March 2018 – Simon Nunn Project 2

March 13, 2018Simon Nunn No Comments

Siren Radio research

My client for this project is Siren Radio, where the programme will be broadcast and the relevant content will be distributed on their website. Despite my best efforts in asking the relevant charities if they want to distribute the content only one got back to me to discuss what the project was about and where it would go, meaning I did not have a suitable client. As a result of this I then approached Siren Radio who said they would broadcast our podcasts if they were merged together in a 57-minute radio programme.

This means that having prior knowledge of what Siren Radio’s target audience and their key commitments is vital for me to make sure that the content is relevant to their audience.

Siren FM was established on the 11th of August 2007 and has a 10 year FM license to broadcast on 107.3 Mhz which was extended from 2017 t0 202. Siren FM is a community radio station meaning that it has to fulfil certain objectives, these are: To allow young people, students and community groups to become more media literate and improve their communication skills. Alongside this, it also means that there is a media outlet which reflects what the community wants to talk about.

In terms of benefits that Siren FM has brought to Lincoln is that it has allowed people of varying ages to express their opinions on a wide variety of topics and gain invaluable experience. By allowing people to volunteer on a working radio station due to its community radio status.

In terms of programming, its flagship programmes are the breakfast show and which broadcasts from 7am-9pm on weekdays. Due to it being a community station the scheduling varies from week to week due to people’s availability. In terms of daytime programming, this is mostly music output with hourly news. From 7 pm the output switches to more specialist programming in terms of music and speech programmes. For example every Monday from 7-8Pm there is an hour soul music programme. Siren’s Ofcom license states that it should broadcast a vast array of genres in terms of music e.g. Pop, Indie and Folk. Regarding speech programmes it this should come from News and discussion programmes. (Ofcom,2016)

Siren’s target audience is for under 24-year-olds, so its content should reflect this and allow the audience to engage with the station’s output. This is mostly through the content that produces with it being aimed at this audience and is reinforced by the music that is outputted for example Siren broadcast a majority of the top 40 music in their daytime programming to keep themselves relevant to a younger audience.

To extend their audience reach they also utilise social media platforms that allow them to link and promote their content to new people alongside their preexisting audience meaning that overall they extend their reach. Siren FM operates on both Twitter and Facebook meaning that they can appeal to both types of audience. This is because Facebook has the bigger amount of users meaning that Siren can appeal to the bigger audience, however, Facebook isn’t utilised enough in my view and is utilised in a different method to Twitter. This is because with Facebook they utilise long videos by recording items or make use of Facebook Live to live stream what is going on in the studio, finally, they use facebook to post photos and status’ about the weather, news and events.

March 13, 2018Simon Nunn No Comments

Scripting research

Due to our podcasts being very similar to documentary in their format, it is integral that we strike the right balance between keeping them as podcasts in their delivery and nature but also deliver enough information for them to be considered as interesting, the beauty of the podcast is that it also allows us to create a more personal feel due to it being a podcast. The way to get this balance right is through the script that is written.

The first source I looked at was Voices.com which had some interesting points on how to script specifically for a podcast rather than anything else. Apart from the basic concepts of allocating the amount of time you want to spend on each topic and deciding the guests that you want to have on it did offer some interesting ideas. The first of these is by making sure that the writing style that is being used fits the piece and is friendly with limited technical language so that the listener can relate. It is also important that the style fits the place where it is going to be delivered, in my case, this will be as standalone podcasts and as a piece that airs on Siren FM. The article also explains the importance of a short and concise introduction so that listeners understand what is being talked about and know what to expect.g to This is important for both the podcast version and the radio version as the listeners must be able to understand what is going on and going to be talked about.

Ultimately this article suggests that the tone of delivery i.e the word choice and style is of most importance and that the introduction to it should be well crafted and short so that the listener knows what is going to be discussed and is not lost, as I found out in my last project a bad introduction can ruin the whole thing.

Planning Your Podcast – Podcast Scripts and Formats

The next article I read was from a company called Raddix which is a marketing agency. They present three key tips for scripting a podcast these being the following:

Calculate a word count that fits the desired length of the programme, this means that you know how long the script should roughly be and that you do not over or underwrite in terms of content so that each podcast is the correct length, in our case this is around the 20 minute mark and for the broadcast version it will be 57 minutes due to Siren FM’s news. The next tip that is suggested is that you write with your speaker in mind and don’t use words that they do not understand or know how to pronounce properly and that as a general rule you do not use overly complex language. They also suggest that the formatting of the script is crucial in making it easy to read and that pauses should be written in so that person is reminded to breathe, this is important for myself as I will be narrating the piece and am also guilty of reading too fast and as a result not stopping for commas etc. Their final tip is to read the script aloud due to this helping to make sure that something makes sense and if it is relatively easy to read.

