Life hacks BBC public service

Life hacks have two female hosts Vick and Katie: diverse/ woman of colour, Female host- not dominated by a male

Lifehacks is a replacement for the surgery that seems to be a podcast to which you could tune in and ask medical questions

Shirkey, there is no longer a passive audience as audiences now are more active due to the help of new modern technology to which helps connect a bridge between the media and the audience. audience wants to be more involved and interative

ie. Life hacks asks interactive questions and wants to our want to play next (songs) or personal stories to tweet on come onto the show

ie. a lot of newspapers ARE online nowadays to fill the interactive desire we have now

Curran and Seaton’s media is a risky business

war of the world modern 1938

The media needs a form of regulation or they can post whatever they want and it won’t matter if it’s real or not so we have a filter what media goes through also known as “flack” so the government could stop negative information against them to never be published for the public as well as watchdogs who are mainly anonymous people who keep an eye out for the public to ensure there is no corrupt people or media. FREE PRESS should be free from interference/ ownership/political control: we can link this to the war of the worlds as they believed the Martians had come to earth and this caused panic.

At the time they were more media illiterate. Laswell brings the idea that the audience is passive and doesn’t think and simply consumes the media that is given ie the martian.

However now our society is more rejecting of the media and information questioning and rejecting media

Lasswell, behavioral scientist researching areas connected with political communication and propaganda, believed each government had ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1” 

Harold lasswell – Hypodermic model = direct injection = passive audience

Focus on media industries and audiences

Life hacks was made by the BBC which is a public service broadcast and War of the worlds was made the CBC (Columbia broadcasting system).

Audiences – Clay Shirky talks about the end of audience. Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology. This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘prosumer’.

Stuart hall – He mentions about reception theory which is about how the audience receive a message. An audience can either view a message in a dominant way which is how the sender wants it to be viewed, negotiated which is where the audience can see the message but may not completely agree with it, and oppositional which is where the audience completely disagrees with the message.

Life hacks–

Media Industries– Radio 1 product and therefore has a public service status as part of the BBC. The need to represent the nation. Arguments over the need for addressing a youth audience. The influence of new technology on media industries – Life Hacks as multi – platform media product.

Media Audiences– targets a niche audience, cultivation theory including Gerbner and reception theory including Hall. Targets a young audience, life hacks is involved in audience interaction through texts and calls.

War of the worlds– episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, directed and narrated by Orson Welles

Media Industries– War of the Worlds was broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting Company, It was broadcasted live as a halloween special at 8pm on Sunday 30 October 1938, Regulation – radio broadcasting was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission and it investigated the broadcast to see if it had broken any laws.

essay plan

how media has changed through new technologies

ARGUMENT

• media has evolved and is constantly changing for a changing society
• media is open for interpretation

LIFE HACKS

• life hacks A podcast from BBC Radio 1, replaced The Surgery in 2017
• hosts – Katie Thistleton and Vick Hope
• title – associated with the youth demographic, suggesting that the show is targeting youth/millennials, ages being 15 – 29 but 41% of listeners are in this age range, median age is 32
• presenters give the audience some insight into their personal life which helps listeners to feel more connected and supported by them
• this forms a relationship as audiences feel relief in the fact that other young adults are going through similar things
• emphasized by show on the 17th January 2021 titled “resolution regrets and motivation ” in which Katie stated for listeners to “get in touch with us 81199”

AUDIENCE

• relates to uses and gratifications (Blumler and Katz) as the audience is active since they choose information based off of personal identity – being able to relate to the stories being told and seeing yourself in the different topics mentioned as well as personal relationships – feeling of support as a result of knowing that there is an area for advice and help e.g. knowing that people are going through similar experiences as well as entertainment & escapism which can related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1954)

INDUSTRIES

• radio 1 is under the conglomerate BBC who made approximately  £1,044.0 million in 2017, the year Life Hacks began
• this is an example of a consumer based media form as the hosts have some freedom in what they suggests to listeners
• livingstone and lunt would say this is beneficial since there are many raw backs of a self regulated system such as the need for advertisers as they need to put adverts on content that match but BBC do not use advertisers

WAR OF THE WORDLS

• the 17th episode of the CBS radio series
• it was broadcasted at 8pm on a Sunday on October 30th 1938 by Columbia Broadcasting System
• was written by Orson Welles about an Alien invasion
• radio was still a new media form at the time

AUDIENCE

• it caused panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners
• Orson didn’t know was what kind of mass effects this would have on the audience. Orson said he ‘wanted to understand that they shouldn’t swallow everything that came through the tap whether it was radio or not’ and although he had realised at disclaimer prior to the narrative stating that it would be fiction, majority of the audience were not aware of this
• 80 years later it is being studied as an important text as it is one of the earliest examples of media platforms looking into fake news
• the studio being invaded by the police, mobs on streets, scripts being destroyed, tension, anxiety and even reports of deaths,

INDUSTRIES

• was a small budget production without a sponsor

• first episode on 17 april 2018
• aimed at young people – a talk podcast
• Life Hacks is both a traditional radio programme with a regular, scheduled broadcast time, but is also available online after broadcast for streaming and downloading. The broadcast itself and the accompanying website provides opportunities for audience interaction, which is central to the programme’s address to its audience. Life Hacks also exemplifies the challenges facing the institution as a public service broadcaster that needs to appeal to a youth audience within a competitive media landscape.

Media Industries
• Life Hacks is a Radio 1 product and therefore has a public service status as part of the BBC.
• Identification of funding for Radio 1 through the license fee, concept of a hypothecated tax.
• Issues around the role of a public service broadcaster – how does Life Hacks reflect the need to represent the nation. Arguments over the need for addressing a youth audience
already catered for commercially.
• Consider the programme as distinctive in its public service remit.
• The influence of new technology on media industries – Life Hacks as multi – platform media product.

