also lasts for three hours. At 6pm until 9pm we have Mike George’s music including Soul Hour. Finally we have Rob Underwood from 9pm until 12am on Tuesday morning with Rob with the late show. From 12am onwards BBC Hereford and Worcester join forces with BBC Radio 5 Live.

Thursday

Thursday starts at 5am with Toni McDonald who plays some music and talks. Toni’s show is only on for an hour and so at 6am until 9am, Howard Bentham takes over with his show which is called ‘The best start to the day, with news, sport, travel and laughter. Then from 9am until 12pm we have Tony Fisher, with his show called, ‘Your Show, Your Life!’ Following that we have Andrew Easton for three hours with his news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This show consists of music as well, the news sport and weather is only broadcasted every 20 minutes. Then at 3pm we have Keith Gooden with the news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This is the same, this show also consists of music with news, sport and weather updates and the latest travel information every 20 minutes. This show also lasts for three hours. At 6pm until 9pm we have Mike George’s music including Cool Jazz Hour. Finally we have Rob Underwood from 9pm until 12am on Tuesday morning with Rob with the late show. From 12am onwards BBC Hereford and Worcester join forces with BBC Radio 5 Live.

Friday

Friday starts at 5am with Toni McDonald who plays some music and talks. Toni’s show is only on for an hour and so at 6am until 9am, Howard Bentham takes over with his show which is called ‘The best start to the day, with news, sport, travel and laughter. Then from 9am until 12pm we have Tony Fisher, with his show called, ‘Your Show, Your Life!’ Following that we have Andrew Easton for three hours with his news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This show consists of music as well, the news sport and weather is only broadcasted every 20 minutes. Then at 3pm we have Keith Gooden with the news, sport and weather updates along with the latest travel information. This is the same, this show also consists of music with news, sport and weather updates and the latest travel information every 20 minutes. This show also lasts for three hours. At 7pm until 9pm we have Andrew Marston with The Friday Session introducing 100 percent local music. Finally we have Rob Underwood from 9pm until 12am on Tuesday morning with Rob with the late show. From 12am onwards BBC Hereford and Worcester join forces with BBC Radio 5 Live.

Saturday

The weekend schedule runs much more differently. On Saturday, BBC Hereford and Worcester starts broadcasting at 6am with Jason Harold with Saturday Breakfast which lasts until 9am. At 9am we move on to The Saturday Gardening Show, with Mike George and Reg Moule, the running time for this is 2 hours. From 11am until 2pm we have Ellie Targett with Targett’s Top Tens where Ellie looks back at the music and stories of Yesteryear. From 2pm until 6pm we have Trevor Owens with all the local and national sport including reports on Hereford United, Worcester City and Redditch United’s games. From 6pm until 8pm we have Mary Fox with her Youth Club Classics. Following that we have John Helling with his show Big Bands, following the bands and singers from the 1940’s until this present day with live music listings, this show runs from 8pm until 10pm where we join Keith Middleton with music to take you into the early hours until 1am Sunday morning where BBC Hereford and Worcester join BBC Radio 5 Live.

Sunday

From 6am until 9am we have Andrew Easton with a lively look at the issues of faith, religion and ethics. His show also includes the Sunday service which runs from 7:05am until 7:30am. From 9am until 12pm we have Malcolm Boyden with fun and music for a Sunday morning. From 12pm until 3pm we have Toni McDonald with music and chat. We have Mike Wyer from 3pm until 6pm with music and entertainment. From 6pm until 8pm we have Jim Hawkins with Sunday night rock. Following that we have Genevieve Tudor with the finest selection of folk music from around the midlands and beyond, this show lasts from 8pm until 10pm where we join Keith Middleton to take you through to midnight with his selection of Music. Then from midnight onwards BBC Hereford and Worcester join BBC Radio 5 Live.

I would say that the main presenter is Mike George. I think this because judging by his work hours he is the only presenter that has more hours than any of the other presenters.

The dominant genres of programming I would say are mainly the talk shows, such as: Howard Bentham with ‘news, sport, travel and laughter’ and Tony Fisher with ‘Your show, Your life’.

Summarise the music policy – what are the dominant genres of music? Give examples.

I don’t think there is any particular genre of music to be honest. I think that BBC Hereford and Worcester is like any other radio station which plays all types of music ranging from old to new and from classical to modern.

What is the balance of speech to music?

The balance of speech to music is a difficult one, on the basis of the whole week, I would say that speech is more commonly used than music but is still very close to call in terms of balance.

What is the balance of live to pre-recorded material?

The balance of live to pre-recorded material is that in my opinion, live broadcasting is used more often than pre-recorded material. I think that pre-recorded material is only used for the news, sport and weather if no news or weather has come in by the time they come to broadcasting the slot of the news, sport and weather.

How does the station promote it’s self?

The station promotes it’s self by giving out a jingle every so often, maybe after the news and weather updates. It also promotes it’s self via the web. You can listen to BBC Hereford and Worcester online on BBC’s website which gives you links to guide you through to listen to the radio station. BBC Hereford and Worcester also provide information on the BBC website as to what sort of shows they do, what presenters are on and all the types of genres they play over their weekly schedule.

On the basis of what you have heard, what sort of audience is listening?

The sort of audience which I think were listening were people either at work or college in the weekdays. On the weekend I think that the older generation 60+ were listening due to the fact that there is a religion show, a gardening show and even a Sunday service for 25 minutes which I think would of attracted the more older people rather than the young people.

How does the station serve the BBC’s “Public Service” mission – refer to website as well as programmes.

In my opinion the station serve’s the BBC’s ‘Public Service’ mission by providing complete and up to date information of what’s going on in the county such is news and sport as well as the weather.

Analyse balance and coverage of news via listening and website – what is the ratio of local to national news?

The ratio of local to national news is maybe 2:1. I’m not that excellent on ratios but that’s what I believe the ratio stands as of today. The reason is because people who listen to BBC Hereford and Worcester would like to hear what’s going on in their local community which I think is top priority before national news if it’s a local radio station.

Compare BBC Hereford and Worcester with Wyvern FM.

In comparison With Wyvern FM, i don't think the two stations are much different from each other. I have heard Wyvern FM on various occassions and to me it just sounds the same as BBC Hereford and Worcester.

Compare BBC Hereford and Worcester to Radio Two and to Radio Four.

This is a big comparison between the two stations. To begin with, BBC Radio Two and Four both play lots more music. They do alot of talk shows and do the national news and the national weather rather than local news and the local weather, mainly because it is for the whole country to hear. Where as BBC Hereford and Worcester is just for Hereford and Worcester and anyh surrounding towns and villages within the county.

Compile list of questions for reporter’s visit on November 11.

What is it like being a reporter?

How hard is it being a reporter?

Do you encounter any problems whilst doing your job?

Have you had any major stories which have interested you in the past?