D1 SECOND SUBMISSION

Justify how the codes and conventions of the radio genre are embedded within the planned content. 

In my pre-recorded radio segment, I have shown the codes and conventions of the radio genre, through the use of sound effects and a presenter in lifestyle radio, the way that the programme is formatted so that the order as a presenter and music to introduce and conclude the segment, and the content of how the interviews all link to the theme that runs through this weeks episode of the radio segment and also how the free-flowing nature of the programme not having a strict length is good for radio that is being distributed over the internet.

My pre-recorded radio segment, is a fusion of a lifestyle radio programme, and public radio. The lifestyle part of the radio segment includes interviews with people telling stories about their life, which are backed up by sound effects to help the audience connect more with the narrative of the stories. This shows the codes and conventions of a radio programme, as lifestyle radio is a form of radio where people talk about generic things in life, like gardening. These interviews are often, but not always backed up with sounds emphasise the subject matter, and enhance the world that the storyteller is in. These sound effects are common conventions within lifestyle radio. In the lifestyle radio programme 'Radio 4; In 4: The World's Most Popular Fruit', sound effects of someone in a greenhouse, and someone peeling a banana helps emphasise the story that is being told about the banana; in my pre-recorded radio segment, I use the sound effects of the birds chirping and children playing to emphasis that the story takes place in the park. My pre-recorded radio segment shows the codes and conventions of public radio through the use of having a presenter introduce and conclude the episode of the pre-recorded radio segment.

My pre-recorded radio segment shows the codes and conventions of the radio genre through the way that it has been formatted. My pre-recorded radio segment starts and ends with a presenter introducing what this episode of the the radio programme is going to feature, this is a common feature of both lifestyle programmes, and public radio. Even though public radio is recorded live, unlike mine, the presenter still starts by introducing what is to come up on that day's show. Another way that the format of my pre-recorded radio segment shows the codes and conventions of the radio genre is through the way that the different interviews are edited together with music. This is a common convention of lifestyle radio as it helps the audience not get bored at the points between interviews as it the audiences still has something to listen to. Music is also a convention of radio, as the audience will be able to tell by the specific jingle or music, which radio programme is about to start. I would implement this in my pre-recorded radio segment by using the same music for each episode of my show.

My pre-recorded radio segment also shows the codes and conventions of the radio genre through the content that is in the radio segment. In my pre-recorded radio segment, I have different interviews all relating to the key theme within that particular episode. My three interviews all link to the key theme of growing up in East London. This shows a convention of radio as normally, in lifestyle radio, each episode will cover a specific theme, like how each episode of radio 4 'In 4' will cover a different topic. For example, 'Radio 4; In 4: The World's Most Popular Fruit' only talks about the history of bananas, and how bananas are gown. As well as this, in pre-recorded radio (rather than live radio) there are no adverts or news stories. I show this convention through also having no adverts, or pauses for news updates, as my pre-recorded radio segment is not live and having the news on it would be wrong as it could be listened to at any time, and therefore the news would no longer be relevant. 

A convention of my pre-recorded radio segment being part of internet radio, is that there is not a specific length for each episode. Normally, radio segments last between 30 minutes to an hour (usually a rounded time), but my pre-recorded radio segment is 6 minutes because a convention of online radio is that it can be any length that it is required to be. For example, 'Radio 4; In 4: The World's Most Popular Fruit' is only 5 minutes long and as it is distributed on the internet, it can be any length that the producers require it to be. 

M3 SECOND SUBMISSION

Describe the legal and ethical consideration required to comply with regulatory bodies for an original radio programme. 

Radio is regulated by Ofcom. All radio transmitting devices in the UK are required by law to have a valid licence, otherwise that radio station is not able to legitimately transmit radio, and the broadcaster risks being sentenced to up to two years imprisonment. There has been no changes to the legislation regulating radio since 2006. The act talks about the need to have a licence to broadcast radio. For my pre-recorded radio segment to comply to the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, the website where the pre-recorded radio segment has to have the correct licence to broadcast radio over the internet.  

One legal issue that is important for the pre-recorded radio segment is that I have get permission to use the voice of all the people who are going to be in the pre-recorded radio segment so that I can uphold the copyright laws. To do this, each person whose voice features on the pre-recorded radio segment must sign a voice artist release form. As well as this I need to make sure that all the music and sound effects that I use, that I have not recorded myself, are royalty free and that I credit the creator of that piece of sound. 

As radio is deals with words that are spoken, an important legal issue to think about is that there is no slander. Slander is when lies are spoken about someone in a public forum that are damaging to the person's reputation. The way to avoid this, is to make sure that there is no slander, is to make sure that the speaker only says information that can be proved. Another way to avoid slander, is to make sure that what is being said is definitively an opinion and not though to be a fact. As most radio is live, and therefore what is said cannot be taken back, or edited out, slander can be avoided through rehearsing what is going to be said and making sure that in the rehearsal that there is nothing that is said that is inappropriate, unprovable, lies, or untruths. 

