LO1 - Know how the radio industry operates

P2:

Local or national

BBC Radio 1 is a national radio station and is a subsidiary of the BBC. Its music mainly consists of a contemporary mix of songs as well as the most popular music at the time. radio 1 broadcasts on a plethora of different channels, such as FM, DAB and the internet throughout the UK on the frequencies from 97 to 99.7 MHz It is the UKs third most listened to radio station and the UKs most popular chart music station. BBC Radio 1 is one out of ten different BBC radio stations and is the second most popular BBC radio channel below Radio 2. This radio station broadcasts the same content throughout the UK so that wherever you are you know that if you tune in to BBC Radio 1 you would get the same type of music.

Commercial or PSB or non for profit

BBC Radio 1 is a public service broadcaster. The BBC says that the reason for BBC Radio is "to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain." Due to this radio station being funded by the public where everyone has to pay a license fee as well as funding from the government. This means that BBC Radio stations don't have any advertisements on them. This is a fee that is funded annually by every household that tunes into BBC services and is currently £159, however it incrementally increases every year.  As well as this due to it being funded by the public they cant have any bias as well as endorse any products. BBC Radio 1 gets on average around 11 million listeners per week and is the second most listened to BBC Radio station, coming behind BBC Radio 2.

Target audiences

The target audience of BBC Radio one is 15 to 29 year old's due to it having a mix of contemporary music as well as speaking sections to break it up and keep the listeners attention. It targets young listeners by making the radio station able to be listened to online. They also uses social media to promote certain events that are happening on the radio channel to cater to the younger audience.  The way they cater to their young audiences is by promoting and showing up and coming artists as well as providing a different variety of sections to keep the channel fresh and engaging. As well as this there are often sections of news to keep the listeners informed.  As well as this they will also broadcast the news for certain people and celebrities that the demographic of people would want news about this would keep the public entertained whilst there isn't any music playing. They would also play the  music the popular artists have released recently as that is the type of music that people would want to listen too. Also BBC Radio 1 will also cover recent events of the whole UK to keep the public informed of what is happening in the world. Doing this could gain more target audience as this would be what people are interested in. 

BBC Radio 1 would be for a certain type of music whereas a subsidiary of BBC radio 1, BBC Radio 1xtra, would be more specialised and only target a niche of people as well as catering to a different target audience bringing in a whole new section of people. Where BBC Radio 1 plays contemporary hits, BBC Radio 1xtra caters to a whole new demographic by playing different genres such a  hip hop, grime, bass-line,  UK garage, dubstep, drum and bass, UK funky, house, dancehall, soca, reggae, gospel music, bhangra, soul, and R&B. 

Types of Synergy

BBC Radio 1 has subsidiary radio stations such as BBC Radio 1xtra, mentioned up above and the BBC says it "is a digital urban contemporary and black music radio station." However, it also has many sister stations so that if you want to listen to different genres of music, the BBC has you covered. The reason that BBC radio have numerous radio stations is to cater to the different genres as it is funded by the public so it needs to cater to all so that people think that their money isn't going to waste. Whereas other radio stations can broadcast the genres that the station wants. 

Focus of the station:

The  focus of the station is to provide music to the target audience of the UK as well as having the latest news about recent events and celebrities. Each BBC Radio has different genres which will target different audiences so that most peoples interests are covered. However many BBC radio stations overlap with the type of music played as BBC Radio one plays chart music which could be any genres so would be found on different radio stations. Another focus of the station would be to inform the listeners of important news that is going on however it cant be local due to the radio station being broadcasted nationwide. This allows the music to be more specialist in the different stations instead of one playing all random music it also gives the radio station more of a choice on the content that they broadcast.