Music Based Programming workbook

1. BTEC ExtendedDiplomainCreativeMedia
Production (Level 3)
Unit 44 Music
Based
Programming
Paul Rossington

2. Unit 44 Music Based Programming
Unit introduction
Jobs in the radio industry often involve planning, producing or presenting music sequences,
or all three. There are literally hundreds of music radio stations – national, regional, local,
student, hospital and community stations – which organise their output within lengthy
sequence programmes of three to five hours duration.
In-store audio, once distributed exclusively by recorded means, is increasingly being
delivered live, either by satellite or online. As a result, differences in content between in-store
audio and radio broadcasting have become less marked than ever before. Specialist
production companies make in-store programming for supermarkets and other retailers.
Music-based programming in radio and for in-store use requires a number of pre-production
skills, including selection and scheduling according to the purpose of the material and the
contexts within which it is to be heard. In both cases, its impact can be considerably enhanced
by the incorporation of other elements, from branding to infotainment. Sometimes an element
of audience interaction can make such programming even more interesting.
This unit will enable learners to develop skills in music-based programming for two different
but closely related contexts in the radio and sound recording industries: radio broadcasting
and in-store audio. Learners will develop an understanding of this type of programming in
order to inform their production work and will also develop their ability to explain how the
production choices made are suitable for the intended audiences.
Learning outcomes
On completionofthisunit a learnershould:
1 Understand different types and styles of music-based programming
2 Be able to create music sequences for different audiences
3 Be able to incorporate added speech and feature content into music sequences
4 Be able to review own music-based programmes with reference to purpose and audience.

3. Different types and styles ofmusic based programming
Music-based programming:
Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, Contemporary Hits, Hit List, Current Hits,
Hit Music, Top 40, or Pop Radio) is a radio format that focuses on playing current and
recurrent popular music as determined by the Top 40 music charts. There are several
subcategories, dominantly focusing on rock, pop, or urban music. Used alone, CHR most
often refers to the CHR/pop format. The term Contemporary Hit Radio was coined in the
early 1980s by Radio & Records magazine to designate Top 40 stations which continued to
play hits from all musical genres as pop music splintered into Adult contemporary, urban
contemporary and other formats. The term Top 40 is also used to refer to the actual list of hit
songs, and, by extension, to refer to pop music in general. The format became especially
popular in the sixties as radio stations constrained disc jockeys to numbered play lists in the
wake of the payola scandal.
Recurrent radio refers to a group of songs still frequently aired on a contemporary hit radio
station even several months or even years after the initial debut. It is also used to describe
core songs in other radio formats as well. Most charts have special rules to determine when a
song has become recurrent, at which point they are removed from current charts (such as the
Billboard Hot 100) and placed on special "recurrent charts." Recurrent charts tend to be more
static, with less week-to-week changes in popularity, than current charts.
Other radio formats include;
Gold,
Easy listening,
Classical,
Specialist;
From chosen eras, eg rock ‘n’ roll, seventies, current;
Selection criteria, eg aesthetics, target audience, constructing a narrative, audience
interactivity, Top 40 charts

4. TASKS
Name a radio station that plays predominately each of the following radio formats
Adult Contemporary BBC Radio 2: BBC radio 2 is a radio station
that is mainly aimed towards adults, playing
older songs from older bands that would have
been popular in the 90s and 80s. They also
include news and sports updates.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio2
Recurrent BBC Radio 1: BBC Radio 1 tends to aim
their radio show at a lot of different age
groups; they play recent music as well with
the odd few that were popular months and
even years back. www.bbc.co.uk/radio1
Easy Listening Smooth Radio: Smooth Radio brings its
viewers a relaxing music mix. This station is
mainly aimed at an older audience. Smooth
Radio is a commercial radio station meaning
that they get their funding through adverts.
http://www.smoothradio.com/
Classical Classic FM: Classic FM is a radio station that
is aired across the UK, that mainly only plays
classical music. Their target audience is
mainly focused on the older generation.
http://www.classicfm.com/
Rock n Roll Kerrang: Kerrang is originally a Magazine
company, but since 2004 Kerrang has also
developed their own radio station. They aim
their radio station at fans of Rock, Metal and
Punk music. http://www.kerrangradio.co.uk/
Indie Rock X-FM: X-FM is a Indie Rock radio station,
that can also fit into the Adult Contemporary
category, for playing older music from recent
bands, but songs that came out around 20
years ago. http://www.radiox.co.uk/listening-
online/
Asian Asian Network: Asian Network is a BBC
radio station that focuses on the Asian
community in the UK. Playing music,
updates from different countries in Asia and
also interviews.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork

