Case study into a radio station !

CHOICE FM

Choice 96.9 began as an independent company in March 1990, broadcasting from studios in Trinity Gardens, Brixton. It was Britain’s first 24 hour black music radio station with a licence, covering South London. The group won a second licence in 1995, bringing a local version of their London offering to Birmingham, on 102.2 FM - in place of Buzz FM.

The advent of digital radio in the UK saw Choice, which already had an active webstream, joining the new MXR consortium and launching a DAB service which anchored London output with news inserts produced by the consortium's news service DNN.

The Birmingham licence was sold to Chrysalis Radio in 1999 and became Galaxy Birmingham, but Choice expanded within the capital in May 2000 when a largely independent North London licence was awarded for Choice 107.1, with the intention of reaching a larger Afro-Caribbean audience outside the limited range of the coverage from Brixton. The station was now broadcasting from Borough High Street, Borough, London.

Having previously been a minority shareholder, Capital Radio Group took full control of the station in February 2004 and moved the station's base from the target service area to the group's central studios in London's LeicesterSquare. The move resulted in a community march from the coverage area and their studios.

According to Rajar statistics , Choice FM reaches an audience of 480 , 000 viewers in the UK.
Choice FM is an urban radio station , like ours (money-music)
The news presented on CHOICE FM is mostly celebrity entertainment news . The presenters are both male and female . Their target audience seems to be young teenagers.

OFCOM

OFCOM is the regulator of communication industries in the UK. OFCOM helps fight to prevent offensive material being produced.
ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP !
The current chairwoman of OFCOM is Colette Bowe . The current chief executive is Ed Richards.He is responsible for : Strategy , Market Research ,  Finance , Human Resources and other functions.
RESPONSIBILITIES
OFCOM has a wide range of responsibilities. It has a duty to protect its consumers of harmful and offensive material.
PROGRAMME COMPLAINTS !
One of OFCOM's duty is to identify the problems and issues raised by its consumers about certain programmes. When OFCOM receives a complaint , it asks the broadcaster for a copy of the programme and then examines it to see if it is in breach of the broadcasting code. OFCOM also asks for a response from the broadcaster to the complaint. Considering this , OFCOM will mark the complaint as either upheld or not upheld , or alternatively 'resolved'.
LICENSING
OFCOM is responsible for the management , regulation and assignment of the electromagnetic spectrum in the UK , and licenses portions of it for TV and radio broadcasts , mobile phone transmissions etc. The process of licensing varies depending on the usage required. Some licenses simply have to be applied for , others are subject to a bidding process. Previous regulators have determined the procedures , however OFCOM might change this in the future .

History Of radio !

Two years after the telephone was invented and music was sent down a telephone line , Guglielmo Marconi sent radio signals.

Marconi (1874-1937) was fascinated by Heinrich Hert'z earlier discovery of radio waves and realised it can be used for sending and receiving telegraph messages , referring to it as 'wireless telegraphs'.

Marconi’s first radio transmissions, in 1896, were coded signals that were transmitted only about a mile (1,6 km) far. Marconi realized that it held huge potential. He offered the invention to the Italian government but they turned it down. He moved to England, took out a patent, and experimented further. In 1898 Marconi flashed the results of the Kingstown Regatta to the offices of a Dublin newspaper, thus making a sports event the first “public” broadcast. The next year Marconi opened the first radio factory in Chelmsford, Essex and established a radio link between Britain and France. A link with the USA was established in 1901. In 1909 Marconi shared the Nobel prize in physics for his wireless telegraph. Marconi became a wealthy man.

Signals only
But Marconi’s wireless telegraph transmitted only signals. In 1921 , came 'Voice over the ai'r, as we know radio today. Marconi went on to introduce short wave transmission in 1922.

Marconi was not the first to invent the radio, however. Four years before Marconi started experimenting with wireless telegraph, Nikola Tesla, a Serb who moved to the USA in 1884, invented the theoretical model for radio. Tesla tried unsuccessful to obtain a court injunction against Marconi in 1915. In 1943 the US Supreme Court reviewed the decision. Tesla became acknowledged as the inventor of the radio – even though he did not build a working radio.

There are other radio inventors :

Bose repeated his demonstration in the Royal Society in London in 1899 in the presence of Lord Rayleigh (Nobel prize winner in Physics, 1904), J.A. Fleming (Professor at London university and later an advisor to the Marconi company), and Lord Lister (President of the Royal Society). As a result he was offered Professorship in Cambridge, but declined.

