Understanding Radio Industries

By Jessica Bean

Commercial Radio

Commercial radio is the second most popular radio sector, employing over 10,000 people and is currently worth approximately £600m.

Commercial radio shares a total radio listening of just over 42%.

Radio Aire is an independent radio station located and broadcasting in Leeds. This radio station is owned by a company called EMAP.

EMAP claims that it is a ‘business to business multiplatform media group’ that works in differing brands of the media world. This ranges from the fashion to government sectors of media.

http://www.emap.com/about-us

Real Radio is owned by a radio division called The Guardian Media Group and is based in Manchester. It’s turnover this year was £280 million.

This company owns some of the UK’s biggest mass media operations, including The Guardian and The Observer.

Research shows that Real Radio is listened to by 444,000 people each week with an average listening of 7.3 hours per week.

It is common for local radio stations to be owned by popular companies.

When we look at Galaxy FM we see that it is owned by a company called Global Radio, this company boasts over 60 radio hubs throughout the UK and owns the top three radio brands in the country.

Statistics show that Galaxy FM reaches an average of 3.9 million listeners every week.

This graph is demonstrating the percentages of people listening to commercial, PBS and independent radio stations.

Public Service Broadcasting

The BBC was founded in October 1922 and was named The British Broadcasting Company Ltd.

PSB exists to provide a service which gives us impartial news, public information and access to the arts.

The BBC provides programming on the radio that may not be likely to found on commercial radio. For example, fictional dramas and alternative music.

The licence fee

Public Service Broadcasting is licence funded by the people of Britain and is represented by the BBC radio stations.

The licence fee is paid by every person in the country who has access to a television or radio in their own home.

A colour TV licence will cost £145.50 for the year, £24.12 of that will be put towards the radio sector of the BBC.

BBC Radio 1 Radio 1 consists of mainly

popular music and interviews with celebrities and musicians. The live lounge is a large part of this station, this is where artists are bands are invited into to play music live. Radio 1 is also in charge of broadcasting the UK top 40 singles of the week every Sunday. In July this year there was over 5 million listening hours for this station.

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 has a mixture of

old, new and alternative programming and music. Programming on this station includes Chris Even highly popular breakfast show and Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops on a Saturday afternoon. In July this year the figures show that there were just under 5 million listening hours for this station.

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 caters to the

more in depth listener with classical and jazz music being some of its main features. Some of its programming includes BBC Proms and thought-provoking fictional drama’s. In July this year there were just under 600 thousand listening hours for this station.

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 states that it is ‘a

station for anyone interested in intelligent speech. Its schedule is packed with the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.’ In July this year there were over 2 million listening hours for this station.

BBC Radio 5 BBC Radio 5 mainly covers sport

and weekly news. This channel is a digital channel which means listeners can only access via a digital radio or online. The main listeners to this radio station are men who are interested in sports. This channel also airs matches on different sporting games. In July this year there were over 1 and a half million listening hours for this station.

BBC Radio 6 BBC Radio 6 is also a digital

only channel and music based. This channel features up and coming alternative music. It also features programmes detailing music from past generations and cultures. The target audience for this station is adults aged 30 to 50. In July this year there were just under 1 and a half million listening hours for this station.

BBC Radio 7 BBC Radio 7 is a speech-based

service providing pure entertainment to attract a new audience to speech radio. The network offers comedy, drama and readings, mainly from the BBC archive. It also aims to be the home of children’s speech radio, with daily live programming for youngsters. In July this year there were over 350 thousand listening hours for this station.

BBC Radio Nations & Locals The BBC states that BBC Radio

Nations & Local ‘provide a primarily speech-based service of news, information and debate to urban and rural communities. Speech output should be complemented by music. The target audience should be listeners aged 50 and over who are not well served elsewhere. There should be a strong emphasis on interactivity and audience involvement.’

•The website for all the listening statistics can be found on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/siteusage/#definitions

New Technologies

The radio industry is undergoing a digital revolution. The internet has brought a new way on new technologies and ways for people to access radio. Radio now be accessed wherever you go. From downloaded podcasts on your phone or mp3 to listening live via your laptop or internet enable phone. Twenty-first century technologies have broadened radio companies horizons and people are able to get access it more than even before.

Non-for-profit Radio

Non-for-profit radio is also known as community radio. Research shows that there were over 100 non-for-profit radio stations in 2008 and that number is increasing.

OFCOM have recently put a grant towards community radio stations, this has brought an increase in community radio stations. These stations have a very local remit and most stations tend to have a local based theme.

On local community in Leeds called RAF caters to Asian and ethnic communities. They broadcast a mixture of ethnic music with topical debate. Recently they managed to raise £80,000 for the Pakistan Flood Appeal. The appeal on the stations sparked a massive response from Leeds locals. This story demonstrates how community radio stations, while small compared to commercial and public radio, still have an influence among the public.

Professional Bodies

NAB The National Association of

Broadcasting states that it is a premier trade association for broadcasters. It improves the quality and profitability of broadcasting, encourages content and technology innovation and highlights the important ways that stations serve the community.

Radio Centre Radio Centre was founded in 2006

from the merger of RAB and CRCA. Radio Centre’s website states that ‘The role of RadioCentre is to maintain and build a strong and successful Commercial Radio industry — both in terms of listening hours and revenues. As such, RadioCentre operates in a number of areas including working with advertisers and their agencies, working with government, Ofcom and policy makers, and also stations themselves.’

CMA The Community Media Association

supports community radio broadcasting worldwide. This company states that ‘The Community Media Association is the UK representative body for the Community Media sector and is committed to promoting access to the media for people and communities. It aims to enable people to establish and develop community based communications media for empowerment, cultural expression, information and entertainment.’

OFCOMOFCOM is an independent regulator and

authority that oversees the UK’s communication industries. Their website states that ‘Ofcom is the communications regulator. We regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms and mobiles, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.’ OFCOM have a board that regulates the complaints put into them. ‘It has a Non-Executive Chairman, Executive Directors (including the Chief Executive), and Non-Executive Directors.The Executive runs the organisation and answers to the Board.’

ASA The Advertising Standards

Authority enforce codes and regulations in the advertising sector. The ASA state that they are ‘the UK’s independent watchdog committed to maintaining high standards in advertising for the benefit of consumers, advertisers and society at large.’

MCPS-PRS The Mechanical Copyright

Protection Society – Performing Rights Society Alliance was formed in 1997. Their websites states that ‘We exist to collect and pay royalties to our members when their music is exploited in one of a number of ways – when it is recorded onto any format and distributed to the public, performed or played in public, broadcast or made publicly available online.’

Employment in the Radio Sector

The radio sector has a highly skilled and qualified workforce of which almost two thirds are graduates. Although the majority of the workforce is based in London, local and community radio stations mean that the radio workforce is more spread out than other media sectors. Other than London the main clusters of the workforce is in the South East and the North West regions of England and in Scotland.

Breakdown of Roles

Roles in a typical radio set-up• Program Director • Announcers • Production • Music Library

– News Department • News Director • Newscasters • Reporters • Writers

– Engineering Department • Chief engineer • Staff engineers • Maintenance

About a quarter of the workforce is freelance or contracted for less than a year. In this industry, ‘freelance’ is to not have any long term commitments to one employer, in other words you are working for yourself. Over half of the radio workforce is female but employs a relatively low percentage of minority ethnic groups.

While technology is ever expanding and advancing the way people live their lives, there are endless possibilities of how technology will change the radio sector in the future.