Assignment 1- analysis of a radio station

Kerrang radio is a National station belonging to the Bauer Media Group locally broadcasting in the UK on digital radio platforms and online with the rest of the world. The station specialises in playing a range of rock, punk and metal depending on the time of day (playing classic rock and mainstream rock with one or two heavier songs mixed in during the day and playing heavier metal and punk in the evening).

   Kerrang uses of the programs that would be found on a mainstream radio station such as Radio 1 but with the appropriate spins when necessary such as the Kerrang Chart Show in that uses the same system as the more popular UK TOP 40 but on a smaller scale of 20 songs using the aforementioned genres. Programs such as the breakfast shows and evening shows follow a similar pattern e.g. The breakfast show (presented by Kate Lawler) is upbeat, chatty and often comedic as with many stations but using the mentioned genres and a slightly altered sense of humour.  The station also broadcasts news bulletins approximately every two hours.

   Kerrangs primarily consists of a working to middle class audience of males aged from the age of 16 to 30 with an interest in at least some form of rock punk or metal. From regularly listening to the station, listening to the texts received and from viewing social networking posts there is a link between the posts and the demographic though many users contacting the station via social network are female going against the average listeners gender.

   Kerrang uses mixed production styles though mostly live productions running from 7 am to 10 pm when the station goes off air and plays music continuously until the station goes on air again at 7 am.

Assignment 1- analysis of a radio program

Johnny Dooms show is the last live show on the popular Kerrang radio station. The program features the heavier side of rock punk and metal and features artists such as Asking Alexandria, The Browning and Five Finger Death Punch. 

Normally opening with two songs played consecutively the first being a more mainstream and daytime friendly with the second being heavier and more akin to the rest of the program. This may be to allow newer listeners to gradually ease themselves in from whatever they have just been listening to for most of the day. From this point on the program is relatively random with no weekly features and as little chat as possible.

Johny doom (center left) and other  Kerrang DJ's collecting for long time
partners Cash for Kids.

The program follows a fast paced structure of playing most songs in batches of two or sometimes three with the presenter (Johnny Doom) stepping in to talk about the last two songs, giving the listener some basic information about what album the song was on an if they are on tour as well as some light hearted banter about the song relating to any recent events they or the presenter attended. Over all the program has an informal, upbeat mode of address.

The music in the program is used to promote and entertain audiences as well as to introduce to them some new artists or songs that they may not have heard about. Adverts largely consist of promotions for kerrang’s weekly magazine and TV channel as well as albums and events with a few general adverts you’d hear on any other radio station. Competitions often finish by the time the program is aired but are still advertised in order to promote the competition as well as to promote the prise e.g. a film.

The audience for the program is slightly smaller than the general audience of the station as the show plays a lot of current music  that most people from ages 16 to the early thirties would be interested in. The program appeals mostly to working class men with an interest in the darker side of music. The program also appeals to film fans as the station in general often relates it’s competitions to resent film releases most recently the release of The Wolverine on DVD.

The programs host while being popular with fans of the station is not as popular as some of the daytime DJ's such as Kate Lawler who featured in a number of popular television shows including Big Brother in 2002 as well as working with and being featured in a range of magazines from The Sun to the monthly lads mag Front. Despite all this Johnny Doom is widely regarded as the voice of Kerrang featuring in many adverts and promotions for the station.

Chapel session 21/10/2012

There were no bands coming in to perform so rather than waste a lesson we focused on setting up. We recorded the jamming session of a group of students. The set up took almost an hour this was largely because of a lack of experience but when we cot to producing the product the technical side went smoothly however the band were out of time and accusations were being sent everywhere which lowered the mood of the entire room.

On a personal level I helped with untangling and plugging in cables and micing up the drum kit. The rest of the session was spent on the tri-caster.

Exploring talk and music radio part 1- Kerrang basic information and listener stats

Kerrang is a UK based specialist music station focusing primarily on rock, punk and metal. The station broadcast  on FM in Birmingham and the midlands until June 2013 and is still available nationally on DAB and freeview platforms as well as online. Unlike some multimedia companies Kerrang keep close ties with their magazine and TV station with programs such as “The Kerrang magazine show” and “The Kerrang chart show”  which is also aired on Kerrang TV.