Bose had solved the problem of the Hertz not being able to penetrate walls, mountains or water. Marconi was present in the meeting of the Royal Society and it is thought that he stole the notebook of Bose that included the drawing of the ‘Mercuri Coherer with a telephone detector’. Marconi’s Coherer, which he used in 1901, was the exact copy of that of Bose. Apparently Marconi was unable to explain how he got to the design. He said that an Italian Navy engineer called Solari had developed it, but Solari later denied it. Marconi then said that Italian Professor Timasina did, which later was exposed as a lie by another Italian professor, Angelo Banti, who claimed that the design was invented by signalman Paolo Castelli.

Bose did not apply for a patent on his design because he believed in the free flow of inventions in science. But under pressure from American friends, he applied for the patent in September 1901. He was awarded the US patent for the invention of the radio in 1904. By that time Marconi had received his patent and international recognition.

“Hello Rainey!”
It is reputed that Nathan B. Stubblefield, a farmer from Murray, Kentucky, made a voice transmission four years before Marconi transmitted radio signals. In 1892, Stubblefield handed his friend Rainey T. Wells a box and told him to walk away some distance. Wells said later: “I had hardly reached my post.. when I heard I heard HELLO RAINEY come booming out of the receiver.”

Stubblefield demonstrated his invention to the press in 1902 but, being afraid that his invention will be stolen, never marketed his wireless radio. When he was found dead in 1929, his radio equipment was gone.

Nikola Tesla remains acknowledged as the inventor of the radio.

Radio everywhere
Today, there are more than 33,000 radio stations around the world, with more than 12,000 in the US alone. Worldwide there are more than 2 billion radio sets in use, or about one radio for every 3 persons; proof that video never killed the radio star.

See: The history of radio 

Technology in Radio !

DIGITAL - Technology that uses discrete discontinuous values . On the other hand , non-digital ( analogue ) systems tend to use a continuous range of values to represent information.
CONVERGENCE - Technology combined . i.e The iPhone and xbox
MINIMISATION - Reducing technology to its minimum .  For example ,stereo- players are much smaller these days.
DAB RADIO - This is technology used to broadcast radio stations , used in several countries , particularly Europe .

ADVANTAGES OF DAB RADIO !

• You can pause , rewind and record on DAB Radio .
• The sound quality is much better , as opposed to Analogue Radio.
• DAB Radio tends to look more stylish than the Analogue Radio.

ADVANTAGES OF ANALOGUE RADIO !

• Analogue Radio tends to be of higher density , compared to DAB Radio.
• Fine definition of the analogue signal

Institution

The radio station that most relates to our own radio station is 'Choice FM'. The similarities between the two radio station are that :

• Both radio stations discover new music/artists. for example , Choice FM was responsible for breaking usher , whilst our radio station discovered rastafarian artist 'iMarik' !
• They both tend to take an interest in playing urban music.
• They both have speakers that interact with young people.

Working in Garage Band.

Ethical Standards For Radio !

What you should do :
- Work hard to make sure that the information you spread is accurate and fair.
- Protect the identity of sources who supply information , in confidence and material gathered in the course of his/her work.
- Do your most to correct offensive/harmful inaccuracies.
- Make distinctions between fact and opinion.
- Obtain material by honest , straightforward and open means , that are of public interests.
What you should not do :
- Do not intrude in one's private life , unless justified by authoritative figures , taking in consideration of the public interest.
- Do not produce material likely to lead in conflict with people of other ethnic backgrounds , age , gender , legal status ,  sexual orientation , disability and marital status.
- Do not commit the offence of plagiarism.
- Do not make threats or produce statement to influence , twist or suppress information.
- Do not take advantage of information gained in the course of his/her duties before the information is publicised.

Legal Implications.

Ofcom regulates the radio industry. Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority and has the responsibility of making sure viewers and listeners are not offended and also to set standards for UK communications.

Defamation : A statement that claims something negative about an individual or business company and ruins their reputation.

An example of a defamation case is : Prime Minister Hun Sen had sued Mu Sochua for defamation after she accused him of making derogatory remarks about her. The former women's minister has refused to pay the $4,000 (£2,725) fine and says she is willing to go to jail.

Slander : Saying something about someone ( Gossiping )
Libel : Printing gossip about someone , usually done in newspapers/magazines .

