Research

Michelle Foster

I have researched several existing local radio shows to provoke ideas for my main task. I am going to research audience figures and audience profiles, in order to relate to my specific target audience. I want to ensure my show is appropriate for my target audience so that I can cumulate high popularity and successful audience ratings.

First of all, I researched the Key 103 news bulletin and recorded it. They take a formal approach to the news and use interviews in the main, headline stories. This is effective because it makes the show more interesting and the audience can relate to members of the publics viewpoint. Also, the short information about each story is successful because the audience could become bored of listening to the same thing. The formal approach becomes slightly informal when they announce the local news. This is subjective to how serious the story actually is, but the presenters manner is certainly more colloquial.

From research, I have found that there are 2,392,000 listeners to Key 103, on average. The average time that the audience listen to the radio is 1.2 hours. This is a huge population of listeners, and shows that Key 103 is immensely popular.


I also researched Galaxy 102, but I found that it is very similar to Key 103 in their approach to the news.

It is estimated that Galaxy Manchester has 2,811,000 listeners. This figure is higher than Key 103, suggesting that Galaxy appeals more to the target audience. The average time the audience listen to the radio is 1.2 hours per head.

BBC Radio Manchester take more of a professional approach to news announcements. They are very formal and informative. Although they used a couple of interview-style public views, they were mainly just telling the audience what the news was. This was very direct. They began the news by broadcasting the main headlines in little detail, then continued by going into further detail in each story. This is effective because the audience can get an insight as to whats coming up. BBC Manchester Radio is clearly targetted at an older, more sophisticated audience.

From research, I have found that there is a population of 2,120,000 listeners. This was surprising as I thought that most listeners in Manchester were attracted to the more informal stations, such as Key 103 and Galaxy. The average hours of listening per head is 0.7. This is lower than the other stations, as expected, because listeners get bored of concentrating on speech.

Although the clip of Wish FM's news is only short, we can instantly recognise their formal ideology. Wish FM is a local station for older listeners, therefore fitting their news bulletin around their target audience. Again, they begin their news with the main stories, then introduce short interviews with effected people in the public. The news stories get shorter as they continue into the local news, offering more information in the main headlines. Their direct approach is typical of radio bulletins.

Wish Fm's population of listeners is significantly lower than Key 103 and Galaxy, at 464,000. This could be because Wish Fm is much more of a local radio station, whereas Key 103 and Galaxy are broadcast more. Although the audience figures are lower, the average time a listener tunes in is the same as the broader radio stations, at 1.2 hours per head.