Essay

Radio one has many ways to interact with their audience, as this is important to keep people listening as they want to stay relevant and have a good relationship with their audience.

BBC Radio 1 show aim to target a range of young listeners, using mixes of music tracks alongside talk shows and audience interaction opportunities. This enables the Radio show to entertain and engage their audience to listen. People want to feel like the radio producers are interested in the overall public and they care about them – hence why a presenter, such as Greg James, will encourage the public to call in and get in contact with the Radio show or to sign up for competitions. The target audience is 15-29 year old, sometimes targeted at younger teenagers for the songs played; where they could listen in the car, on the way to school (in the morning or after school) etc. One way of targeting this audience is to make prizes that appeal to that age – fun, lively, exciting places or objects to win. However, it is shown that 30% of 35-44 year old think the radio show is aimed at them. Which affects the breakfast show in a positive way due to the fact that it means the amount of listeners is expanded, as there are a wide range of people that are interested in listening.

Another way that audience is encouraged is due to the timings of the radio show, with the timings being focused around early morning and on the timings of commutes, this means that commuters and people that are awake in the mornings on their way to work have entertainment. The timings being focused in the early hours of the morning when people are on the way to work means that regular listeners always have entertainment and something to listen to if they want to. what this generates is a returning audience, which means that the same people return every day for the entertainment if they enjoy it. This means that there will be daily listeners which become part of a community and as-well as this, always come back and listen to the entertainment which is given and provided to them for free every single day. The radio channel then capitalizes on those who are regulars by leaving them on cliff hangers. This means that listeners come back the next day to hear the end of a story or in-fact a game or quiz which is aired at a certain point in every show, they may come back the next day for that as-well.

Another way Radio 1 interacts with their audience is by the website: this consists of the latest music, (which is updated frequently) live music and mixes (this will benefit the audience by showing them what has played so they can access it later after already listening to it) , such as live lounge, where artists sing covers; the official chart, radio 1 playlists, 'whats new', news, sports, weather, i player, sounds etc. All of these features are easily accessible for all ages and enables the audience to have a 'choice' in what they want to listen to or participate in. This interaction is further developed through the games; such as 'a journey back into fake Britain' - Greg James plays a game by ringing lots of callers and firing random questions, in which they have to respond with the first thing that comes into their head without panicking or thinking too much. The idea is that the person on the end of the phone is under pressure, which makes it more entertaining for the listeners. Examples of the sort of questions are: what noise does a koala make? Or a happy butterfly? These questions are unusual which engages the audience because Greg James can be known as a fun, younger guy, friendly, like your best mate- very likable. Another part of the podcast presents him asking viewers what they listen to, to help them fall asleep. This is effective in receiving more listeners because it shows that the radio presenter has an interest in what their fans like and dislike. People want to get involved because a wide target audience listens to Radio 1.