Conventions of Radio

Conventions of Radio:

This is what I learned from my research into other radio stations, specifically Heart FM, 95.6 Bolton FM and BBC Radio 1.

Pauses/slang/catch phrase:
Slang and pauses are more common on Local radio such as Bolton FM due to smaller audiences who feel more like a community. Nation radios such as Kerrang or Heart FM use better English as they speak to a more unknown audience (people from all over the UK instead of a smaller area), despite this one of the main catch phrases of 1Xtra, a London based radio station, is ‘get funky’. This is because both national and local stations use catch phrases to attract audiences’ and appear ‘down to earth’. The more informal the station the more informal the catch phrase.

DJ talks about him/herself:
Usually DJ’s will talk about stories or music, but on occasions they will discuss their own lives. This will usually happen on a Monday morning while the presenters discuss their weekends. I researched and analysed this as I listened to Kerrang Radio where the presenter reported on a music festival he’d visited at the weekend.

DJ talks about the record:
The discussion of records and music comprises mostly of phattic utterances (small talk) which is pleasant to listen too. They will normally talk about the artist and how well the track is doing in the charts. As our course work will be a news show we won’t be focusing too strongly on this, but can use some of these skills while discussing news stories.

DJ talks about or to the listener:
On most radio stations, local and national, listeners can phone in to give opinions, such as sport opinions on Radio 5 Live, or answers quizzes on BBC Radio 1. This gives the listener an opportunity to be part of the radio experience and hopefully keep audiences’ listening and phoning in (often there are chances to win prizes). Obviously listeners are more likely to get through to the station on local radio as there are less people ringing in, yet less people will hear what they have to say in this instance.

DJ digresses to another subject:
Topic shift is frequent during radio shows as it keeps stories fresh and listeners interested and listening. Within our news piece we will discuss different news stories to meet the large variety of interests.

DJ promotes another show:
Usually DJs will promote other shows on the same station, for example Chris Moyles from Radio 1 may promote Reggie Yates who does a later show. Promoting shows form the station in an obvious business technique to boost audience ratings. They will not normally promote other stations, and they are the competition.

Jingles:
Jingles are used to attract audiences’, they are catchy and if a listener hears a snippet of your jingle while scrolling through radio stations they will stay and listen. Both national and local stations use this tactic, and example is Kerrangs jingle and slogan ‘Kerrang: Live Life Loud’ to a snappy tune. We will devise one for our coursework.

Vox-Pop:
A Vox-pop is an on location report made outside of the station, such as an ‘on-location’ news report. They are recorded using handheld recorders. We might use this during our news segment if we decided to do an on location report.