D2 - Radio - Unit 14

 Introduction 

In this report I will discuss all the details about my fully edited radio show. I will talk about the codes and conventions within my radio show and how these codes are implemented into my radio show. Furthermore, I will analyse the strength and weaknesses of my radio show and discuss what I could improve. I will also include feedback from others as I believe that having an external opinion is vital as they may notice something I didn't. 

Codes and Conventions 

The codes of radio are speech, music, sound and silence. I have implemented each one of these codes into my radio show. I have carefully considered each code of radio and added each one into my radio show, however some codes are more important than others, meaning I added one code more than another. For example, the most prominent code in my radio show is speech; this is because I believe it to be one of the most vital parts of a radio show. Since my radio is catered towards older people and is about history and aviation, music is a code that is not a necessity for my radio show since they are tuning into my radio show to listen to me speak about the history of Doncaster, rather than music. I deliberately ensured I was implementing these codes into my radio show so that they catered towards my target audience. 

I believe that my radio show follows the flow of a professional production, this is because I have conducted extensive research into radio stations during this unit and I am now more knowledgeable on radio stations as a whole. My radio show follows the flow of a professional production because it begins with a distinctive jingle which informs the listener what radio station they are listening to, followed by a detailed introduction where I introduce the show and what it is going to entail. This is important as it lets the listener decide if they want to listen on or switch to another radio station. To add to this, my radio show has different features throughout to make it more enjoyable for the listeners like a call in. Many professional radio stations have a section dedicated to call ins where people who are listening to the show can call the station and be involved in the show for a bit; I have two call ins where two elderly people (my target audience) call in and talk to me about the history of Robinhood Airport. Finally, my radio station has all the aspects a professional station would, and my station follows the flow of these professional stations so that the listeners are having an enjoyable, interactive and knowledgeable experience when listening to my radio show. I have used my unique jingle three times throughout my radio show, one being at the very beginning. This jingle at the start informs the listeners that they are listening to Doncaster Heritage Talk. Additionally, my jingle is individual and distinctive, therefore it helps set my radio show apart from the rest; when I was choosing my jingle I made sure that I chose one that was short, memorable, unique and fitted my radio shows theme. I believe that the jingle that I implemented into my radio show in Adobe Audition fits all of these categories. Furthermore, I used the jingle two more times during the advert section of my radio show, if my radio program was to follow a professional stations flow it must have an advert as all radios do. I decided that my jingle should play directly before and after the advert; this is to signal to the audience the change between the Doncaster Heritage Talk program and the Ryanair advert. Finally, I decided to address my audience in a natural and ordinary manner since my target audience is middle aged adults and elderly people. My target audience do not want to hear energetic and fast paced talking as that targets a more young generation with a shorter attention span, I believe that my target audience would appreciate it if the presenter spoke like it was a natural conversation about history and heritage. 

Feedback

I sent the link to my radio show to peers for external opinions. This is valuable as it provides me insight from people other than me who have different opinions or pick up on other positives and weaknesses. Also, I sent them a feedback form for them to fill out so they can have a place to formulate their opinions and feed them back to me, this helps me know what my radio show does well and what it doesn't and what I could possibly improve upon if I was to make another radio show.

As seen on the photo, I included 5 questions in my feedback form and they are as such:

1. What did you like about the radio show?

2. What did you dislike about the radio show?

3. What can I improve upon?

4. How much would you rate my radio show based on enjoyment?

5. Any other comments?

I asked these questions specifically because they provide me with a lot of valuable information without having to ask my peers too many questions. There are some open ended questions where they can have more freedom with their response and more simple questions where they can give a short answer or tick a star depending on what they thought.

Feedback Form 1

This is the response from one of my peers who listened to my radio show. This feedback form provides me with a lot of information about my radio show and what I need to improve on. Because of this form, I am now aware that listeners believe that the radio show is very informative and that it includes valuable information. This is great news as this was my intention, and I wanted the listeners to have an entertaining and informative experience while listening to my radio.  However, it also notifies me about how listeners believe that my radio show can seem boring at times or needs more details like jingles or background music. I should of considered that background music could help make my radio show more entertaining as it provides an extra layer of sound and diversity instead of the listeners just listening to me talk. This external opinion helps me be aware of this problem so I could combat a problem like this in the future if I was to create another radio show.

