The Format of Radio

Now is the time for us to begin our exciting new module, so hold on to your hats as we enter the world of radio.
The three characteristics of radio, which make it the unique form of media it is, are that it is immediate, intimate and personal.
Radio Journalism:
Headlines: A one line summary of each of the main stories which can either precede a bulletin, or stand alone.
Bulletins: Conventionally a bulletin will be two to five minutes duration and they usually begin with the headlines. They may contain a voice piece where another journalist summarises the story, this is pre-recorded and is around 20 to 30 seconds long.  There may also be a two-way with another reporter who is speaking live. Or audio cuts of interviews, press conferences, expert comment or vox pops.
News Programmes: Often begin with the headlines and/or a short bulletin. These programmes explore the top stories in further detail and include additional stories, which may be related or unrelated to the top stories. They often provide interviews either live or pre-recorded and are filled with debate, comment or commentary.
Magazine Programmes: These may be either niche or have a broad range, but generally they will have a specific remit. They are less likely to include headlines or bulletins, but they may react to the top stories of the day. Often cover issues both topical and timeless, or may use a topical example as a peg on which to hang an otherwise timeless issue. They may also include other features such as phone ins, for listener interaction.
Packages: The cue is read by the presenter, but the introduction and conclusion may be made by the reporter or participant. They can include reporter links either in the studio or at another location, interviewees, vox pops, etc. Which are then all “packaged” together.
Documentaries: These are extended packages or features which explore a specific topic or issue in much greater depth than a news or magazine programme.
Target Audiences: This is defined by age and social demographic, measured by RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Limited). The style and format of a program will be dictated by the target audience to which the station aims its output.

Lets go on a Rural Ride

Cobbett 1763-1835
William Cobbett grew up in the countryside and worked as a farm labourer until he was twenty. He then joined the army, where he remained until 1791, when he was forced to flee to America after exposing military corruption. Whilst in America he began his career as a journalist, publishing twelve volumes of attacks on American democracy. He quickly became known as “Peter Porcupine”.
Cobbett then returned to England in 1800 and began publishing a weekly newspaper “The Political Register” in 1802. This was originally conservative, but as the years went on Cobbett moved towards a more radical stance, eventually leading him to call for parliamentary reform. This resulted in him being sentenced to serve two years in jail. After his release he began to campaign against the Newspaper Tax which had caused him to begin publishing his Political Register as a pamphlet, which had a circulation of 40,000.
He was strongly opposed to parliament’s method of making decisions about the rural areas without consideration or understanding of the people who live there. Cobbett also believed that rapid industrialisation was threatening to destroy traditional ways of life. This was his inspiration for his publication “Rural Rides”. Where he took an empirical approach and travelled around the country and documented what he saw and then compared it to the statements made by the Parliamentary Agricultural Committee. Rural Rides was also filled with reminiscence and nostalgia as he compared places to his own experiences.

Charles Dickens shared similar views to Cobbett on the dangers of industrialisation. However Dickens was focused more on the plight of those who lived in the urban areas, arguing that the poor were also entitled to an education and standard of living, as opposed to Cobbett who was more concerned about the rural. Dickens, who worked as a parliamentary reporter, was also seen as more approachable to the middle class.

Revolutionary Start to the New Year

So after a month of comfort and home luxuries, we’re all back to the grind of university of life and the weekly battle to try and make ourselves seem intellectual. We kicked off the new year and HCJ with the French and Industrial Revolutions.

However before we focused on the revolutions we first had to deal with the “Act of Union” in 1707 with Scotland. This was the first British Empire and the creation of the United Kingdom. However things could have ended very differently to how we recognise them today. In 1698 Scotland attempted to set up a colony in Central America, however this resulted in a complete disaster for Scotland.  Darien (New Caledonia) cost Scotland a fifth of its wealth and was a malarial swamp. A financially strained Scotland surrendered its sovereignty to England to be bailed out of their monetary turmoil.

The French Revolution
The UK benefited greatly from the French Revolution. British Naval Power was absolute and the blockades of French ports destroyed France’s trade, creating a boom for British trade. Whilst other European countries were occupied by the revolution, Britain took this as their cue to expand their empire.  The Transatlantic Triangular Trade (the slave trade) was also highly profitable for Britain. However the end of the war meant the end of the boom, causing widespread unemployment and a steep fall in wages.  In response to this the British government created the Corn Laws (1815 and repealed in 1846), which put a tariff on imported grains.

The Industrial Revolution
England became the “workshop of the world” and Manchester’s population went from 17,000 to 180,000 in between 1760 and 1830. The city was the centre of the industrial revolution, however this came with a price of squalid living conditions, desperate pollution and widespread illness. Cotton was key to the revolution and the raw material was transported from slave plantations in the American South.
In the politics at the time pressure was building for reform.  The Peterloo Massacre 1819, in Manchester, 60,000 protesters gathered but were then charged at by the Cavalry, eleven people died.  Protesters demanded that the larger industrial cities and towns should have the right to elect MP’s. Less than 2% of the population had the option to vote. The political corruption is made obvious with examples such as the village of Old Sarum, which had eleven voters and managed to elect two MP’s, whereas Manchester, with its population in the thousands, had none.
The Enclosure Act was also then put in place, pushing smaller farmers from the countryside into industrial jobs in the cities.
The Poor Law Act was introduced in 1834 and was put in place to prevent members of the public getting state benefit, stating that no able bodied person was to receive money or other help from the poor law authorities, except in a workhouse. A workhouse however was not an attractive option. People would work for hours in trade for food, which was only sufficient enough to just about keep the body functioning and eventually causing a person to starve to death. This concept of a workhouse was created on the basis of Bentham’s Utilitarianism. This is the theory that people act based on an attraction to pleasure and a repulsion from the unpleasant. So to prevent people from claiming relief they had to make it unpleasant, making it an object of “wholesome horror”.

I think I may need to try hone my skills in concise blogging…