Radio Podcast: Evaluation

About Dynamic Radio

Dynamic Radio is a contemporary hit radio station; this means we play chart music that you are likely to hear on Capital FM; we chose a contemporary hit radio because we are in our target audience of 17-30 male and female. Our listeners enjoy going out with their friends, going clubbing etc. They will also enjoy hearing about celebrity gossip.

On this pod-cast we talk about a new band called The Vamps; this is a relevant to our target audience as a new band, they are supporting McFly on their UK tour; which is our main topic. We gave our target audience to find a little bit more about The Vamps by talking about their first ever YouTube cover, how popular they are and then playing one of their songs.We then talked about a competition to win VIP tickets to see McFly on tour. 

The Competition

Our main competition is Capital FM as they have a target audience like ours. Capital FM is also a contemporary hit radio station; they play chart music which is an interest of most people.We also made our station more appealing by talking about local events and including the listener.

Our Music Content

For our pod-cast we added a sound bed at the beginning of the pod-cast and at the end. We downloaded this track from the Free Music Archive We used sound beds to make our pod-cast more interesting and keep the listener in tune with the station. We also used jingles to introduced the Mcfly tracks.

Our Presentation 

We gave a presentation to our class to pitch our radio station idea. We included information about our target audience, our competition and our content. We also included demo pieces from our pod cast like speech content and editing.

Our Feedback

Overall; after our presentation we received positive feedback. I feel we gained positive feedback from the class as they where aged from 17-19; this is part of our target audience. 
Some strengths we show in our radio programme is our main two topics that are focused on, we played music that was targeted at our audience. Most of the people in our feedback said we hit our target audience perfectly. 
Although our feedback was mainly positive, I feel that we could have improved some parts to make our demo a lot better. Our feedback stated about our target listener and that we could talk about them in more detail and say what their hobbies may be. 
Some people said they wouldn't personally listen to our radio show because it wasn't their style of music but it was good presentation and it would be perfect for people that did like that style of music.
If we had more time for this project I would have made the editing a lot better and added a few more jingles to keep the audience listening.

Is there a clear idea of a target listener?

With the music content, the speech content, the competition and the style of the radio station; there is a clear idea of a target listener. From our feedback sheets it shows that everyone agreed that our target listener was easy to identify; and 'totally' agreed with this statement.

Is the format relevant to the target listener?

The format - CHR - is relevant to the age range of our target listener. Our feedback shows that most of the classed 'totally' or 'mostly' agreed with this statement, although one sheet said 'nearly'. 

Is the music relevant to the target listener?

The music is popular pop music which our target age range prefer to listen too. The feedback from the class shows that everyone agreed with this statement and no negative comments were made about the music played in the pod-cast.

Is the topic relevant to the target listener?

The general topics discussed on the programme are all relevant to the target listeners. The topics we discussed on the show are similar to those on Capital FM; talking about celebrity gossip, social networking and contests. We received positive feedback on our topics being relevant to our target listener. 

Is there care taken in the editing/does it sound good?

The overall editing contained all the required areas: Smooth, Clear & Loud, soundbeds, jingles etc. However we had some difficulties with the computer software we had some technical problems presenting our pod-cast demo and we had lost our best work. However, we mostly received positive feedback for this statement too. The negative effects we had was a few hints of mic noise and some parts where blank where there was no speech. This is something we would like to work on if we were to do this project again.

Is there any reason for the listeners to stay tuned?

Much like other CHR stations, there are always reasons for listeners to stay tuned. Dynamic radio had a contest to win Mcfly on hold to keep listeners tuned and interested. We also used terminology such as 'coming up' and 'stay tuned for..'. We received all positive feedback on behalf of this statement. 

Do you think it was a good presentation?

The presentation contained all the requirements needed however I feel we could have made the presentation more visually appealing. The feedback we received comments such as: 'could have had a bit more info on the target audience but very good overall' and 'more explanation needed when presenting'.

Overall 

We chose all the music content and contest choices carefully, we also kept our speech content to match our target audience. Our competition was to win tickets to Mcfly. We kept the competition local for local listeners by having the venue in the Portsmouth Guildhall. The music content was popular chart music. This is to try our best to compete with other big branded CHR stations such as Capital FM. We used our own techniques and creative flair with the speech content by making it personal with the audience and laughing/joking on air which kept the show relaxed and entertaining for the audience, it also kept the audience interested . Most radio stations are popular because of the presenters so we tried to make it personal. Overall there was good communication, information and style of the PowerPoint and the overall assignment.

