Radio: BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat

Newsbeat analysis

Use BBC Sounds to listen to Radio 1. Select a Newsbeat bulletin (8am or 12.45pm are good options) and then answer the following questions:

1) What news stories were featured in the bulletin you listened to?

The bulletin I listened to was focused on the England vs Netherlands match, discussing the audience response to each part of the game and having a story on the England player Ollie Watkins, who scored the late goal that took England to the Euro 2024 final. 

2) How does Newsbeat appeal to a youth audience?

The reporting of each story is made to be more personal and engaging with background music and fast paced hitting. 

3) How might Newsbeat help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster?

The BBC's public service remit is to inform, educate and entertain, which Newsbeat helps to achieve by informing and educating its audience of the latest news stories while entertaining its young target audience.

Media Factsheet #246: BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat

Read Factsheet #246 BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat. You'll need your Greenford google login to access it. Answer the following questions:

1) How is the history and launch of Radio 1 summarised in the factsheet? If you studied this as part of GCSE Media you will already know much of this.

For many years BBC radio had a monopoly of the airwaves, it was the only radio station that people in the UK could legally listen to. However, this monopoly was challenged in the 1960s when pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg started illegally transmitting commercial programming via ships in international waters and on land. Britain was undergoing a youthquake in ‘The Swinging Sixties’ and these stations provided a channel to the new counter-culture that was taking place. These stations also had DJs (Disc Jockeys,) who were not bound by the same broadcasting rules operated by the BBC, they seemed more exciting and interesting to the youth demographic. The BBC, with its bland programming, was not attractive anymore and the huge number of listeners that migrated to the pirate station clearly pointed to a social need for young people that was not being fulfilled by the BBC. However, the commercial model of radio with its need for advertising revenue did not fulfil the core Reithian Values of the BBC; to inform, educate and entertain, as established by Sir John Reith in the 1930s. In response, Radio 1 was set-up to rival these pirate stations and put them out of business, which it successfully did. Tony Blackburn opened Radio 1 on 30th September 1967 at 7.00am, the station set out to emulate the new ‘DJ style’ of radio, heard only on the pirate radio stations.

2) Look at page 3 of the factsheet. How is Radio 1 attempting to appeal to its 15-29 age demographic?

It aims to entertain and engage young listeners with a distinctive mix of contemporary music and speech. The programmes showcase a wide range of new music styles and support emerging artists, in particular those from the UK; with at least 60 hours a week dedicated to specialist music programming. News, documentaries and other speech content focuses on areas of relevance to young adults in the UK today and aims to help them make sense of the world around them. BBC Radio 1Xtra is Radio 1’s digital ‘sister’ station, shares some programmes and a similar passion for new music. The station has a particular focus on serving BAME (British English, Black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities, offering its young listeners programmes that span RnB, hip-hop, dancehall, drum & bass, and a range of other urban music genres. They also broadcast weekly documentaries under the ‘Radio 1 & 1Xtra’s Stories.’

3) What did young people used to get from radio? Focus on audience pleasures / Uses & Gratifications here (see top of second column on page 3).

- To connect themselves to popular culture products (identity).

- To gain an insight into the world beyond their own experience: relationships, romance, politics (information and surveillance).

- To build para-social relationships with media personalities (both musicians and DJs) – create fandoms.

- For pure entertainment.

4) How has Radio 1 and Newsbeat in particular diversified its content for the digital age?

In order to try and cater for young people’s needs and compete with rival platforms, Radio 1 has diversified its content beyond the studio, from Live Lounge sessions to a Big Weekend of live music, its output is wide and diverse.  

5) How is Newsbeat constructed to appeal to audiences?

- Multiple voices, regional and national accents; Welsh, Irish, Scottish.

- Code-switching from formal to informal is used in order to target and appeal to different demographics.

- Simplifying of language and content.

- Personalisation and anecdotes.

- Use of sound beds/effects: also known as imagining, that run underneath the voices. These are used to maintain interest throughout the broadcast.

- Recorded interviews with diegetic sound.

6) What are the three key ideas from David Hesmondhalgh and which apply to Radio 1 Newsbeat?

- Cultural Industries are made to create profit: Does not apply as the BBC is a PSB provider, free from commercial impulses. All profits go back into making more content for the people.

- Content production is made by ‘symbol creators’: Yes, the diverse output of Radio 1 and Newsbeat is huge. Creators are governed by professional guidelines but they are also free to be creative to make products to excite youth audiences.

- The internet has not challenged the centralised power of providers or allowed audiences to challenge content: Yes, Radio 1 and Newsbeat is finding it difficult to challenge the social media giants in targeting a youth audience, but it does try to utilise these platforms with its content.

7) Now look at Curran and Seaton. What are their key ideas and can they be applied to Radio 1 Newsbeat?

