Radio: Introduction to radio

BBC Sounds

Read this Guardian feature on the launch of BBC Sounds and answer the following questions:

1) Why does the article suggest that ‘on the face of it, BBC Radio is in rude health’?

 It's because of large following and audinece for BBC Radio stations. They are the most popular radio station.

2) What percentage of under-35s use the BBC iPlayer catch-up radio app?

3%

3) What is BBC Sounds?

BBC Sounds is a new app and website that formally launches on Tuesday with a glitzy event at Tate Modern. It will bring radio livestreams, catchup services, music mixes and podcasts together under one roof.

4) How do audiences listen to radio content in the digital age?

People listen to the radio via voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa or just podcasts on Spotify.

5) What does Jason Phipps suggest is important for radio and podcast content aimed at younger audiences?

He says there is a need to reconsider the entire tone of how the BBC tells stories, shifting away from rigid formality if it wants to attract the precious under-35 audience: “It has to be a warmer, more story-led journey. You need to report the very personal experience of it.

 BBC Sounds listeners will get personalised recommendations. Photograph: BBC

“The very best stories are fundamentally anchored around the personal experience. You’re trying to find the human in the machine. Journalists have a process but younger audiences can find that very cold and want to access the actual response of human beings. They really want to understand the heart of the story.”

“We need more brash, funny, intelligent podcasts,”

6) Why does the BBC need to stay relevant?

So that it maintains its audience and following that it has accumulated over the years and also secure their chances of success in the future for the next generation.

Now read this review of the BBC Sounds app.

7) What content does the BBC Sounds app offer?

“responding to your tastes, your moods”, “playing with form and content” and “public service running through its veins”.

8) How does it link to BBC Radio?

The app allows the user to click through and listen to any of the BBC radio stations that are live, podcasts, playlists and radio shows.

9) What are the criticisms of the BBC Sounds app?

the programme information a little tricky to access, and the search – as ever with the BBC – isn’t sensitive enough. Also there isn’t enough content. “Spooky Sounds” only offered me 11 shows; “Be Curious” just 10.

10) Two new podcasts were launched alongside the BBC Sounds app. What are they and why might they appeal to younger audiences?

End of Days and Beyond Today. The podcasts discuss socio-political topics that younger audiences may be interested in. 

ShoutOut Network

Read this Huffington Post feature on the Shout Out Network and answer the following questions:

1) What is the ShoutOut Network?

A London-based network of podcasts which cover a diverse range of content.

2) What podcasts are offered by the ShoutOut Network?

Two Fools Talking (comedy, Mostly Lit (pop-culture literature), Artistic State of Mind (theatre + music)

3) What audience do they reach?

Over 20,000 listeners per month and 92% BAME communities

4) What are the 2015 statistics on podcast listening in the UK?

• 3.7 million adults listen to podcasts - this is equal to 6.5% of the adult population
• 57% listen to podcasts on their phones
• 47% listen while commuting
• 34% listen while relaxing

5) The article suggests podcasts are ‘picking up more steam’. Do you think podcasts the future of radio?

I feel like they surly will be more popular then radio and when radio station will be gone completely, podcast could be a new representation of radio. Audience like to be in control, and now they actually have a choice to choose shows that they want to watch and podcasts that they want to listen to. 

Music Video: end of unit index

1) Music Video - introduction and factsheet questions
2) Music Video theory and This Is America analysis
3) Common - Letter to the Free context and analysis
4) Michael Jackson - Billie Jean context, analysis and MM article 

Music Video: Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

 



Media Magazine reading: Billie Jean, birth of an icon

Go to our Media Magazine archive and read the case study on Billie Jean - birth of an icon (MM62 - page 20). Answer the following questions:

1) What was the budget for Billie Jean? How did this compare with later Michael Jackson videos?

The budget was $50,000.

2) Why was the video rejected by MTV?

It was rejected because MTV argued that it didn’t suit their ‘middle America’ audience.

3) Applying Goodwin's theory of music video, how does Billie Jean reflect the genre characteristics of pop music video?

I think that Billie Jean perfectly reflects almost all of the elements of pop music video established by Goodwin. It had a direct connection with the lyrics, have a lot of the iconic dancing in it, and is, overall, the music video that initiated the importance of music videos.

4) How do the visuals reflect the lyrics in Billie Jean?

The song is about the scandal of Michael being falsely accused of being a father of a baby that wasn't his. In the music video Michael deliberately indicates how fame can cause you trouble and you need to 'always think twice'. At the end he disappear under the sheets of the bed, with a woman sleeping next to him 

5) Why does the video feature fewer close-up shots than in most pop videos?

Because of the iconic dance moves, the direction was to simply show them as much as they could.

6) What intertextual references can be found in the video?

The detective/ idea of being followed which

7) How does the video use the notion of looking as a recurring motif?

The video uses the frame-within-a-frame, also the use of the detective and the idea of him being followed.
8) What representations can be found in the video?

You could say that the most important and key representation is celebrieties like him being repressed by media and him as a black man being a huge, successfu pop star.

Close-textual analysis of the music video

1) How is mise-en-scene used to create intertextuality - reference to other media products or genres? E.g. colour/black and white; light/lighting.

costume- the costume that the detective wears again relates to the genre of film noir, but also represents the genre of Hollywood.
lighting - At the beginning of the video, lighting generates the first feeling of intertextuality, as the film noir genre could be referred to the video. As the video progresses, the lighting changes, the lighting shifts to a lighter one because the lighting becomes clearer as quickly as Michael Jackson enters the scene.

2) How does the video use narrative theory of equilibrium?

Disequalibrium is the detective following Michael and the gossip spreading, and the equalibrium could be Michael not being accused of anything.

3) How are characters used to create narrative through binary opposition?

There's a lot of binary oppositions with rich and poor or truth and lie. The rich and poor is shown throughout the whole video, and is kind of a big concept. The idea is that whatever Michael tauches or is around, becomes richer/ The truth and lie is very simple and refers to the lyrics.

4) What is the significance of the freeze-frames and split-screen visual effects?

It creates a sense of mystery and if a characteristic of a spy genre. Also it highlights the important moments in narrative and the performance (the iconic dancing of Michael). 

5) What meanings could the recurring motif of 'pictures-within-pictures' create for the audience?#

The idea of Michael always being in the spotlight and the lyrics refer to the fame and how it is essential to be careful because everyone is always watching  

6) Does the video reinforce or subvert theories of race and ethnicity - such as Gilroy's diaspora or Hall's black characterisations in American media?

It's not just the video, but the overall image of Michael Jackson as one of the most popular people on the planet as a black man and appearing as a nessesery artist in stations like MTV. It tries to fight the black diasporic identity – the feeling of never quite belonging or being accepted.

7) Does this video reflect Steve Neale's genre theory of 'repetition and difference'? Does it reflect other music videos or does it innovate?

This video can be seen as a ' repetition ' of the typical lip-syncing music video as well as a music video narrative. There is proof that ' distinction ' is Michael Jackson's dance, however, this video changed the way dancing was viewed

8) Analyse the video using postmodern theory (e.g. Baudrillard's hyper-reality; Strinati's five definitions of postmodernism). How does the 'picture-in-picture' recurring motif create a postmodern reading?

We can use the idea of media-saturated world – immersed in media products 24/7. The idea of people believing what they see in media. 
There's also a lot of intertextuality and the idea of hyperreality which in this video seems to be the actual reality as Michael talks about his actual problems (although the floor doesn't shine when he walkes)