When playing music on the radio, it is important that the music's royalties have been payed so that there is not an infringement on the artists's copyright. PPL and PPS are two companies that work together as part of a joint venture which deals with the licensing of music for radio and television. In order to legally use a piece of music, the user must have a correct licence to play the music otherwise it will be an infringement at the artists's copyright. Some music is in the public domain, which means that anyone is able to use it, this happens after a long period of time after the artist's death, or if the artist denounces their right to gain money from the royalties. In my pre-recorded radio segment, I did this by only using royalty free music and then crediting the artist that made the music when the product was distributed online. 

One ethical consideration to be used is that the pre-recorded radio segment is to be distributed online which means is could be heard by any number of people, therefore, ethically, there cannot be any foul language that could be overheard by an underage listener. As well as this, ethically, there cannot feature any inappropriate stories as it could offend vulnerable audiences which would be inappropriate.  

P2 & M1 SECOND SUBMISSION

Describe the focus of a chosen radio station.

BBC Radio 2 was created in 1967 by the British Broadcasting Corporation. It has an average of 15,000 listeners per week and are "The home of great music, entertainment and documentaries." (https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2). Some of the regular hosts on Radio 2 include Steve Wright, Jeremy Vine, and Graham Norton. The target audience for Radio 2 are men and woman in their 20-50s. In the BBC Annual Plan 2017-2018, Tony Hall (Director-General) says that "We are here to make great programmes and services... everybody should have access to the best,". Here, we learn why BBC Radio 2 has such as large target audience, they provide great services for everyone.  The BBC have 5 main public purposes in their mission statement;

• "To provide impartial news and inform", 
• "To support leaning for people of all ages",
• "To show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services",
• "To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all the UK's nations and regions, and support the UK's creative economy",
• and "To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world".

These five points are all reflected in BBC 2, though the ways that they are presented, and the shows that feature on it. The way that Radio 2 provides the impartial news is through hourly news updates of what is happening in London, and around the country (occasionally global news), and traffic updates every half hour. The way that they show the learning of all people is through specific shows such as Simon Mayo's 'Homework Sucks' show where each week a question will be asked by a member of the public, and will be answered by professionals in that field. Or the regular "Factoids" in Steve Wright in the Afternoon's show. Radio 2 represent the people of the UK through the audience participation of allowing the listeners to call in and tell everyone what they are doing, or request a song. 

The target audience for BBC Radio 2 is people of all ages, but more specifically people aged 20-50. Radio 2 targets specific listener ships through having particular shows about specific periods of time where the music all from then, for example; 'Non-stop Oldies', or 'Sounds of the 80s with Gary Davis'. But Radio 2 also represents a wide range of people by having 'All Request Friday' where every song has been specifically requested by the public. Radio 2 also represents a large target audience by being completely inoffensive, and only playing clean songs. 

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/howwework/reports/pdf/BBC_Annual_Plan_2017-18.pdf

Analyse the structure and content of a programme broadcast by a chosen radio station.

On BBC Radio 2, Steve Wright has a programme called 'Steve Wright in the Afternoon. It's on every weekday between 2:00pm-5:00pm. Steve Wright is quite casual with the audience when he speaks with his audience, he's quite friendly, and it can be heard that he's enjoying every minute of hosting the show, which adds an extra level of enjoyment for the audience. He presents the show with co-presenters; Tim Smith, and Janey Lee Grace. The three of them have a good free-flowing relationship where the audience can hear them joking with each other which also creates a positive atmosphere for the audience to listen to.

Their show features lots of music, often that's been requested by the public calling in. Unlike other programmes on BBC Radio 2, the show has its own brand that is recognisable and different from all other programmes on Radio 2. There are lots of different parts of the show, sometimes there are guest interviews, other sections include 'Non-stop Oldies' where several old songs are played in a row, and the 'Factoids' where random facts are told and discussed by the three presenters. Another section of Steve Wright's show is 'Serious Jockin'' (no 'g'). 'Serious Jockin'' takes place for 45 minutes every Friday at the end of Steve Wright's show. In the 'Serious Jockin'' portion of the show, Steve Wright plays lots of different 'feel-good' Friday songs with the hosts reading out texts from listeners talking about what they are doin' (no 'g').

The show starts every week with Steve Wright introducing his show, and congratulating the people before him on a great show. The show usually starts with a several songs with the presenters talking in the gap between songs about what songs will be next, and some information about the weather or whatever is on his mind. After the first half hour of the show, the section of the show called 'Factoids' happens, this is where the presenters share interesting random facts. After some more music, the news and traffic is played at the hour or half hour depending on whether there is any news. The next portion of the show is the 'Non-stop olidies' that are chosen by the listeners calling in, in-between the songs, Steve Wright reads out who requested the next song and why (if the person said why). About three quarters of the way through the show, Steve has his interview with the guest of the day, and interviews the, about what product they are there to promote, if its a music product, then a part of that product is usually played for the audience to listen to. After the interview, there is usually more music, which on Fridays is followed by 'Serious Jockin'' (no 'g'). That is the generic structure for the show 'Steve Wright in the Afternoon'.