5. Gold Gold Radio: Gold is a radio station that plays
“The Greatest Hits of All Time”, because of
their USP their target audience is very big,
aiming at teenagers and adults.
http://www.mygoldmusic.co.uk/

6. Types:
Broadcastradio (publicservice,commercial)
The two types of broadcast radio stations each develop their playlists for a variety of reasons.
Each of the public service stations have specific demographic profiles that their music is
supposed to appeal to whereas commercial radio stations intended target audience dictates the
music that their station plays.
Internet radio (publicservice,commercial);
Internet radio services are usually accessible from anywhere in the world—for example, one
could listen to an Australian station from Europe or America. Some major networks like CBS
Radio and Citadel Broadcasting (except for news/talk and sports stations) in the US, and
Chrysalis in the UK restrict listening to in-country because of music licensing and advertising
concerns. Internet radio remains popular among expatriates and listeners with interests that
are often not adequately served by local radio stations (such as eurodance, progressive rock,
ambient music, folk music, classical music, and stand-up comedy). Internet radio services
offer news, sports, talk, and various genres of music—every format that is available on
traditional radio stations.
In-storeaudio (promotional,ambient)
Many major shopping centres and major retailers use in store audio for a couple of major
reasons. These can be for promotional purposes where songs are used to promote products
and sales or where they choose to play ambient sounds to create a relaxing mood or
atmosphere while patrons wander around the premises.

7. Styles:
Tasks
Listen to a radio show of your choice for 1 hour and take note on the following aspects
ratio of speech or other audio to music
(How much time was given to music/general
speech/ news & Weather etc.?)
Kerrang Radio: Breakfast with Kate (7am –
10am)
The presenter would play 2-3 songs and each
song would be played for 3-4 minutes. The
presenter would speak and give information
to entertain the audience for 1-2 minutes, and
then there would be a few adverts played for
around 2 minutes. There would also be
another 2 minutes for worldwide or Kerrang
related news and updates.
At least 2 – 3 songs are played at a time
before the presenter talks again or there is an
advert break, the radio stations jingle is
played in between the music and adverts.
They play songs from a few older bands like
Iron Maiden, but also some recent bands like
Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Bring Me
The Horizon etc.
branding and identification (How many times
do you hear the station name/logo/jingle)
During the hour broadcast the radio station’s
jingle is played at least 16 times, in between
songs, in between adverts and before the
presenter would talk. The name of the radio
station would be mentioned a few times but
the Jingle would be played quite often.
Was the content chosen for aesthetic reasons The content that was chosen to be in the on
aired broadcast was all to do with the genre
of music that Kerrang play, the content was
music related. Sometimes the presenters
would talk about topics outside of the station
to keep the show interesting. The content
isn’t inappropriate meaning that even though
their target audience is mainly teenagers and
adults, younger viewers could listen if they
were into the station’s genre of music.
Was it suitable for its intended target
audience
Kerrang’s target audience are mainly
teenagers and adults, fans of rock, metal and
punk music. They deliver the music that they
said would be played. There is no
inappropriate content used just in case any
younger listeners tune in. Kerrang radio
station is suitable for its intended target
audience. They played older rock n’ roll
songs from the 80’s and 90’s this can bring in
another age group into the station’s audience,

8. this widens the station’s target audience and
makes the station a lot more known and
popular. The mix between the different types
of rock music especially the different decade
the music is from, brings in a wider audience,
it keeps the younger viewers interested as
well as the older.
Presenters style:
Personality
Anonymous
The presenter was Kate Lawler at Breakfast.
She is very confident and informative; she
has a kind calm voice which is good for the
listeners. She gives information on any tours
and updates from different bands and also
updates with Kerrang, she talks about topics
outside of the station to keep the viewers
interested and the show entertaining. She
spoke clearly and from the sound of it had a
kind and welcoming personality; she talked
about the bands being played and gave
updates of the Kerrang awards.
vocal delivery:
conversational
informative
Tours for the bands that are shown on the
show are promoted, and news with the
Kerrang awards and tour, this keeps the
audience interested and gives them updates
on everything that they might be interested
in. The presenter was very informative when
it came to news and gossip, worldwide news
and also Kerrang (Music) related news.