Feedback Form 2

This is the second response I received from another peer. I asked this peer the same questions as the last. This response states that they believe the subject of my radio show is interesting, which is similar to the last response stating that it is informative. This means that multiple people enjoy the subject of my radio show, making it one of the strengths of my station. Additionally, they also added that it is entertaining due to the extra features like the interviews/call ins. I am glad that the listener enjoyed this section as this is considerably the most distinctive and unique part of my radio show, and the fact that listeners enjoy it adds interactivity and more entertainment to my radio show. On the other hand, they stated that they disliked the fact that my radio show does not have enough sound effects or jingles; this is very similar to the response I got on the previous form. Due to how multiple different people have suggested the same problem, it must be the biggest weakness of my radio show and therefore something that should be outlined and acknowledged so I can improve on this weakness in the future. 

Both of my peers have rated my radio show an overall 4/5 stars on my feedback form. Generally, I am happy with this rating as it is my first attempt at a radio show and although I made vast amount of pre-production documents and planned precisely I was aware that my radio show would not be perfect and there would be room for improvement. I believe it is a good thing that both of my peers have outlined the same weakness for my radio show, this means that there is one outlying issue that needs to be solved in order to improve my radio show; I prefer this response rather than having my peers outline multiple different problems to improve. This was valuable to me as my peers have helped me see what exactly my show does exceptionally well and where it falls short and now I am more knowledgeable so I can fix these problems in future attempts. I believe if I was to create another radio show, it would be more effective and more professional than this as I would be able to take the positive aspects of my current radio show, and add in what this show was missing thanks to the feedback from my external opinions.  

Strengths

I believe that the biggest strengths for my radio show is the features that I have implemented into my radio show. I have two call ins featured in my radio program and I believe that this makes the audio visual promo much more interesting to listen to for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it provides some interactivity to the radio, allowing the listeners to be able to call in and interact with the presenter and share their views and opinions. To add to this, it also changes up the pace of the radio show, as it provides something different for the listeners instead of just listening to the presenter talk for the entirety of the show; it provides more diversity as more than one person is talking and sharing their opinion. Furthermore, the two call ins that are a part of my show are strong because the characters are part of my target audience (Middle aged adults or elderly people) and this means that the listeners would be glad to listen to somebody around their age who shares the same opinion as them, as they grew up at the same time and experienced the history of Doncaster together. 

Another strength of my radio show is the information included in my radio show and the subject of the radio itself. I have identified that this is a strength thanks to the feedback forms filled in by my peers who listened to my radio show. 

Weaknesses

The primary weakness my radio show has is that it can be a bit bland at some points. This is due to hoe I did not implement enough jingles or sound effects during the production/editing phase. This is my biggest weakness as sometimes throughout my radio show there is not enough going on or enough for the listener to hear; although dialogue is the main focus of my radio show, it can get boring and repetitive if it is happening too much without any sound effects or music in between or even in the background. I should of added my jingle into my radio show more times than what I did during the editing stage, or I should of visited the FreeSound website and looked for some fitting background music that could play behind my dialogue without drowning my voice out in order to make my radio program more unique and entertaining to listen to. 

Furthermore, I believe another weakness was my delivery as a presenter. Although this isn't a major issue, I believe at times I should of been more confident with my speaking and pronunciation. I did have to have multiple takes with my recording as I had some failed attempts; this means I did show improvement as I practiced presenting as I eventually recorded a full take without any mistakes. However, next time I will be more confident to ensure that the listener can enjoy my radio show to the maximum capacity. 

Overall, in the future if I was to produce another radio show I would focus on improving the editing and my delivery as a whole. During the editing stage I would specifically focus on adding backing music or sound effects or even implementing my jingle at more times throughout the show than I did this time. I believe that this was a strong first attempt at a radio show that would be interesting and entertaining to listen to for my target audience despite its outlined weaknesses.