BBC Radio 1 - Life Hacks: Blog tasks

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

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

These titles suggest that these podcasts will improve your way of living and make you a more healthy person mentally and physically.

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

The presenters use more casual language aimed towards a youth audience so they can engage much easier. In addition they talk about topics that younger people can relate to like school life, finding a place where you belong, stress and so on. The presenters are also quite young which helps the audience become more immersed. There is also a lot of mainstream artists' music used in these podcasts too.

3) What does the choice of presenters (Cel Spellman and Katie Thistleton) and Dr Modgil suggest about the BBC’s approach to diversity and representation?

This pairing is very diverse as one is from Manchester and the other is half Indian, making the BBC more appealing to wider audiences as they recognise how accepting they are to all races. This shows how different BBC are to different radio shows as many just go with the stereotypical white presenter, but with this we see a shift in societal norms.

4) Go to the Life Hacks iPlayer page and analyse the content. What does this suggest regarding the Life Hacks audience and what the BBC is hoping to achieve with the programme?

The graphics used on this page are very bright and appealing to younger audiences as they show a good representation of youth, allowing the audience to feel more comfortable and inclined to have a listen.

5) Go to the Life Hacks podcast episodes page. Listen to a few episodes of the podcast and explain how the topics may a) appeal to a youth audience and b) help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster. 

These topics appeal to a youth audience as the topics they cover focus on modern day issues that a lot of young people are constantly going through, two of which being depression and stress which a lot of people can relate to and get a better understanding of how to deal with. This helps to fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a PBC as in these podcasts they stick by the BBC's pledge to inform, educate and entertain. 

Audience

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

The target audience for BBC Radio 1 is 15-29.

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

In actuality the audience they have been bringing in is mainly aged 30 years old.

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

Personal Identity is probably the main one as many members of the audience can relate to the topics covered and find a sense of identity within it. Surveillance is another main one as the audience listens to these podcasts in order to broaden their knowledge and to also just to find out certain things and peoples opinions on different matters as it is a good source of information.

4) Read this Guardian review of Life Hacks. What points does the reviewer make about Life Hacks and the particular podcast episode they listened to?

She mentions how 'I found myself listening to a few life inspiration/entrepreneurial podcasts last week'. This quote shows how engaging these podcasts are as you find yourself just continuously immersed with what these people have to say as it becomes addicting and you form a sense of a personal relationship with the speakers.

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 2000,000 weekly listeners since May, when they attracted 9.4 million listeners a week
-The 2 million listeners that Radio 1 now pulls in each week is officially the second-lowest ever recorded ratings for the BBC station, and is close to equalling the lowest weekly rating of 9.1 million
-The decline in the stations ratings has been steady since 2012, when it attracted over 11.1 million weekly listeners
-Pulling in an extra 3000,000 listeners since May for a new total of 5.3 million.
-The station now posting a record 16 million YouTube views a week
-The station is also still the top choice for listeners aged 15 to 24 in the UK

Industries

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

The BBC educate their audience by giving out advice that'll help them with their day to day lives, as they dive into a range of different topics that will engage the audience and help them. They inform the audience by providing them with information on current affairs around the world, allowing the audience to become more educated as they broaden their knowledge. They entertain with their fun attitude and by using modern day music that they know the audience listen to and enjoy.

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.

-Safeguarding vulnerable genres such as arts, music and religious programmes
-The BBC is the UK's most widely used media organisation, providing programming on television, radio and online
- The charter hired OFCOM to set up the BBC license fee

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

• Support social action campaigns on BBC radio
• Support a wide range of valued genres
• Require the BBC to BBC to reflect

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

Supporting a wide range of valued genres as the BBC must support a range of genres to show their diversity and to also expand as a company. Strengthen news and current affairs rules, in order to make sure the BBC stays up to date. In addition the third most important is the BBC must reflect the full diversity of the UK population.

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

Ofcom plan to examine the on-screen diversity of the BBC's programming. The review is set to ask what audiences from the BBC to understand whether it effectively portrays the lives of people ranging from young to older audiences.

Read this Guardian interview with BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper.

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

His mission is to make BBC Radio 1 a radio version of Netflix, allowing a new wider audience for the BBC.

7) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest?

Ben Cooper states that the way statistics are calculated are incorrect, which explains why the average is older than it originally seems as he believes the common age of a Radio 1 listeners is 18 and for the YT channel it is 12-17 year old females. 

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

He states how 'We will play something like 4,000 different tracks a month, commercial radio plays about 400".

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

Radio 1 is moving to focus on this as they believe that younger audiences are more engaged with YouTube which is the reason as to why radio is becoming less popular.

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.
I believe that it should include targeting young audiences via Radio 1 as the youth are shaping this new age of media therefore having them as your main audience helps BBC Radio 1