The important things to take from this article is making sure that the script is well formatted so that the presenter (myself) can read it easily and make sense of it. The point that is raised about pauses is also important as if I had not thought about this I wouldn’t have implemented these and as a result would have been more likely to struggle. I have also worked out the number of words that will be needed for each episode of the podcast, this being roughly 2500 going with a reasonable delivery rate, this will include the pre-recorded parts as these will be transcribed to allow us to put them in the script and edit more easily due to timecode.

https://radix-communications.com/scripting-podcasts-three-tips-for-writing-podcast-episodes/

The next website i viewed was called The Podcast host which presents three methods of writing a podcast, the first being the word for word script. The advantages of these are that good for people who are uncomfortable in adlibbing and makes sure that everything is said and all the facts are discussed, however, the negatives are that it can sound very robotic and it will lack personality. The second method is through a detailed guide meaning that all the topics are written down and there are things such as cues and questions but there is room for adlibbing and on the fly presentation. Allowing for both facts to be delivered and at the same time mixing personality. The final method is through bullet points, this means that topics and questions are written down in bullet points to establish the direction with all of the speech being thought of on the fly, allowing for personality but also the potential to miss important elements and facts. Being that this podcast is more of a documentary style personality is not really needed in them, bar the one on speech therapy which is my own personal story. This means that I will most likely script my lines in their entirety so that everything is said and then can work on a way of getting personality through these rather than by adlibbing my points.

https://www.thepodcasthost.com/planning/podcast-scripting/

The next website I looked at was more focused on straightforward camera based documentary, this means that not everything they mentioned was relevant, however, some of the ideas were relevant and could be implemented. First of all, it is suggested that writing a brief outline or a rough script, as this can help with the direction of a piece even if you do not have any audio and this can help to form a structure so that time is saved and not wasted in between conducting interviews etc. They also suggest that transcribing audio makes the process of editing a documentary easier, as it allows for you to see all the words on a page rather than have to scroll on a timeline to find it, ultimately making the process much easier and quicker and this is the way that we have decided to edit the podcasts. They also suggest that we should plan a begging, middle and an end as every story has one of these and it stresses the importance of what goes in the middle of the piece as sometimes this can be barren. Whilst we aren’t telling a story in its entirety we do need to try and make stories as this is what hooks people to listen to the pieces.

https://www.desktop-documentaries.com/how-to-write-a-script.html

Finally, I watched a BBC academy video about the use of language for radio documentary and what type of language you should and shouldn’t use within scripts, it also talked about the tone of the piece and how you should set this. The video focused mostly on the language that is used in documentary and how words should effectively work together with sound effects to create a narrative and paint a picture for the listener. The video also stressed the importance of being direct in the language that is used and using short sentences to make pieces flow and be of maximum impact to the listener, there should be no more than an average of 16 words per sentence and these words should be clear and precise and make sense rather than raising questions. Finally getting rid of overused words is vital so that pieces do not become static and boring to the listener. Ultimately what this video taught me was that the language used in the script is key and should be clear and fit the target audience this being Siren FM’s audience.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/skills/writing/article/art20130702112133594

March 13, 2018Simon Nunn No Comments

Lincoln Deaf Children’s Society

Today we interviewed the parents of some hearing impaired and deaf children at the Lincolnshire branch of the National Deaf Children’s society, this meant a small journey to Birchwood in Lincoln to meet the group.

Me and Molly went and talked to three of the parents of the group that were willing to be interviewed about their children’s condition and what they got from coming to the group. The interview in my view went well with us getting some really interesting points of view and discussion from them, however at times they were quite quiet and did not want to speak. Also, we continued to talk to them after we had turned off the microphone and I feel that some of the best stuff we talked about was then. The other slight disappointment was that we had intended to talk to some of the children there however both me and Molly really struggled with this as we didn’t know what to ask the children and we both agreed that it would have been beneficial had Chloe been able to come with us as she finds it easy to talk to children. Ultimately though the interview went well and we got some interesting content that will sit well in our podcast on deafness.

Research on the National Deaf Children’s society

They provide support to both parents and children through helping them to access other agencies that may be relevant or by allowing them to come to groups that may help them, such as the one we went to Lincoln. They also offer money and grants that people can apply for and as a result can improve their way of life. In terms of services they say they offer different activities for different ages, for example, parents of children in the age range of 5- 10 are encouraged to get the whole family involved in the process of learning. Whereas those in the age range of 14+ are given advice on what they should be trying to get from their secondary schools.

