Education

1. Radio Station Research
Younger Audience
Capital FM:
Capital is a radio station that plays lots of songs which are charting and are current in social
media and society. Therefore, it is aimed at a younger audience of older teenagers and young
adults.In addition, they’re on all types of social media including Instagram, Twitter and
snapchat and hence can identify trends and know what is popular within society.This can be
used at their advantage as they know how to attract a teenage audience.Also because of this,
the people working at capital radio and even the radio presenters such as Roman Kemp can
use “slang” from the internet in their radio which will make young people feel more included
when listening.In addition, the uses and gratification model states that one of the reasons
why people chose media is for entertainment and so young people may choose to listen to
capital as it uses the same language as them which they will find entertaining.In addition, the
main well known presenter of this radio station is Roman Kemp, he may be more fun for a
younger audience as he is only 26 himself and has been doing it for many years so he is
included in the age range of people who listen and use the internet so he would know what is
current for the rough age range of 15 to 25 year olds.He is also known for bringing famous
guests onto his show, this could again prove the uses and gratification theory as again young
people would be entertained by hearing their favourite singers and/or bands. They can also
like this for information purposes as they get it find out more about artists. This can also
sometimes have challenges involved with the artists and Roman Kemp which people would
like watching as they’re funny and normally include the stars who are trending at that time.
Capital also do giveaways frequently on the show for places such as New York and Ibiza. Both
these holiday locations are attracted by young people. Ibiza is because of the clubs and
groups of young adults and New York just for the atmosphere and shopping. This can also be
why young people prefer this radio as it has things which specifically appeal to young adults.
As these are often over 18, it can attract the older age range as they are still young and are
able to go out partying so places such as Ibiza would be liked by them.These competitions are
also done through sending a text. This is a current, fresh and easy way of communicating as
the teenage and young adult ages are known for texting all the time so this could also be a
way for them to want to enter and why they may feel happy about entering.Lastly, Capital
also host concerts (summertime ball and jingle bell ball) which are extremely liked by a
younger audience. This is due to it being filled with so many other people who enjoy the
artists there, so this can also prove the uses and gratification theory which states that people
may choose this type of media because of social interaction as people can feel like they’re
socialising with like-minded people. These concerts are also aimed at a younger audience
because they create a really fun atmosphere and people from the age of 12 and upwards can
attend and also because rather than one artist there can be between 10 and 20 so
attendants can get to experience lots of concerts all in one. Overall, this shows how
everything capital does can attract a younger audience as they keep up to date with current
trends and slang which are used by this audience in their day to day lives.

2. Older audience:
BBC Radio 4:
BBC radio 4 attracts a much older audience than capital and so their content is completely
different.Their rough average audience age is 55 as this older generation want to move away
from “youth obsessed” radio. One of their radio presenters is John Humphrys and he is age
76. This alone shows how an older audience who are closer to his age would prefer to listen
to R4 as he would have no interest in what the younger generation is like because it has no
relevance to their content. This is because this radio plays songs which were released dozens
of years ago so they are more well known for this older generation. This can therefore attract
them as it has a sense of memory and it can just interest them a lot more than all the new
songs. In addition, BBC R4 broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including
news, drama, comedy, science and history, which stereotypically, would have no interest for
a young audience. This backs up the uses and gratification theory as an older audience may
listen to this for information purposes but also in order to have personal identity as specific
things can define someone’s Interests. The breakfast presenter John Humphrys can also
influence people’s choice of this radio for their own gratifications. This is because if the
listeners are of similar age, they may agree with what he talks about on the radio. In addition,
he is on at a busy time when people may listen to radio in the car when commuting to work
so this and his likeability ay also attract an older audience. This again proves the theory as
people may choose this radio as they find him and the whole radio entertaining. This radio
can also be seen as more calm as they have chats about the news and things such as history
and science so it isn’t always lively and loud which some older people would prefer. Overall,
this all shows why older people may prefer this radio due to the content and the presenter,
which can all be proved by the uses and gratification theory.