Radio 1 - Journalism Now

Radio 1 is a national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation. It was first aired at 7am on 30th September 1967. Tony Blackburn became the first ever DJ to appear on the radio station and he took a prime slot in the morning hosting 'Radio 1's Breakfast Show'. This reached a peak of success in the 1970's and attracted almost 20 million listeners.

Shortly after this wave of success, Radio 1 launched 'Newsbeat' in 1973 and remains to this day. It is broadcast everyday at both 12.45 and 17.45, aside from this there are also 'miniature' bulletins that are broadcast every half an hour and act as a way of keeping listeners updated within any major headlines. DJ, Edward Stewart became to the first ever newsreader to appear on Newsbeat. Unfortunately, I found it difficult to retrieve the rate card for BBC Radio 1, although I did manage to find their license agreements on-line which offered a great insight into who Radio 1's target audience are. The BBC Trust License mentioned the following:

•‘Radio 1 should reflect the lives of 15 – 29 year olds but also embrace others who share similar tastes. News, documentaries and campaigns should also appeal and bear relevance to young adults’

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Much like a newspaper, Radio 1 must follow a particular set of rules and must meet some targets:

•Radio 1 must broadcast at least 310 hours of news, sport and current affairs each year. 

Within the licence agreement, it also mentions how complex issues within the news must be broken down and translated in a way that would make the target audience understand such issues with ease. This particular statement reflects its target audience massively as some areas within news may be misunderstood by a younger audience so Radio 1 is in some ways encouraging people of a younger audience to engage with national news. 

In addition to this, another appealing factor for a younger audience would be the jingle that is associated with Newsbeat every time a bulletin is due to be broadcast. It allows the audience to become familiar with the bulletin and not only before but also during the bulletin, music is played which creates a slightly more informal approach and in some ways entices the audience to remain tuned in as they will know what music is being played in the future.  Newsbeat is very interactive with the audience and on regular occasions encourages the audience to ring/text or email Radio 1 with any comments or opinions they have about a particular topic in the news at the time. This acts as a good way of 'breaking down complex issues' as it allows the audience to place their own opinions which is something that newspapers and other radio stations can ignore. Radio 1 also has its own Facebook page. This makes a clear connection to its target audience as people belonging to an older generation are less likely to own one compared to a young adult, for example.

Newsbeat will always make a direct link to its target audience in terms of news agenda. For example, in the past week one of the main stories up for discussion was the prospect that more and more graduate students are finding it difficult to become employed.  

Newsbeat has the tendency to run through the main headlines and any other stories within the news at a reasonably fast pace and will not spend much time discussing them. There are often mentions of celebrities. An example of this in one of last weeks bulletins was Alesha Dixon and her new TV programme to raise awareness for Domestic Violence. This is another obvious link to the young target audience as people of an older age may be less familiar with Alesha Dixon than young adults would be. 

The running order for the news is always the same and usually consists of the a list of the main headlines, each will then be returned too later in slightly more detail, a controversial issue within the news will be raised and listeners will be encouraged to contact the radio station expressing their views and comments and then finally any sport coverage will close the fifteen minute bulletin. 

I enjoy listening to this radio station and it is one I was familiar even before this task. It is pretty much always on in my kitchen and as I am a direct member of their target audience, this is probably the explanation for why I enjoy listening to it so much. 

The Hampshire Chronicle - Journalism Now

The Hampshire Chronicle is a local newspaper, currently based in Winchester and cover local news throughout Hampshire. The first ever edition of the newspaper was published in 1772 and makes this one of the oldest publications to still exist in England, (we are talking around 230 years!)
When the newspaper first emerged, it was based in Southampton but moved to its current home of Winchester in 1778. It began primarily focusing on both national and international news as it was produced at a time when national newspaper created in London were difficult to transport to Southern England and in particular parts of Hampshire. James Linden was the founder of The Hampshire Chronicle.
Being a local newspaper, it is published weekly and a new edition is available for purchase every Thursday.

The Hampshire Chronicle's layout remains consistent each week and consists of three main sections:
There is always a large broadsheet section that dominates and covers local news, weather reports and sport coverage that has been taking place in the area. Secondly, also in broadsheet size, a property supplement is provided and it contains a range of houses available to buy or to let. Most of which, are very expensive and suggests that perhaps any regular readers of The Hampshire Chronicle would perhaps be wealthy enough to afford these types of properties. In addition to the two sections mentioned, there is a final supplement called '7 Days' and in contrary to the others, this is published in a tabloid format, perhaps targeted for a younger audience. This contains coverage on arts and entertainment, book and film reviews and any general activities happening in the local area that may be of interest. This is a more light hearted, opinionated supplement.

I managed to successfully retrieve the rate card belonging to The Hampshire Chronicle and found this very useful and interesting to look at. When I compared the gender of the readers of The Hampshire Chronicle, there was only a very slight difference in percentage with the ratio being 52 women : 48 men. However, the large difference occurred when looking at demographics. A ratio of 66 ABC1 : 34 C2DE shows a massive difference between the target audience. I also looked at who is more likely to read the newspaper in terms of age groups. Not surprisingly, those aged 55+  made up almost 30% of all readers, whilst those aged 25  - 34 made up the smallest proportion. I originally thought this was quite surprising as I would have naturally assumed (being a student myself) that people of my age up to early twenties would have been the people least likely to read this particular newspaper but having thought about this, it could be due to the property section. Students are always looking out for new potential homes in the forthcoming years so they may be taking an interest in that or of course the '7 Days' supplement which provides information on local entertainment and activities etc.

After having read several editions of The Hampshire Chronicle, I did notice a regular occurrence in its news agenda. There has very frequently been mentions of building plans, any planning applications that have been either rejected or granted from the local council, or in general anything that is likely to change Winchester in a dramatic way will usually appear in the Chronicle and will be across the front pages. This, I feel makes a direct connection to its target audience of people probably aged 55+ and who are likely to have lived in this area for a great deal of time and would have formed an opinion regarding any building plans.
In addition to this, The Hampshire Chronicle carries a strong sense of military connections throughout its news agenda, this is probably because Hampshire as a county is home to many army barracks. Aldershot is just one example. As people would be so familiar with army territory, it would perhaps be of interest to them to know what is happening within the forces. Aside from this, every week within The H Chronicle, Page 6 will contain a full page feature article which is usually related to the military or changes happening in Winchester. For example, a few weeks ago this page was devoted to Remembrance Sunday and showed interviews and photographs of people paying tributes to those who died during the World Wars.

I feel that I have enjoyed the time I have spent reading The Hampshire Chronicle but as I. am not a member of its target audience some areas are difficult to engage with as they are not appealing to me as both a young adult and a student of the university. This being the case, I am not sure I would read it for my own pleasure.