Music | Radio
A radio station’s identity and the DJ’s personality will both contribute to a programme’s style and content.
Listen to a couple of short extracts from any of the recent Breakfast show podcasts and then, with a partner, discuss what you think Nick Grimshaw’s style of presenting is. You can make some notes below.
BBC Radio One’s flagship programme is the Radio One Breakfast show with Nick Grimshaw, which airs week days 6.30am-10am. Grimshaw took over from Chris Moyles in September 2012 and the show now consistently attracts around 5.25 million weekly listeners.
The show is a live, presenter-led show which includes all of the expected codes and conventions of a radio music programme: music chat, guest interviews, audience phone-ins and competitions.
Some of the more well-known features of the Nick Grimshaw Breakfast Show are:
Q. Do you know of any other popular features he includes?
Radio One state that they specifically target 15-29 year olds.
With reference to Nick Grimshaw’s Breakfast Show, explain how the show itself is targeting this age group – make reference to media language such as codes, conventions, mode of address and content.
Click on the links and read the Young at Heart article. Then using this and your own knowledge note down the extra things the BBC is doing, as an industry, to try to bring in a younger audience – make reference to industry points such as technology, events and marketing, conventions, mode of address and content.
Just because the show is targeting a specific age range, doesn’t mean they are the only ones listening. The audience analysis of Radio One shows that actually only 41.2% of listeners are 15-29. In addition, there are slightly more female than male listeners, 58% are ABC1 and 90% white.
What aspects of the show do you think appeal to each of those demographics and why?
Fill in the table and print.
Unlike Commercial radio, Radio One was never wholly regulated by OfCom. Instead it was regulated by the BBC Trust as it is a private company which is funded by the licence fee. However, in April 2017 this began to change.
Do some research into the following areas and make notes on:
Who regulates Radio One, how and why?
If someone wants to complain about Radio One what do they have to do?
