Explain why popular music radio programmes struggle to gain recognition as Public Service Broadcasting. Refer to The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show to support your answer.
In your answer you must also:
· Explain how political, cultural and economic contexts influence the status of popular music radio programming.
I do not necessarily agree with the statement in question 1 that popular music radio programmes struggle to gain recognition as Public Service Broadcasting. The Radio 1 Breakfast Show provides for its under 30 adult audience a diverse and varied selection of content, although it does focus on popular music Radio 1 is branded the nation’s favourite station and historically has had popular music at the heart of its public service remit.
The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Greg James celebrated its 52nd Anniversary in 2017. For fifty years BBC Radio 1 has encouraged British Music to be its main focus however, it has diverted into playing other big name artists from other countries, breaking some of the biggest and most important acts of all time and throwing its support behind talented artists regardless of genre, from rock and pop to dance and grime.
According to the BBC Trust website, the remit of Radio 1 is to entertain and engage a broad range of young listeners with a distinctive mix of contemporary music and speech. Its target audience is 15-29-year olds and it should also provide some programming for younger teenagers. This remit remains part of the public service remit set up by Lord Reith in 1927 and still holds today- to inform, educate and entertain. Operating under this remit, the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show is funded by the licence fee which gives BBC popular music radio programmes more scope and range in terms of content and access to ‘star’ guests. It also gives it more options for modes of distribution, for example, via livestreaming and podcasts on iPlayer radio, iPlayer on TV, BBC Sounds app and website along with other extra content on digital stations and more outside broadcasts and events. The content of the BBC can be streamed via the internet or you can download multiple episodes of first run series via the BBC iPlayer Radio app. For example, the podcast which features the best bits from Greg James’s Radio 1 Breakfast Show is released every week on a Friday featuring the funniest stuff and highlights from celebrity guests, such as, Stormzy and Sam Smith. This service is provided for free under the licence fee and is set up as a subscription.
Despite this expanding provision of service, the Radio 1 Breakfast Show has come under criticism for its falling number of listeners. According to Rajar it has affected the programmes status by seeing audiences drop to just over 5 million listeners, which is the lowest audience for nearly twenty years. (This may be seen as an example of how The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Greg James is losing its popular appeal especially in justification of the BBC licence fee payment).
According to the BBC Radio academy website, though, it’s still the number one discovery place for musicians such as the Arctic Monkeys, and it explains that the internet has changed the way the music industry works forever but radio is still at the heart of it- radio is as important as ever. In today’s segmented ‘listening’ market, successful programme managers must already know their target audience and the brand values of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Greg James. These should attract and hold their attention, through its energetic style and popular content, including the music and celebrity culture it promotes through the presenter Greg James, who is the voice of the show. This is clearly illustrated by the content of the show on the 27th January; there is the popular feature called unpopular opinions where the public and stars discuss various topics with Greg James.
According to Radio 1’s controller Ben Cooper, Radio 1 is evolving with its young audiences as we live through changing times for traditional radio. There have been record figures for Radio 1 videos on YouTube with 1.4 billion total views on Radio 1’s YouTube channel. Although traditional radio audience ratings show a gradual decline in listeners, online media has raised the profile of BBC Radio 1 and the Breakfast Show in a different way- meeting the needs of a young digital- savvy online audience by talking about certain topics that are trending online.
The Radio 1 Breakfast Show also contains in its running order regular news reports in the form of Newsbeat. The broadcast on 27th January begins with the news and targets its news in both style and content at young audiences, this is evident in the selection and register of the information provided and the tone of the news presenters when reporting on certain topics. If it’s something sad or serious they sound very strong spoken and clear to ensure all information is passed but anything silly or happy then they are a lot more softly spoken. This style and content of news aimed at young audiences is also embedded in the presentation of news on the Newsbeat website. Traditionally news is not targeted at younger audiences and has often been packaged for adults, especially with scheduled breakfast shows. Newsbeat packages news aimed at the under 30’s- fulfilling the remit of providing information in the public sphere for young people and genuinely, I believe involving them as citizens.
In summary the Radio 1 Breakfast Show does have popular music at the heart of its broadcast, and this is evident in the diverse and global music policy that it has. On the 27 January broadcast, approximately 60% of the playlist was music by British artists or bands and the genre of music included pop, grime, indie rock and dance music from both British and International artists. Furthermore, in February the show promotes and covers the Brit Awards and September is the Live Lounge music month. Politically this may be seen as a waste of the taxpayer’s money, but it is in line with the very principles of how Radio 1 formed over 50 years ago, using popular music to appeal to a wider audience. This ethos is promoted by the Radio 1 Jam slam and Big Weekend bringing in acts such as Stormzy. The BBC is misunderstood if the fee-paying public believes the BBC is simply about popular music- at the heart of its revised remit is the commitment to bring diversity and cultural creativity in its music to represent all communities in the UK and promote British nationality on a global scale. The licence fee and the principles of public service broadcasting are the foundation which protects BBC Radio 1 and the Breakfast Show from the commercial pressures and influence of ownership in independent radio. (The biggest challenge that the Radio 1 Breakfast Show faced was how to keep a media savvy under- 30 audience in a technologically changing online media environment- one that I think it has achieved.)
