The radio industry employs around 22,000 people that's more that the television industry employs. Radio is comprised of three sectors, each sector is funded and operated differently these sectors are public, private and community.
Public
The public sector of the radio industry is funded by the British tax payer in the United Kingdom, this organization is the longstanding BBC. In total there are 59 BBC radio stations in the UK some national, some regional and some local and one international broadcast station. All of these stations can be accessed through analogue, digital and internet technology.
I found the following information via the 'Inside The BBC - Who We Are' under the license fee tab.
How the licence fee was spent in 2010/11
Between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011 the cost was £145.50 – the equivalent of £12.13 per month or just under 40p per day.
The BBC use the license fee to pay for all its media purposes (TV, radio, online) its broadcast radio stations take up around £2.11 per month per household.
The BBC have a world renowned service, incorporating many genres into their broadcasting such as factual, discussion programming, sport, leisure, music, documentaries and drama.
Private
Private radio stations are private because they are privately funded by numerous advertisers or shareholders from other associations, this is conceived through horizontal integration, this way the bigger budgeted institutions can takeover and subsidise other broadcast stations. For example XFM London is a commercial radio station owned by another British commercial company Global Radio which also owns the following national radio stations Capital, Heart, Gold, Classic FM and LBC Radio. Private Radio's funding is funded primarily by advertisers who make their money from promoting their advertisers products and services. They often invest or takeover other radio stations integrating further into this particular part of the broadcast industry.
Community Radio
Community radio was a concept first introduced by BBC local radio stations, community radio grew increasingly popular during the late end of the 1970's and early 1980's, the volume of these stations continued to grow in the new-town areas there onwards. The ideology of community radio was usually subject to cultures or particular migrant communities such as (Asian, afro-Caribbean etc.) these broadcasts would include particular genres of music including some spoken word programming. In 1989 on to the early 1990s the newly established regulatory system the Radio Authority awarded some ex-pirate radio stations licenses. 50% of community radio is funded by on air sponsorship and advertising the other 50% is accounted for by grants (Ofcom's Community Radio Fund) donors, National Lottery funding or other charitable donors.
TWO TYPE PROGRAMMING
There are two types of programming in the media industry these are factual and news...
Factual programming is made for the purpose of entertainment, examples of this can be found in magazines, music, documentaries and discussions on talk shows both in radio and television.
News programming is defined through bulletins, news broadcasters both public and private for example BBC World News and Sky News. It is also based on the coverage of current affairs that exist in the public sphere, culture, politics, ethical misconduct (scandals) economics etcetera.
In all forms of legitimate media, it is important to uphold the code of ethics, breaking this can result in highly publicised scandal, a fine, and often acts as the death knell to media careers. Ofcom the British regulator, regulate any issues with broadcast radio, in most cases the discrepancy between a source of media and the general public are published via Ofcom's website, stating who and what the issues are concerning, and what legislation was breached on the date it was breached, furthermore they also suggest a public apology and a fine usually follows depending on how severe the content.
The BBC have editorial guidelines published via. their website http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-harm-principles/ this is a good point of reference for any fair, rational media producer. They also point out the principles when portraying those that fall into a social minority,
'5.4.38
We aim to reflect fully and fairly all of the United Kingdom's people and cultures in our services. Content may reflect the prejudice and disadvantage which exist in societies worldwide but we should not perpetuate it. In some instances, references to disability, age, sexual orientation, faith, race, etc. may be relevant to portrayal. However, we should avoid careless or offensive stereotypical assumptions and people should only be described in such terms when editorially justified.
5.4.39
When it is within audience expectations, we may feature a portrayal or stereotype that has been exaggerated for comic effect, but we must be aware that audiences may find casual or purposeless stereotypes to be offensive.' - BBC - Editorial Guidelines - Portrayal
Representation is important the BBC are possibly one of the finest, most impartial media outlets in the world today, due to upholding their reputation with fairness and consistent consideration.
Approach to Style of Radio
Each radio broadcaster has a set target audience, these are measured usually through age and taste, for example BBC Radio 1's target audience are aged from 15-29, its format should offer a range of new music, news and documentaries. The structure of BBC Radio 1 is fast paced and carefully cut together, it is set out this way to maintain interest with its target audience. Their approach is light-hearted, formal and offers a catalogue of popular culture, with some alternative references to music and other media. Whereas BBC Radio 4's structure is longer, more detailed and informative, this is mainly more receptive with an older audience. On the BBC - Freedom of Information tab on their web page it explains the remit of each station with BBC Radio 4 it outlines who they wish to market their media to "the remit of Radio 4 is to be a mixed speech service, offering in-depth news and current affairs and a wide range of other speech output including drama, readings, comedy, factual and magazine programmes. The service should appeal to listeners seeking intelligent programmes in many genres which inform, educate and entertain". Note that they state their programming is to inform and educate, BBC Radio 4's audience is mostly made up of those from the ages of 65 and over, and the majority of the station's listeners fall into social grading of AB. Whereas BBC Radio 1's target audience is much younger 16-36, the station does not target a specific socio-economic group of people. The BBC are a public funded media organisation, that feature no advertising (the yank dream) whereas with commercial radio, they are funded by advertisers, this means that every 18 minutes there will be a series of advertisements.
Factual Programming
Genres of radio in factual programming could include, talk show radio, podcasts from instiutions and individual media celebrities, music and documentary programming. Factual radio usually stimulates culture and there are a wide variety of stations to choose from, catering to a long list of people with very different tastes.
With factual programming there are themes, these themes are both formal and informative
- Lifestyle
- Gardening
- History
- Science and Nature
- Crime and Justice
- Politics
- Travel
- Art
- Music
- Comedy
News Programming
News programming in radio does differ depending on the station BBC Radio 5 live is a feed for news, sports and entertainment, this is a mixed source for news. Whereas BBC Radio 4 is a source for imparting important political, social and world news, these sources tend to be impartial. The typical structure for news programming would run as follows, presenter, vox pop, contributor, presenter, contributor, presenter, vox pop. The pace will often change with the style for example BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat is a short minute or so excerpt of daily news, they will cover entertainment news instead of world politics or business.
News presenters have to be vigilant when addressing sensitive issues on the air. They must avoid invading privacy of the individual, not to cause subjective harm and offence towards a group of disparate people, their are regulations on stereotyping, religion and protecting the under-eighteens.
The Ofcom broadcasting code details the code of practise every perfectly representable radio broadcaster should follow.
A public issue...
These guidelines map out provisions that are dictated by government legislation for example, The Broadcasting Act of 1990, The Human Rights Act 1998 and the Obscene Publications Act of 1959.
A large number of complaints followed from the general public and members of parliament including Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The media's reaction was a negative one, in a letter to The Chairman of the Lords Select Comittee on Communication, Lord Fowler stated "there were fundamental flaws in the ways the BBC were regulating and governing the situation" at the time both the BBC Trust and Ofcom were dealing with a number of complaints, but the public were unsure who to detial their complaints to and which regulatory body had precedence over the other. As a result of the incident Jonathan Ross was suspended for a total of 12 weeks without pay The Daily Mail estimated that Ross lost around £1,344,000 in wages during this period. Although many agreed that the incident was unecessary they thought that members of parliament were being too critical of the scandal and at that time there were far more important political matters to address. The BBC were fined a total of £150,000 by Ofcom as result of the material being aired to the public.