The questions we asked

These are the questions we asked, we also aad-libbed so other questions were asked.

Can you briefly explain the National Deaf Children’s Society and what you do? In particular in Lincolnshire

What type of support do you provide for young adults/children?

What do you think the biggest problem facing young death adults is?

Do you think that it is important for those with partial hearing or deafness to find support groups and others with the condition?

Is it also important for parents to be involved in the social element? And why do you think this is?

What more in terms of support do you think can be done for young death adults

How involved does a child’s family become in the process of a childs development

What do you think the biggest strain on you is as a parent?

How difficult do you think education is for a young adult, especially with bullying etc?

Is there a problem in persuading this age range of people to go to university/ do further education? If so why do you think this?

Whats the biggest problem you’ve faced personally?

March 13, 2018Simon Nunn No Comments

Lincoln and Linsey interview

Today we went and conducted an interview with the Lincoln and Linsey Blind society. Before we arrived we didn’t know what to expect with ourselves thinking we were just interviewing one person. However, it ended up with us interviewing a group of therapists which was better than expected, while at first we were a bit flustered we did eventually get to the interview. In terms of the microphone, I decided to place the microphone in the middle of the table to pick up everyone who was in the room. Regarding asking questions me and Molly did this together so that there was less reliance on one person and it helped me to be more confident. Some of the questions that we intended to ask (below) we didn’t ask as we ‘ad-libbed’ to allow us to have a more flowing conversation. The one criticism of ourselves that I would have is that we didn’t show enough empathy and it became clear that they often didn’t work with young adults meaning certain answers couldn’t be used.

Research

The Lincoln and Linsey blind society is an organised charity that supports partially sighted and blind adults and children. They offer support to over 2300 members and as a result, have a wealth of knowledge about the effects of blindness.

Some of the services that they run are

“Our Children’s Services deliver a structured programme of activities. They are specifically designed and developed to ensure easy access and participation and to provide wide-ranging benefits for the visually impaired children and young people of our community. We organise archery, shooting, swimming, trampolining, sailing, ten pin bowling and fishing amongst other activities.”

However, the downside to the society is that they seem heavily focused on adults and not young adults and teens meaning that there may be limitations in there knowledge.

Questions that we asked

Can you briefly explain the Lincoln and Linsey Blind society and what you do

What does your children’s service entail i.e.e specific programmes

What kind of treatments do you provide for teenagers?/ are there specific treatments or do they do the same as children/aldust?

Do you find that many teenagers come forward or think its a bit ‘taboo’. ?

How many young adults do you support?

What kind of support is offered for young adults?

Do you think that there is enough support for young people in college/ sixth form/university?

What advice would you give to a young adult who has recently become impartially sighted/ blind?

Do you think that it is important for those with this disability to find support groups and others with the condition?

Whats the most common problem young people face being blind/impartially sighted?

BACKUP

What is the most common disability that young people have, its it impartial sight, being blind etc.

March 13, 2018Simon Nunn No Comments

Target Audience research

With our piece being targeted at a radio 1 audience and presented in a similar manner to that of radio 1’s educational podcast that are spoken about here it makes sense to talk about their audience and its profiles.

Radio 1 is demographically based meaning that they target young people in the age range between 15-29-year-olds, however, what is key is that it should have a distinctive mix of music and speech-based content and be a place for new music (BBC,2016). This means that the treatment we utilise for the programme will be significantly different from that of a speech-based programme on radio 4 with us having to try and reflect and make the content relevant to young people. Ultimately the programme will have to snappy and to the point with use of music beds throughout the piece and not use flowery language to extend things beyond what they need to be.

Alongside this, it has been well documented that in the current media environment young peoples attention is more spread than ever with programmes now having to be supported through the likes of digital content such as Youtube or Facebook videos to attract listeners and be a more multiplatform brand compared to what radio was many years ago(Guardian,2015). This also means we need to consider how we utilise social media and do so in a way that is similair to radio 1 currently rather than say radio 2 with this being our target audience. The way we have done this is by utilising short-form video such as filming interviews and relevant clips that support interviews with subtitles underneath, alongside this some of those who listen to it will be most likely be deaf so its appropriate for subtitles.

Radio for young people has also morphed into an on-demand platform with users being able to listen to what they want when they want through the likes of the Iplayer and Spotify podcasts, this again makes a relevant case for a podcast due to it being able to be downloaded at any time. It is also different in the that it is focusing on something that is otherwise not talked about very often.