9. Be able to create music sequences for different audiences
Our assignment task relates to producing a 1 hour radio show for a designated target
audience.
Content: specific formats, eg CHR, AC, gold, recurrent, easy listening; appropriate to time
period (breakfast, daytime, drive-time, evening); duration (for broadcasting, for internet, for
in-store)
Tasks
Prepare a playlist for an hours show for two completely different radio formats
Format 1 – Contemporary Format 2 – Gold (Classic Rock)
1. Sleeping With Sirens – Kick Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnAd
y_wvxMo
Guns N Roses – Welcome To The Jungle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr8-
E8may2Y
2. Bring Me The Horizon – Avalanche
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5hp
HRKUvWM
Def Leppard – Pour Some Sugar On me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HndTMmV
IKRc
3. Asking Alexandria – Killing You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncdo9
NEfCJI
Bon Jovi – It’s My Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2u5uUu3
DE
4. Pierce The Veil – The Divine Zero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzOF
3R7lnok
Quiet Riot – Bang Your Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_1ruZWJi
go
5. New Year’s Day – Kill Or Be Killed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDIqb
M_Q1gE
Aerosmith – Walk This Way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL4uESRC
nv8
6. The Pretty Reckless – Heaven Knows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHBxJ
Cq99jA
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoi
keg
7. PVRIS – Fire
https://youtu.be/i1y0y1EDcHM
Green Day – American Idiot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJ
MI
8. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What
You Did In The Dark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkIW
msP3c_s
Bryan Adams – Summer of 69
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFjjO_lhf9c
9. Of Mice and Men – Would You Still
Be There
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW6T
xK5HNNg
Giant – Chained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AhWFdU
R7ws
10. My Chemical Romance – Welcome To
The Black Parade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDWg
sQhbaqU
Bon Jovi – Wanted Dead Or Alive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRvCvsRp
5ho&index=37&list=PLDZNLev0enbqHVynln
yVRMSue3BG7YWJL
Discuss why you made the choices above

10. Audiences: eg age group, social class, gender, lifestyle, sexual orientation,
geodemographic, local, regional, national
Tasks
Prepare a playlist for an hours show for two completely different audiences
Audience 1: Pop (Young Teens) Audience 2: Kids
1. Paramore – Still Into You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OblL026
SvD4
Demi Lovato – Let It Go (Frozen)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHue-
HaXXzg
2. 5 Seconds of Summer – She Looks So
Perfect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2BYm
mTI04I
Frozen – Do You Want To Build A
Snowman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-
zXT5bIBM0
3. Justin Bieber – Sorry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ELbX5
CMomE
The Little Mermaid – Under The Sea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC_mV
1IpjWA
4. One Direction – Drag Me Down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwgf3w
miA04
Pocahontas – Colours of the Wind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvvZ1T
EQRB8
5. Adele – Hello
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsX
MglC9A
Aladdin – Prince Ali
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEryAoL
fnAA
6. Little Mix – Love Me Like You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WpoK
RnoPRU
The Lion King – Hakuna Matata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB5ceAr
uYrI
7. The Weekend – Can’t Feel My Face
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEI4qSr
kPAs
Beauty and the Beast – Be Our Guest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afzmwA
KUppU
8. Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk ft. Bruno
Mars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPf0Yb
XqDm0
The Lego Movie – Everything Is Awesome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEjwnxF
Xl-A
9. Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6
h_JM
Pharrell Williams – Happy (Despicable Me
2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-
GLuydiMe4
10. Fifth Harmony – Worth It ft. Kid Ink Willow Smith – Whip My Hair
Format 1 – I chose to use this format because, I love this kind of music and it connects to
young audiences such as teenagers and young adults. The songs listed are by bands from this
decade, which makes this format contemporary because it’s recent music.
Format 2 – I chose to do a classic rock playlist from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s because it would
bring it a larger audience, it would attract an older age group which would make my target
audience wider. This music attracts a wide audience, from an older age group and some from
a younger age group.

11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBHQb
u5rbdQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymKLy
mvwD2U
Discuss why you made the choices above
Audience 1 – I chose this kind of audience because it is different to the type of music that I
would normally listen to. This kind of music is aimed towards young teens so basically under
the age of 14. This type of music would mainly be aimed at kids and young teens, it’s not
inappropriate, and the artists aim their music at a younger audience.
Audience 2 – I chose this kind of audience because it is different to my first choice, it is for
small children under the age of 8, and the music is from Disney shows and various other
children films. Music that is appropriate for that kind of age group. This type of music can be
played to children in between the ages of 0-8.