Media Audiences
Life Hacks is reflective of the way the industry targets niche audiences and provides an opportunity to consider industry regulation and the availability of new technology shapes audience targeting and response.
• What techniques does the broadcast use to target a youth audience?
• Consider the way that external factors – such as demographics and psychographics – are likely to also affect audience response and produce differing interpretations
• Consider the opportunities for audience interaction and self-representation
• cultivation theory including Gerbner
• reception theory including Hall

Social and cultural contexts
Life Hacks reflects an acceptance of diversity and a degree of openness in contemporary culture around personal, social and identity issues.

life hacks is part of the bbc – a public service broadcaster. this means that it is funded through taxation

The programme includes discussion of health and social issues such as exam stress, sexual health, alcohol and drugs

How it attracts a young audience:

– The language used and the way the presenters present themselves suggest that they are trying to appeal to more of a youth audience as they tend to use informal language as if they were speaking to a friend – this also makes it more personal which may make the listeners feel as if they are being directly addressed.

– The content discussed is mainly targeting a youth audience as it specifically discusses growing up and going through life from a teenager/ younger persons position (university etc)

theorists:

• hesmondhal – psb funding reduces the risk – constant economic sustenance (Radio listening figures in the UK- 90% of the population tune in to the radio every week, 61% tune of the population tune in to digital radio every week.)
• young & rubicam – psychometrics – everyone fits into set “personality types”, e.g. young, millennial trendy people
• clay shirky – the “end” of the passive audience (war of the worlds), with the invention of the internet the link between institution and audience becomes more equal – social media (listeners use social media as a place to discuss media) – this relates to life hacks as they are frequently seen encouraging participation (for example, in life hacks, presenters frequently ask listeners to text in, at 14:51 vic and katie introduce the listener, who talks about crying over significant things)
• war of the worlds – laswell’s hypodermic needle theory – passive audience, not participatory (one-to-many)

the media becoming more participatory (egalitarian)

genre formatting: the missing has a crime genre which is familiar so its easy to follow the narrative.

seriliasation: sequels to keep audience engaged- narrative- easy to follow audience already have an idea whats bound to happen

internationalisation: broadcasted by bbc which is a public broadcaster

remakes: retelling the same story through different ways

serialisation: the character from the missing is also starred in the series ‘Baptiste’ which also follows the same storyline has the same genre which is myserious and crime

Life hacks

Audience is younger adults- ‘ expressing yourself and lockdown hair disasters’

Casual conversations opposed to scripts

Curran and seaton- diversification, bbc life hacks offer entertainment for everyone but not all at once

Accepts diversity through openness

 Targets a niche audience

Uses and gratifications theory- listeners relating to stories that are being said online/ online community

Livingstone and Lunt- follows a citizen based approach to media production

War Of The Worlds

Broadcasted by CBS

War of the worlds 1937, technology has developed since then

Hesmondhalgh’s idea of a risky business within media- The producers don’t know if the media they are producing is going to cater for everyones interests so not everyone will like it.

Clay Shirky: The audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘presumer’

Livingstone and Lunt: CBS who broadcasted War of the Worlds, work on a consumer- based approach

focus on media industries and audience

war of the worlds

• Written by H G Wells
• Published in 1898
• Radio broadcasted in 1938
• Broadcasted in the United States on October 30th
• Adapted as a film in 2005
• Science-fiction genre
• the novel influenced the work of scientists such as Robert H Goddard who invented the liquid fuelled rocket and multistage rocket which were inspired by the novel.
• Was broadcasted by CBS radio (Columbia broadcasting company), this company still exists today

historical, political and cultural context

• Broadcasted the year before world war 2
• One of the earliest novels about a conflict between humankind and an extraterrestrial race
• Radio was one of the largest forms of media used at the time
• Nazi Germany escalated and began its persecution of the jews
• Almost 80% of American households owned a radio
• the Great Depression and the Wall Street crash both happened in the 1930’s
• Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini were all in power in the 1930’s
• The 1930’s to the 1940’s was known as the ‘golden age’ of radio

industry

CBS Radio – founded by  Michael A. Wiener in 1928, CBS radio is owned by the CBS corporation

CBS – founded September 18, 1927 in Chicago, founder is William s Paley

life hacks

Media Industries

• Life Hacks is a Radio 1 product and therefore has a public service status as part of the BBC.
• Identification of funding for Radio 1 through the license fee, concept of a hypothecated tax.
• Issues around the role of a public service broadcaster – how does Life Hacks reflect the need to represent the nation. Arguments over the need for addressing a youth audience
already catered for commercially.
• Consider the programme as distinctive in its public service remit.
• The influence of new technology on media industries – Life Hacks as multi – platform media product.

Media Audiences

Life Hacks is reflective of the way the industry targets niche audiences and provides an opportunity to consider industry regulation and the availability of new technology shapes audience targeting and response.
• What techniques does the broadcast use to target a youth audience?
• Consider the way that external factors – such as demographics and psychographics – are likely to also affect audience response and produce differing interpretations
• Consider the opportunities for audience interaction and self-representation
• cultivation theory including Gerbner
• reception theory including Hall

• listed on the bbc radio website under the genre of facts and health & wellbeing

essay planning

argument – media is becoming more participatory, argue whether its good or bad, compare difference from program in 1938 compared to program in 2021, different way they target audience, bring in audience theories, participatory media – Gauntlett/Jenkins/Shirky, different ways the industries that own the radio are controlled/how they do things – talk about curran and seaton & hesmondhalgh and the idea of media being a risky business. Clay Shirky -End of Audience – Radio as a declining medium in the age of active audience communication and interaction. Stuart hall – reception theory – war of the worlds – people thinking aliens are coming.