The show has a really good, jolly feel which helps the listeners wind down from a busy working week, and prepare for the weekend. The guests on Steve Wright's show are usually musicians that are promotion their new album or tour. After the interviews, Steve Wright then plays a song from the musician's new album. All different types of music are played on Steve Wright's show as it is usually songs that have been requested by the listeners, but it is also a mix between new-ish music (he doesn't often play music from the charts) and music from the 70s or 80s, as this is music that the target audience would generally listen to in their spare time as it is the music from their youth. There are no adverts on Steve Wright's show as it is a part of the BBC and as it is a public broadcasting service there are no adverts.

The ideal audience would be someone in their 30-50s who is either leaving work, or about to leave work, as the point of the show, is easy to listen to and good for winding-down after a long day of work. Another thing that Steve Wright does on his show, is that every Friday afternoon, as his last song, he plays 'Mahna Mahna' from the muppets just before the news at 5pm.

P5 SECOND SUBMISSION

Record an extract of the planned radio programme.

Picture of me using the radio equipment to record my intro.

When recording the intro and the conclusion for my pre-recorded radio segment, I recorded using the mic in the recording studio, there I was able to record straight onto the computer. This was a good microphone to use as it is single directional, meaning that it would only record what was directly in front of it, my voice, this was good as it meant the microphone would not pick up any other sound in the room, like the humming computer behind the microphone. 

For the recording of the sound, I used the H.5 recorders, this was the best recorder to use as it is handheld making it easy to carry to interviews, and not intrusive for the interviewee to have in front  of them when the interview is being recorded. Here, you can see me setting up the H.5 recorder, I am plugging in my headphones so that I can test that the sound is being recorded, I have also just turned on the H.5 recorder, to do that the switch on the side of the H.5 recorder needs to be held down for a few seconds so that it can be turned on.

Picture of me setting up the H.5 recorder to use to record.

When using the H.5 recorder, it was important to make sure that the levels were right so that the sound would not be too loud or quiet. Here you can see me adjusting the levels of the H.5 recorder. There are three dials on the H.5 recorder, the bottom two control the left and the right mics, and the top is the master that controls both of them together. The left and the right recorders should be set to the same level so that there would not be an imbalance. A good level to set the dials to when recording indoors is 6 as there is no wind when indoors and it is not too high that it’ll pick up the air conditioning units.

Me editing the levels on the H.5 recorder to make sure that the quality of the sound is good.

Once I recorded the audio for my pre-recorded radio segment, I imported the audio files into garage band so that I could edit the final product.

I Edited my pre-recorded radio segment in Garage Band. This is the main project screen in Garage Band. To input each piece of audio, I had to drag and drop from Finder the correct audio file onto the timeline and arrange it in the location that I want it. Each audio file had its own line that that could be controlled individually with its own levels and could be arranged in any order that I wanted it to go in. The master levels of the overall project could be controlled by a slider in the top right corner of the project.

To look at a specific audio file in more detail, I could double click on that file and I would be able to see where all the audio waves were in more detail, that made editing a lot easier as editing audio is a lot harder than editing images as the bit that we want missing cannot be seen, only heard. However, by zooming into the audio files, we can depreciate which waves are what sounds which makes the editing process easier.

To loop a clip, I used the ‘loop’ function which I was able to do by holding down the button in the top right corner of the audio clip and dragging it out to the length that I want that clip to be in. Looping is an easier method to repeat the audio than copying and pasting not all of the clip needs to be repeated, and the length is easily adjustable to fit any time frame that is required. 

To adjust the length of a clip, the ‘resizer pointer’ tool can be used to make the beginning or end of the clip change the length that it needs to be. The ‘resizer pointer’ tool can be found at the bottom left or right of the clip (depending on what part of the clip is needed to be adjusted. The ‘resizer pointer’ tool can extend the clip after it has already been cut shorter, this makes it a really useful tool as it means that mistakes are easily fixable. As well as this, the ‘resizer pointer’ is similar to the ‘loop’ tool as it can adjust the clip to any length that is required.

Another couple of tools that are useful are the ‘mute’ tool, and the ‘solo’ tool. These tools are useful as they allowed me to be able to work on one specific track individually. Being able to single out different tracks made working a lot easier as if there was a problem with one specific track I could concentrate completely on that one track without being distracted by all of the other tracks as well. Also, being able to mute a track was useful as it meant that if I didn’t want to use a track, I was able to get rid of it without permanently deleting it, which would have meant that I couldn’t change my mind or change where I used it.

To adjust the sound levels, I used ‘automation’, which is where I am able to add fades in and out, and adjust the levels for each individual track. ‘Automation’ was very useful as it meant that I could control how gently (or suddenly) each track was to come in; whether there was to be a crescendo or a decrescendo. ‘Automation’ was also useful as it is shows effectively exactly what the sound is going to. It does this visually so the editor can see clearly exactly where the sound is going to go.

‘Automation’ is for more than just controlling the volume, ‘automation’ can be used to add specific effects to the sound. For example, if the editor wants to make the track sound like it has been recorded in a cave, the editor can adjust the ‘echo’ levels of ‘automation’, this is also where the reverb of a track can be adjusted.

After I had finished editing the final product, I exported it so that it would be ready for distribution.