- The media is concentrated in the hands of powerful commercial media giants: No, PSBs are supposed to hold power to account by offering impartial news which is not driven by economic and political ideology. Furthermore, the BBC is funded by the licence fee which is set at by the government. Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has announced that the fee will remain at £159 until 2024, and then rise in line with inflation for the following four years. The plans for the new licence fee settlement cover a period of six years and will take effect from 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2028. It’s also important to remember that the government could get rid of the BBC should it say so, but it cannot tell it what to say or do.

- Culture is controlled by social elites: No, The BBC has its remit written into The Royal Charter, which states that it must remain independent and that the mission of the BBC is to act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain. This means it is diverse, different and caters for all, not a small minority.

8) What key idea for Livingstone and Lunt is on the factsheet and how does it link to the CSP?

- Media can have a citizen- based approach to regulation: The BBC is an example of a citizen-based approach to regulation.

9) How can we apply Stuart Hall's Reception theory to Radio 1 Newsbeat?

- Media producers encode media products in a way that they think will appeal to them. This is not always successful: The BBC tries to appeal to young people with its content, but it faces competition from other platforms that appear to be catering for them in a better, more appealing way.

10) Choose one other audience theory on the factsheet and explain how it links to Radio 1 Newsbeat.

Uses and Gratifications – Blumler and Katz

- Audiences select media products in an active way, for various reasons: Newsbeat could satisfy the need for information and surveillance. Radio 1 has many aspects of entertainment.

Industry contexts: reading and research

Read the first five pages of this Ofcom document laying out its regulation of the BBC.

1) Pick out three key points in the 'Summary' section.

- The public has exceptionally high expectations of the BBC, shaped by its role as a publicly-funded broadcaster with a remit to inform, educate and entertain the public, and to support the creative economy across the UK.

2) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points could we relate to BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat?

- Support social action campaigns on BBC radio. We are requiring Radio 1 to offer a minimum number of major social action campaigns each year. Providing information and raising awareness of social issues affecting young people and giving them a platform to engage with is one of the key ways Radio 1 can set itself apart from other radio stations. 

- Strengthen news and current affairs rules. To make sure the BBC reaches the widest audiences possible with its news and current affairs content, we have increased quotas for news on BBC One and current affairs on BBC One and BBC Two, and set new regulatory conditions for radio. Radio 2 will be required, for the first time, to air at least three hours of news and current affairs in peak time per week, and Radio 1 will be required to broadcast an extended news bulletin in peak time each weekday.

- Secure a more distinctive BBC across all its services – a central feature of the Charter – through a range of new measures. At least three-quarters of all programme hours on the BBC’s most popular television channels should be original productions, commissioned by the BBC for UK audiences. There will be new requirements on Radio 1 and Radio 2 to play a broader range of music than comparable commercial stations and more music from new and emerging UK artists.

3) Which do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? 

- Support social action campaigns on BBC radio: We are requiring Radio 1 to offer a minimum number of major social action campaigns each year. Providing information and raising awareness of social issues affecting young people and giving them a platform to engage with is one of the key ways Radio 1 can set itself apart from other radio stations. 

- Safeguard vulnerable genres such as arts, music and religious programmes. Our research shows these areas are important for some audiences; but some are in decline. We have therefore confirmed higher requirements for BBC One and BBC Two to show programmes in these genres, including a new requirement to broadcast during peak viewing times. With BBC Three’s move online, we have also introduced a regulatory condition to safeguard the provision of comedy on BBC One and BBC Two for the first time.

- Require the BBC to reflect the full diversity of the UK population. We are requiring the BBC to put in place a new commissioning Code of Practice for Diversity, approved by us, by April 2018. This will ensure that on- and off-screen diversity considerations are embedded in the commissioning process. We will also ensure the BBC is publicly accountable for achieving its workforce diversity targets. It must now report in detail on its progress towards these targets each year.

4) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience?

We are also announcing an in-depth review of how different audiences are represented and portrayed on the BBC. All audiences should feel that the BBC offers something for them, however, our research shows that several groups feel that it does not adequately represent their interests or lives. This is our first ad hoc review of the BBC. As part of our analysis we plan to examine the on-screen diversity of the BBC’s programming, including in its popular peak time shows. The review will ask what audiences expect from the BBC to understand whether it reflects and portrays the lives of all people across the whole of the UK, ranging from younger and older audiences to diverse communities. We will take into account the outcomes of the review as we shape our future oversight of the BBC, and we will take further measures where needed to ensure that the BBC is delivering for all its audiences.

5) Based on your reading and research, do you think BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat offers licence fee payers good value for money?

BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat aims to target young audiences with informative, engaging and accurate news reports without requiring a TV license as it can be listened to on BBC Sounds, so I believe it is good value for money as it is a service that will always be available even without the license.