When I am writing my articles for my radio station , I will make sure I am careful that I don't label individuals/people without evidence , as this is not fair and can result in the responsible criminals being sued.

Essay on the newscast !

I listened to Sky news at 10am. The speaker was a woman and she spoke really fluently and opened the newscast with the lead story , about children with a chromosone disorder who become obstructie and anti- social , even throughout adulthood. This lead story explores the news value of threshold , which is the latest and biggest news , which is guranteed to have some sortof effect on the listener. The speaker tended to have quite a serious voice and the language used was really formal , silence was used quite effectively to mantain the listener's interest.
The following story explored the news value of currency .Sometimes , a story is newsworthy because its about an issue in the public consciousness at that particular time .The story was about ,seven men charged with allegedly laundering money stolen from online bank accounts, police said.
They were arrested at addresses in West Sussex and Portsmouth, Hampshire, on Tuesday morning.
Detectives are now investigating possible links with the arrests of 20 people in London in connection with an alleged multimillion-pound plot to steal from British bank accounts.
There was another story about actress, Lindsey Lohan , in rehab , for about the 5th time. while the speaker was delivering this news  her voice was very upbeat and not so serious.
Overall , the only sound codes used were sound effects to introduce the news programme on the radio station and then silence , and that was only for the lead story. I think the target audience was mature adults aged between 20 and over , as the language used was quite formal and complex and most of the time , the speaker remained professional .

Responding to a real radio newscast !

Having listened to sky news centre at 9 o'clock in the morning , I heard a variety of news reports with different news values. These are some of the news I heard:


- Anti social behavior is taking over the streets , forces are said to not to be taking the problem seriously. 26 incidents happen every minute and only a 1/4 get reported. I think the news value being practiced in this news report is negativity and threshold. The sound code that I have identified in this  news report is , silence and voice and speech. The lady reporting the news seemed to have a brave , heavy tone.

- Stalking and harassment on the internet. Nearly 2 million are victims of stalking every year. The news value in this story I would say is , currency and oddity. Personally , I would have reported this story after much more important news , such as the bridge collapsing in the olympic stadium in New Delhi , India.

- The Indian Prime Minister hold a meeting over the crisis regarding the commonwealth games. The news values interpreted into this story , is threshold , currency and some sort of conflict. I think they chose this story ,because a lot of people are interested in world sorts etc.

- The Deathly Hallows will be released again in 3D in two parts, the 1st hitting cinemas in November. The news values in this report would be timelessness and threshold. The reporter gives us a sneak sound preview of the film . The sound codes effectively being used here are : Sound effects and voice/speech too authenticate the opening of the film.

The four sound codes !

- Voice / Speech
- Music
- Sound Effects
- Silence

News Values

There are nine news values .
1. THRESHOLD : The bigger the news , the better.
2. NEGATIVITY : Bad news is good news.
3. TIMELESSNESS : Events that happened recently.
4. PROXIMITY : 'Closeness' of an item to an audience , news usually consists of items relevant to the region. ( Local or National )
5. PROMINENCE : People in the public eye tend to be more newsworthy than those not in the public eye.
6. CONFLICT : Events and people that feature conflict tend to be more newsworthy.
7. CURRENCY : Sometimes , a story is newsworthy because its about an issue in the public consciousness at that particular time.
8. ODDITY : News about weird or unusual people , places , things , or events.
9. HUMAN INTEREST : Stories that play to human emotions can be very newsworthy. They are usually about ordinary people.

What is local news ?

Local news is news that would appeal to people of a particular region/area .
The purpose of local news is to notify people about current affairs that may relate or affect them . For example , lately Brancroft Library officialy re-opens but must find £5m for further works.

DAY ONE :)

Today, sir told us to get into groups. So I got into a group with two of my friends . After minutes of discussion we decided to call our radio station 'Money Music' :) , this is because we decided that our radio would be street associated, and a lot of young people are in the process of searching for ways to make money , particularly boys. Our slogan is ' your life , your music !'

The target audience is 15-20 year olds. We are going to  be looking at inequality in east London and we will touch on the following aspects : GUN AND KNIFE CRIME/ DRG USAGE , Celebrity gossip , boys and sexual activity and lack of concentration , education-wise,girls and their obsession about their appearance and teenage pregnancies. Cheesy Chat up lines are going to be added for humour and we are going to focus on nicole and trey and talk about hoow they influence young adults amibitions to make it big in life etc.                  

This is our logo for our radio station :)