Radio: Life Hacks

1) What do the titles The Surgery and Life Hacks suggest?

The two titles hint towards healing and helping, the surgery being far more literal and Life hacks being more understandable with younger generations

2) How are the programmes constructed to appeal to a youth audience?

The surgery less so, but Life hacks is there to help teens and young adults with social, academic and personal issues e.g. teaches you the basics of taxes, gives relationship advice and help for mental health while maintaining a conversation format rather than resembling a classroom 

3) What does the choice of presenters (Cel Spellman and Katie Thistleton) and Dr Modgil suggest about the BBC’s approach to diversity and representation?

The presenters all have one thing in common, each of them are diverse when it comes to either location and or race e.g. Dr Modgil and Thistleton are half indian and from manchester (respectively). This is an obvious attempt to seem more relatable to the current youth population, a population that is far more diverse than what it was prior 

4) 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 most obvious attempt to appeal to a younger audience is through the use of emojis, san-serif text and colourful text. Due to this I feel that the BBC are attempting to attract more people from a younger, possibly, culturally diverse background.
5) 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. 

Key topics that are often discussed are issues students would most likely face e.g. Getting sleep, ethnicity and identity, childhood grief and does the supermarket make you depressed. I believe that these topics do full fill the BBC remit of to "inform, educate and entertain" 

Audience

1) What is the target audience for BBC Radio 1?

16-25, mainly due the nature of the content, I feel like its aimed at audiences from early stages of 6th form to university students and graduates. 

2) Who is the actual audience for BBC Radio 1?

The actual audience for BBC radio 1 is 40 to 45 

3) What audience pleasures are offered by Life Hacks? Apply Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory.

The most prominent examples of audiences pleasures would be surveillance and personal identity, surveillance since quite often the presenters offer guidance, personal identity since main of the issues that the audience are facing the presenters have faced before. 

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

The Guardian reporter stated that she stumbled onto the podcasts by mistake, and that she "found herself listening to a few life inspiration/entrepreneurial podcasts last week" this shows the engaging effect that podcasts can have on audiences if that podcast relates to the listener. 

5) 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 has lost 200,000 listeners since May. 
• Radio 1's online presence on the other hand has increased significantly, getting around 16 million views a week 
• station is still top choice for listeners aged 15 to 24

Industries

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

Since the educational remit of the BBC is to "inform, educate and entertain" and that the very premise of Life hacks is to help inform and educate the audience with certain life issues they may be going through, it clearly fills in those two categories; when it comes to entertainment, they also do attempt to entertain through comedic topics   

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.

• Shaped by their role as a public service broadcaster, the BBC have a remit to "inform, educate and entertain the public"
• For the first time, the BBC will be held accountable for meeting or not meeting these expectations and the expectations listed in their new Charter. The Charter gives Of com the job of setting the BBC's operating license which sets the standards that have to be met by the BBC.
• From March 29 2017, the BBC have been regulated and monitored by Of com. Of com are in charge of ensuring that the BBC are performing to a high standard.

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?

• Reflect UK diversity 
• Support both national and regional audiences
• Secure a more distinctive BBC

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

 Showing the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output and services

• Supporting learning for people of all ages
• Reflecting, representing and serving the diverse communities

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

• portrayal of different audiences and demographics 
• On-screen program diversity 
• to make sure that the content reflects younger and older audiences 

Read this Guardian interview with BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper.

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

He's trying to create the netflix of radio 

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

while the overall amount of radio listeners are decreasing significantly, the amount of listeners/viewers across BBC's different platforms are increasing substantially

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

He suggests that the difference is the amount of songs available through Radio 1; radio 1 has 4,000 songs available while commercial radio contains roughly 400 

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

With radio becoming and increasingly unpopular medium of entertainment, YouTube on the other hand has slowly taken over the world, this is especially true with younger audiences; it makes more sense for Radio 1 and the BBC to shift focus onto YouTube and other digital platforms since thats where the audience is.

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 feel like having a remit that's considerate of new audiences and that focuses on growing demographics is important, hence I believe that the BBC's remit should include targeted amendments for younger audiences via radio 1