Aimed at a working class audience of male listeners between the ages of 13 to mid 30’s. From March to June 2013 their listeners went from 1224000 to 998000 this may have something to do with the Station going of the FM frequency and losing many of their local listeners.

Chapel session: 14th of Septenber

The band that came in to perform were called The Salurians. Their music had a sort of 70s/80s punk vibe. They performed two songs that they had written themselves. The band were ill prepared having only had two members join them on the day without having even performed. This contributed to their lack of preparation and bad timing.

The band were made up of: two guitarists, a drummer and a vocalist. They performed two songs the first was Dozy Rozy and the second was Knock Knockin'.

Media institution case study: Lionsgate Entertainment

As mentioned above Lionsgate entertainment has an expansive selection of films that it distributes and produces, probably most notably: the Saw franchise is centred around John Kramer, a bitter old man with terminal cancer who after the loss of his unborn son to fleeing drug addict and eventual divorce of his wife turns to testing the fabric of the human body and mind with brutal death machines designed to make the prisoner choose between life or death. The series ran for seven film, two tie in videogames and a single one off comic.On the other end of the spectrum is LOL, a coming of age high school comedy drama is a film following Lola Williams and her friends as they deal with high school life and each other in a world that is constantly connected by the social media. This one off film, for the most part got a negative reception but does show the range of films Lionsgate Entertainment is involved with.

Lionsgate Entertainment was formed in 1997 by Frank Guista. Lionsgate is known for having a large and varied library of distributed and produced films and television programs from saw and the Hunger Games franchises to Mad Men and Hells Kitchen though most people associate the company with macabre and often controversial productions.

Somewhere in between the two extremes are films like The Hunger Games and its upcoming sequel: Catching Fire. Both are adaptations in a series of Teen books written by Susan Collins following a teenage girl thrown into a televised life and death game in a dystopian future United States. The film does well for it’s fairly family friendly 12 certificate in keeping with fans of the books (which are considerably violent) happy.

information was acquired from: http://www.lionsgate.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Gate_Entertainment

Speach and music programing: Radio 1

BBC Radio 1 is the one of the most listened to stations in the UK, The radio station focuses on the 12 years to 30 demographic, playing current music usually consisting of: pop, rap and r&b. The station then moves to often heavier material including dubstep, rock and metal during late night programs with the introduction of new music in between. Over the last year the station's reach has fluctuated from the 10,000's to 11,000's.

Nick Grimshaw starts the weekday at 6am playing upbeat music to wake up to, largely chart music and some older songs. The morning being such an important part to peoples days brings in a massive number of listeners before 10 o clock. His program keeps with the up peat theme throughout.

Chapel session Monday 23rd and Wednesday 25th

Monday 23rd of September-

My first chapel session was purely observational though there was one minor task of marking down which takes were best. The control room saw the control of the audio and visual aspects of the production so i didn't get a view of the production from the live area past the stage where the performer was. I was however able to hear about the issues that came up and how they were resolved for example: There were several lights surrounding the performer to create a more visually appealing scene but when shone on the performer himself the lights gave an undesirable effect so it was a case of where to shine the light instead.

Wednesday 25th of September

For Wednesday sessions the Chapel studio sees students from the local art college come down to perform. The first band covered a personal favorite song of mine: "Mr Highway's thinking of the end" by "A Day To Remember." I was given the task of working on the tri-caster, choosing and flicking between camera shots from inside the control room. There were few issues with this production and the band were easy to work with. And while there were only two people including myself who knew the original song, that past knowlege of the song helped with the visuals and the sound recording.

The next band had produced and would perform an original peace of music, for this I took and observational seat and helped advise another student on the use of the equipment.

Introduction to Live at the chapel sessions

For the first evening session I was introduced to Live at the Chapel and the various roles that are included.

Jackhammer Blues

Chapel sessions are a series of live recorded sessions on Monday evenings and Wednesday mornings that aim to producd professional works from a range of genres.

As a taste of what is to come we viewed four live peases: the first twos of which was an acoustic pop folk act, the third was a 70s esque hard rock band and the fourth was a 80s/90s  style synth rock band.

Finally I was talked through the several areas of the unit that include shadowing the people who star in several areas of the production from vision mixing to stage managment in the aim that I will be able to carry out these tasks on my own.

The two tasks that I am interested in are visual mixing and camera work.