Overall Improvements

I think the main thing we would have taken more time on is the editing of our pod-cast. There were hints of fuzzing microphone noise throughout our show. We could have sorted this problem out with each presenter having their own microphone and a quieter space to record. Our radio recording was a little pressed for time because of our technical problems when trying to edit; this took away the quality from the original recording. 

Assingment Two: Radio Podcast

 Radio Podcast Powerpoint Presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/emilypaige_/dynamic-radio

Radio Podcast Demo: http://www.chirbit.com/emilypaige

Radio Advert

Advert for Will.i.am's Album #willpower.

#willpower is the brand new album from Grammy Award Winning artist will.i.am.
featuring No.1's such as This Is Love featuring Eva Simmons and the brand new single Scream & Shout featuring Britney Spears.

#willpower, the amazing new album from will.i.am. out February 13th.

Assignment One: Task One Part 3

Research into existing products.

1. List the elements of a radio show podcast along with description.

SFX/Sound Effects - Sound effects (single sounds).
Jingles - Theme tune of the station or a short burst of music.
Beds - Music that is played quietly under chats, discussion or a report.
Crossfades - When two separate sounds are merged together with one fading out and one fading in.
Tracks - Any song or single
Mic - Short for microphone
Presenter - The main voice or voices on the show.
Loop - A repeated sound or piece of music (used for comic effect)

2. Explain the example you listened to/show

We listened to a podcast of the Vodafone Big Top 40 Show with Rita Ora this included all the of the elements a podcast should have.

SFX - A heartbeat was played for tension before the top spot was announced. There was also dramatic music played at the beginning.
Jingles - Jingles were played at the beginning of the podcast announcing what the show was about and Vodafone was sponsoring them.
Beds - Constant beds were played throughout the podcast; underneath the presenters and guest presenters talking. Artist music tracks were played while they were talking for example Rita Ora's song was played while she was talking.
Loops - The same Jingles and SFX were played as Loops and an artist song was sometimes played.
Crossfades - Crossfades where played between talking, short clips were played.
Tracks -  As a guest on the show while Rita Ora was talking to the other presenters; her song was played underneath, tracks were also played in the Top 10 Chart Rundown. The show also spoke to Angel on the phone; his track was played underneath the conversation.
Mic - Microphones were used to record the presenters but the mobile phone was also used to record the phone conversation between presenters and guests.
Presenters - The presenters are upbeat and provide upbeat and funny conversations to keep the listeners and guests entertained. They also mention who is on the show/who is coming on the show/what is coming up on the show as forward promotion to keep the listeners interested and keep them listening. As the target audience (15-29) is a younger generation; the presenters mentioned was of keeping the listeners connected for example using Twitter and the chance to call in.

Assignment Two: Task One Part 2

Target Audience: Ages 30-50 (Adult Contemporary Radio Station)

This radio station would play older songs from past decades such as 70's, 80's & 90's as this is the music they will remember growing up with and may have memories with a particular song such as Take That, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson etc. But they would also play songs in the popular songs in the charts to gain a bigger varied audience and also some people in this age range like chart music.

Target Audience: Ages 15-25 (Contemporary Hit Radio Station)

This radio station would play current hit songs that are in the UK Top 40 as this age group would listen to these songs while getting ready in the morning or for a night out with artists such as Swedish House Mafia, Rihanna, Conor Maynard etc. They radio stations like Radio 1 play songs from new/underrated/british artists that no-one has heard of because it's what they listeners wants; they are always wanting new artists to listen to.

By downloading music from Free Music Archive I can use this for Jingles; that listeners will remember the radio station for, Soundbeds; to use underneath presenters talking in things such as news bulletins, weather and traffic, this makies it more interesting and upbeat for the listener and the music I found can also be used for Sound Effects to make podcasts more interesting and fun for listeners.
Ghost Hunter - Old White Eye as a Soundbed.
The Strangers - Who Are You as a Jingle

how to use music safely:  creative commons website - commons attribution non commercial.

Assignment Two: Task One Part 1

In this weeks lesson we had to create two mood boards for two different genders/age ranges. The first mood board I created was for an 18 Year Old boy. I researched interests a teen boy would have and I also asked boys this age I know what they're interested in, such as X-Box, being with their friends, the music they liked and what TV Shows/films they watched.

Teenagers would listen to radio stations such as Capital FM and Radio 1 as they enjoy the 'celebrity gossip' and things in the public interest and new music that young people want to hear. 

I then created another moodboard for a 38-40 year old woman, married with kids. I got 'inspiration for this moodboard from family members and their interests such as their family/kids, TV Shows/Films they watched and music they were into when they were younger or are into now.

This age range of people would listen to radio stations such as Heart FM and Radio 2 as they play music that the listeners would have listened to when they were younger. They also talk about things they are interested in such as TV/Weather/Traffic.