12. Context: eg broadcasting, internet, in-store (using sales techniques and promotion, point-of-
sale advertising, brand awareness, general promotion, ambient music); targeting demographic
groups (age, social class, gender)
Tasks
Prepare a playlist for an hours show for two completely different contexts
Context 1: Student Radio Context 2: Shop Radio (Guitar Shop)
1. Sleeping With Sirens – Do It Now,
Remember It Later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HjBq
9aZ9cw
Metallica – Whiskey In The Jar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsrvmNtW
U4E
2. All Time Low – A Love Like War ft.
Vic Fuentes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDbV
Y3gCJgg
Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w7OgIM
MRc4
3. Panic! At The Disco –The Ballad Of
Mona Lisa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOgp
dp3lP8M
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEPmA3U
SJdI
4. Bring Me The Horizon – Throne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow_q
I_F2ZJI
Nirvana – Come As You Are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vabnZ9-
ex7o
5. Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What
You Did In The Dark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkIW
msP3c_s
Bon Jovi – You Give Love A Bad Name
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrZHPOeO
xQQ
6. My Chemical Romance – Na Na Na
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egG7f
iE89IU
Kiss – I Was Made For Loving You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diKz9udyw
g4
7. Twenty One Pilots – Guns For Hands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmv8
aQKO6k0
Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxk
U-U
8. Paramore – Ignorance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9A
6tn_P6g
Kansas – Carry On Wayward Son
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_2IdybT
V0
9. Pierce The Veil – A Match Into Water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ-
H_i1K2n4
Def Leppard – Rock Of Ages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4CZfac0N
0E
10. PVRIS – My House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aQz-
aKvyQU
Led Zeppelin – Good Times Bad Times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auYKJTv9
4Tg&list=PLEkR4zsbGEyj_Ffp_fPFufl91fHvc
V0s6
Discuss why you made the choices above
Context 1: I chose this playlist because I knew that I could focus this playlist on music that
would fit into a gold and contemporary radio station, playing songs from bands that are still
together but songs from around 10 years ago.
Context 2: I chose this context because I wanted to focus it on a different kind of shop; I
wanted to use a guitar shop for this playlist. And when I visit guitar shops like PMT they play
a lot of classic rock music, focusing on when rock first became popular.

13. Be able to incorporate addedspeech and feature content into music
sequences
Content:
Live reads, eg dry, over beds; Cousin to the ad-libbed commercial, live read refers to when a
DJ reads an advertiser’s spot on the air, delivered from a script, fact sheet or personal
knowledge. It can also refer to when the DJ “endorses” the advertiser’s goods or services.
A link into pre-recorded material; for radio, eg interviews, feature items, traffic bulletins,
competitions; can relate to a piece of material being pre-recorded that can be used numerous
times on different shows. A presenter can be talking about a topic and then cue an interview
or sound bite that adds depth to a story.
Content for in-store, eg sales and promotion, commercial messages, infotainment;
transitional material as punctuation, eg jingles, stings are used on loop in many occasions and
are usually pre-recorded. It makes more sense than a voice over artist repeating the same
script throughout a period of time.
Purpose: Adding speech and feature content into a radio show has numerous different
purposes. On the radio the purpose of this content could be for ratings (An interview with a
famous person) to aid the format (adding detail when identifying a song that was played),
public service (News broadcasts fall in this category), commercial (Advertising or live reads),
regulatory issues (, sponsorship; in-store, e.g. increased sales, brand awareness, customer
retention

14. Be able to reviewown music-basedprogrammes with reference to
purpose and audience
After the broadcast of most radio shows, station managers and number crunchers want to
gauge the response from the audience. Ratings figures dictate advertising revenues and
listener satisfaction with content can determine whether they tune in again next time. For this
reason it is important for us to thoroughly review our programmes to assess it on a variety of
factors.
Key Words
Aesthetics for the purpose of this unit we will define aesthetics as "critical reflection on art,
culture and nature”.
Accessibility is the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to
as many people as possible
TASK
In class we will listen to a 30 minute section of a chosen groups radio show where we have
previously identified its target audience and what the show usually entails. Make some bullet
point notes to comment on the following;
Fitness for purpose
Compared with
original intentions
Technical Qualities
Aesthetic qualities
Accessibility to
target audience

15. Audience response: quantitative, eg ratings; qualitative, eg by appreciation index (AI);
questionnaires; focus groups; peer reviews
TASK
In class we will attempt to gather information regarding the audience response to your radio
show. This information can then be used for your assignment task.
Quantitative
Research (Who
listened)
Qualitative Research
(Why did they listen)
How will you gather
this information?
Resources
Beaman J – Programme Making for Radio (Routledge, 2006) ISBN 978-0415365727
McLeish R – Radio Production, 5th Edition (Focal Press, 2005) ISBN 978-0240519728
www.radioacademy.org – a site dedicated to senior industry figures and academics