Exam Style Question - Radio
Explain why popular music radio programmes struggle to gain recognition as Public Service Broadcasting. Refer to The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show to support your answer.
Public Service Broadcasting is the action of providing information, advice, or entertainment to the public without being solely focuses on making a profit. All of the BBC's television and radio stations have a public service remit, including those that broadcast digitally, to 'educate, inform, entertain' - thus making them PSB. Despite this, the idea of it being PSB is becoming less and less recognizable in account to it playing popular music through many of its channels - such as BBC Radio 1.
The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show is broadcasted during the morning at 6:30 on BBC Radio 1 and at the heart of it is its popular, modern music. The reason for this is driven by their target demographic of 15-29 year olds. The BBC is funded through Public Licence Fees - which are currently £154.50 - which allow them to remain advertisement free and independent of shareholder and political interest, but also means they must create a quality product which everyone can enjoy - especially their target audience, thus the use of popular music on the Breakfast Show. The BBC's mission statement is ' to act in the public interest' and so the need to not alienate anybody is one of their main focuses. The BBC must remain politically unbiased and can only advertise themselves throughout their broadcast - unlike commercial radio stations such as Heart and Capital FM - in order to obtain wider audience. The Breakfast Show communicates this idea through the use of newsbeats to inform and educate their audience on recent events, for example, Greg James (the host) will share his views whilst keeping within the regulations on what can be discussed (that change accordingly).
The ideology of 'low culture' usually encases popular music as people assume it to be solely focused on profit and entertainment purposes, which goes against PSB. This is one explanation to why stations such as the BBC that play this music don't get recognized as a PSB as some listeners may not find the appeal of this genre and find that the stations begin to focus more on only the music and nothing else. As well as broadcasting contemporary music, the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show has other purposes such as broadcasting important news updates with Newsbeat, weather information and more. This allows them to gain back recognition as a PSB, which is needed as its existence is funded through the listeners public licence fees: thus it is extremely important that the BBC (radio show) provides this service to an acceptable standard to keep the listeners happy.
When it comes to the Breakfast Show's platforms, there is a myriad of devices that it can be listened to or streamed on. Thanks to digital convergence, the BBC can stream through tablets, social media, music apps, mobile phones, radios etc. The advantage of this convergence is that their young demographic are wide users of technology and streaming devices (as shown through recent RAJAR figures), with 65% of people listening to the radio on digital devices and 92% of 9-14 year-olds admitting that they own at least one internet connected device (smartphone ownership is highest among 13-14 year-olds - the borderline of the breakfast show's demographic). Considering the aim of a PSB is to produce something that appeals to the public, the use of media convergence by the BBC allows them to be more convenient for the public.
The BBC state in their Charter that they must 'reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world'. In order to do this they share a wide range of diverse UK artists - such as Stormzy, Lewis Capaldi and Harry Styles - that are also popular and modern. Despite this, the Breakfast Show is known to play American artists such as Billie Eilish and Lizzo which means they do not always uphold their duty to this ideal. On the the other hand, content relating to cultural issues is more likely to gain a wider audience ans so the use of interviewing Lizzo may appeal to its younger demographic. The BBC are trying to tackle the need to appeal to a wide audience whilst still playing popular music by sharing a myriad of genres and diversities.
Overall , there are aspects of the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show and the BBC in general that can be argued to not fulfilling their purpose as a PSB, but despite this, they follow their remit to 'educate, inform, entertain' with great ability to stay within the regulations. As the use of popular music causes for a lack of variety, this could be distasteful to some audiences but the BBC do well to play a mixture of genres and include a range of diverse, UK artists in order to balance this out. Their use of newsbeats also aids in gaining them recognition as a PSB.
Well done, Summer! This is an insightful and well-written response to a challenging question. Your grasp of the content we have studied is clearly demonstrated, as is some wider research of the topic of radio industries and audiences - I particularly like the use of specific RAJAR figures. You make useful comparisons between PSB and commercial to elicit your analysis and you have also considered some issues surrounding the cultural, economic and political contexts. You have ensured that your argument is balanced with some evaluative comments.
ReplyDeleteTo improve and stretch yourself further, ensure that you make specific reference to our case study R1BS from the 12th November 2019. To further your own argument and debate, consider these questions:
- What is the future of PSB? Does it still have a place in our current media environment?
- Is the BBCs charter and remit still relevant to 2020 Britain? How could they change it to make it more applicable to modern cultural, economic and political issues?