Unit 9: Understanding the radio industryBy Josh Rothwell

Commercial RadioCommercial radio is where a radio station generates most or all of there income from placing various adverts on their show in order for the companies to get recognition. They are often less formal than most Public Service radio stations such as BBC Radio 1. They are jointly owned by Global Radio and Communicorp in a joint partnership. Capital FM is a radio station that broadcasts nationally. It broadcasts all the time of every day of the year. They only play mainstream and modern music in order to appeal for a younger audience.

Public Service RadioThe BBC Radio operates with several radio stations that all target a different audience of people across the UK. They operate 17 different radio stations. The BBC charter is the reason why the BBC is able to operate, as through the charter they are able to get their funding through the Government. The licence fee is the money that people have to pay to the BBC, so that it can run the company. 13.7% of the licence fee goes towards radio. The BBC Trust is an independent body of the BBC that sorts out the way the licence fees are sorted out and organised. The BBC commissions programmes by people pitching ideas for programmes to them, and they decide whether or not the programme is a good idea to broadcast on their channels.

Not-for-profit-radioNot-for-profit-radio is radio that operates for a certain community, hence why it’s also called community radio. The reason people may listen to community radio is because that they can offer content which the larger, more mainstream radio stations cannot offer. Places such as Hospitals and universities have their own radio aimed at a certain audience as there are two different audiences can be catered for within their own way. An example of this being that hospitals play calming and feel good music in order to relax the patients and make them happy and university music will be contemporary and a bit more dark as most contemporary music has a darker theme and sometimes a sad message within the lyrics, and its no good if you play things like that in a hospital.