Radio: Life Hacks

BBC Radio 1 - Life Hacks: Blog tasks

Analysis

Read the notes and listen to the extracts from Life Hacks above before answering the following questions:

1) Go to the Life Hacks iPlayer page and analyse the content. What does this suggest regarding the Life Hacks audience and what the BBC is hoping to achieve with the programme?

The Life Hacks content includes sex, relationships and mental health and are hosted by young hosts suggesting they're trying to attract younger audiences with topics they can relate to.

2) Go to the Life Hacks podcast episodes page. Listen to a few episodes of the podcast and explain how the topics may a) appeal to a youth audience and b) help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster. 

The topics may appeal to younger audiences as the topics are about things they can relate to being a young adult and talks about taboo topics that people may need help and advice on such as mental health. This fulfils the BBCs responsibilities as a public service broadcaster as the content is informative and educates younger audiences about topics that are not talked about often.

Media Factsheet

Read Media Factsheet #196 Close Study Product: Radio - Life Hacks. You'll need your Greenford google login to download it. Answer the following questions:

1) Read the first page of the factsheet. What content does Life Hacks offer to listeners?

Life Hacks offers listeners advice for common adolescent problems and allows people to share their experiences to help others.

2) Which of the five central purposes in the BBC's remit does Life Hacks cover?

Life Hacks informs,educates and entertains its audience. It also provides imaprtial news and information, supports learning for people of all ages, provides creative high quality content , reflects and represents the diverse communities and different cultures and values.

3) Read the history of Radio 1 on page 2. Why was the launch of Radio 1 both significant and controversial?

The launch of Radio 1 was significant and controversial as it engages a huge audience of predominantly young people and discusses a range of political and social issues that young people might not be able to find elsewhere.

4) Do you consider Life Hacks to be a 'distinctive offering' that helps the BBC to fulfil its public service broadcasting remit? Why?

I do consider Life Hacks to be a distinctive offering as it provides content for different audiences and reflects and represents different values, cultures and communities.

5) Look at the figures on page 3 of the factsheet. How much does the BBC spend on Radio 1?
Radio 1 accounts for 1.6% of the license fee spending.

6) How has new technology impacted on radio?

Younger audiences are making greater use of smart devices to consume music and audio content and thus listen to a lot less live radio.

7) What has Radio 1 done in response to the changes new technology have had on radio?

Radio 1 has tried to be more innovative in making its live radio more visual,informative and social.

8) What are the audiences targeted by Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra? What is their actual audience?
Radio 1 aims for teenagers and young people aged 15-29 but has an actual audience median age of 30. Radio 1 Xtra targets teenagers and young people aged 15-24 but has an audience median age of 24.

9) Applying Gerbner's Cultivation theory, how might Life Hacks influence its listeners (or 'cultivate' certain views)?

Life Hacks might cultivate certain views to audiences as they discuss taboo topics and topics related to the experiences of young audiences so they will take in the information they hear and believe it.

10) Applying Hall's Reception theory, how might different audiences 'read' Life Hacks? What pleasures or reactions might different audiences have to the programme?

The preferred reading of Life Hacks would be for audiences to get help and advice from.
They would listen to the podcasts for surveillance to gain information and advice and personal identity as they talk about subjects they can relate to.

Audience contexts: additional reading

1) Read this short Guardian review of Life Hacks. What points does the reviewer make about Life Hacks and the particular podcast episode they listened to?

The reviewer says that they have enjoyed the Life Hacks podcasts in particular more than they have imagined.

2) Read this NME feature on Radio 1 listener figures. What are the key statistics to take from this article regarding the decline in Radio 1 audience ratings?

Radio 1 is close to equalling the lowest weekly rating of 9.1 million and the decline in the station’s ratings has been steady since 2012.

Industry contexts: final tasks

1) How does Life Hacks meet the BBC mission statement to Educate, Inform and Entertain? 

Life Hacks meets the BBC mission statement as it offers education content about mental health, relationships etc that young audiences in particular can benefit from as a source of advice. It informs them on the different sources of advice and things that can help the audience as well as it entertaining them in the way that they engage the audiences.

2) Read the first five pages of this Ofcom document laying out its regulation of the BBC. Pick out three key points in the summary section.

• The BBC is the UK’s most widely-used media organisation, providing programming on television and radio and content online.
•  The public has exceptionally high expectations of the BBC
• The BBC has a a remit to inform, educate and entertain the public.

3) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points relate to BBC Radio 1 and Life Hacks?

The license framework says that it  requires the BBC to reflect the full diversity of the UK population. This relates to Life Hacks as it has a diverse audience that it needs to represent.

4) What do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? Why?

I think safeguarding vulnerable genres such as arts,music and religious programmes is important as it allows people to learn about different cultures and be more open minded on different topics.Also supporting social action campaigns on BBC Radio is important as it educates and informs audiences on certain issues and spreads awareness to different causes. As well as strengthening news and current affairs rules as it educates audiences on political and social audiences.

5) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience? 

They plan to review the representation of different audiences and how they are portrayed in the media.

Read this Guardian interview with BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper.

6) What is Ben Cooper trying to do with Radio 1?

Ben Cooper wants to make Radio 1 like a netflix for radio as a way of bringing new audiences to the BBC.

7) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest?

Cooper suggests that using average as a measure of audiences skews a much older age which suggests that they are doing better with younger audiences but the statistics just show that the average is older audience.

8) Why does he suggest Radio 1 is distinctive from commercial radio?

He suggests they are distinctive from commercial radio as they play about 4000 different tracks a month whereas commercial only plays about 400 different tracks.

9) Why is Radio 1 increasingly focusing on YouTube views and digital platforms?

Younger audiences use Youtube and digital platforms more so in order to target a younger audience they need to focus on Youtube views.

10) In your opinion, should the BBC’s remit include targeting young audiences via Radio 1 or should this content be left to commercial broadcasters? Explain your answer.

I think the BBC should continue targeting younger audiences via Radio 1 by offering distinctive content that will attract them otherwise the BBC might fail without the younger audience.