commercial radio

How many commercial radio stations are there in the UK?

There are 347 commercial radio stations currently operating in the United Kingdom.

How big is their audience?

31 million people listen to commercial radio every week

Name the three national commercial stations

The three national commercial stations are Absolute Radio (formerly Virgin), Talksport and classic fm.

Find three stations targeting ethnic minorities

Three stations targeting ethnic minorities are Rainbow Radio, which targets the African community, Gaydar radio, which targets the gay community in London, and finally, London Greek radio, which targets the Greek community across London.

Find one station targeting alternative life-styles
An example of a station that targets alternative lifestyles would be Gaydar Radio

Name one religious station

An example of a religious station would be premier Christian radio.

What is the variation in advertising costs?
The variation in advertising costs is between £100 and £20,000 a week

What are the main roles in a typical commercial station - and what are the differences between a BBC local radio stations?
A typical commercial radio station would have presenters, who are the main link between the listener and the radio station itself. Secondly, a commercial radio station would have news and travel team, this varies form station to station, but the bigger ones are likely to have professional journalists. C Another major role that all commercial stations are likely to have is a programme director, who decides on the stations music policy and also decides on the mood of the stations. Other major roles that a commercial radio stations have include a person who gets all the adverts for the station, and also sound engineers who oversee the technical side of things. The big difference between commercial radio stations and BBC stations is that they do not have advertisers, due to the fact that they are paid for by the license fee.

How many people are currently using DAB?
There are currently over 7 million DAB sets in the UK.
Name six ways in which stations enhance their output via the web. Give two specific examples.
The first way that stations enhance their put-put VI a web is through online streaming, an example of this is that Capital radio let you listen to their station online simply by clicking on a link. Another way that stations enhance their output via the web is by providing news and travel section that expands on what is already heard on air. By this I mean that the newsreader will say “go to our website for more information” and there will be a page or so of information on that particular story. A third way that commercial radio stations enhance their output through the web is having an expanded “whets on section. Capital FM has a large database on its website, where you simply type in where you live and what you want do d (such as going to a bar for example. and the station will find o something for you based on that location. . The fourth method hat radio stations could use is through podcasting. This is a method in which a station can put highlights on of major shows. An example of this is through capitals podcasting service, in whiich each of the shows produce a weekly podcast with all of the celebrity interviews form that weeks show. The fith method that radio stations interact with their audience via the web is through listen again features. These are features that enable listeners to listen though the whole of their favourite shows online, in Capital, this is done through a box at the top of the web player called “ listen again, when this is clicked, a drip down box appears with a list of all the shows form the last week. Finally, most stations let our email the studio through the website. On Capital this is done through a link which opens up a new email message with capitals email address already in the address box. . This allows the listener to send in feedback for the station, or send out dedications or requests.

Give two examples of how stations are involved with the local community
The first way that Capital is involved with the local community is through their Help a London Child charity. This a charity set up by the station to improve the lives of children in London. Most recently, Capital hake started a “Christmas Appeal”, in which listeners are asked to send in their old Mobile phones. These hones are then converted into money in order to help missing and runaway children. The second way that Capital are involved with the local community is through the concert that they put on at the O2 arena on the 10th of December, 2008 , this was tilted “ the Jingle Bell Ball”. 16 major stars preformed at the event, including Rihanna, James Morrison, the Saturdays, and Will Young mad tee concert was also supported by the London Light Newspaper. The concert was announced in mid September, and some of the proceeds form ticket sales went to Capitals Christmas Appeal. Members of the community were then given the opportunity to win tickets form the station form early October right through to the morning of the event itself.

What is the main speech radio format in commercial radio? What is the least common?
The most common format of speech radio would be phone in radio, where listeners are invited to phone into the station and have discussions with the presenters about the topic in question. The least common format would be radio drama.

Using the www, find two stations owned by Global Media and two stations owned by Bauer Media
Two stations owned by Global Media are Capital FM and Heart FM Two station owned by Bauer Media are Kiss 100 and Q radio
Part B – Short essay – up to 500 words.
Is commercial radio reaching younger audiences – and, if so, how?

In this essay, I will discuss
How commercial radio is reaching younger audiences. The first way that I believe younger audiences are being reached through commercial radio is through the massive amount of stations that operate commercially in most areas of the country. An example of this is that in London, Capital FM caters to the more mainstream younger audience, playing contemporary chart hits, whereas Kiss 100 caters to the people who are into the more urban genres of music such as Dance. Because of this, there will always be a station that appeals to the younger section of the population in most areas, especially in the big cities such as London.

The second way that commercial radio is reaching younger audiences is due to the fact that they know what the younger audiences are interested in and therefore discuss these issues on air. An example of this is that when it was almost time for the A level results to come out, most local radio stations were discussing this live on air, and these discussions sometimes included callers ringing up to discuss with the presenters their results. This is an issue that young people can relate to, therefore prompting more young people to listen to digital radio...

Another reason why commercial radio is reaching younger audiences is due to the fact that there are commercial stations that aim at young audiences. These stations tend to play music that would normally be found on commercial radio stations. An example of a station such as this is Fun radio, which is entirely dedicated to aiming its broadcasts at children. The major benefit of this is that pedants are likely to let their children listen to commercial radio due to the fact that they know that their children will not hear anything that is inappropriate for them.

Another way that commercial radio stations are attracting young audiences is through their promotional completions. The reason for this is that a large number of prizes are prizes that young people would be interested in winning. The result of this that once young people know what the ripe is and if they are interested, then they are likely to listen to the station all the time in order to attempt to win. An example of a competition such as this is that Capital gave away tickets to its “Jingle Bell Ball” on air for just u under three months. The fact that they were able to run long suggests that there was a massive amount of interest in the event. Due to the fact that a large member of the artists performing at the event was contemporary pop singers, I suspect that a large number of these listeners were form the younger portion of the population.