Commercial radio stations generate income primarily from advertisements to support their operations. They tend to have a less formal style than public service radio stations like the BBC and focus on mainstream music to appeal to younger audiences. The BBC operates 17 public service radio stations that each target different audiences across the UK. It is funded through a government-mandated television license fee. The BBC Trust oversees how the license fee revenue is allocated and organized. New programs are commissioned based on pitches submitted to the BBC. Not-for-profit or community radio is aimed at specific local audiences like hospitals and universities. They provide content not offered by larger commercial stations. For example, hospitals play calming music while university stations play contemporary music that

1. Unit 9:
Understanding the
radio industry
By Josh Rothwell

2. Commercial Radio
Commercial radio is where a radio station generates most or all of there
income from placing various adverts on their show in order for the
companies to get recognition. They are often less formal than most
Public Service radio stations such as BBC Radio 1. They are jointly
owned by Global Radio and Communicorp in a joint partnership. Capital
FM is a radio station that broadcasts nationally. It broadcasts all the
time of every day of the year. They only play mainstream and modern
music in order to appeal for a younger audience.

3. Public Service Radio
The BBC Radio operates with several radio stations that all target a
different audience of people across the UK. They operate 17 different
radio stations. The BBC charter is the reason why the BBC is able to
operate, as through the charter they are able to get their funding
through the Government. The licence fee is the money that people have
to pay to the BBC, so that it can run the company. 13.7% of the licence
fee goes towards radio. The BBC Trust is an independent body of the
BBC that sorts out the way the licence fees are sorted out and
organised. The BBC commissions programmes by people pitching ideas
for programmes to them, and they decide whether or not the
programme is a good idea to broadcast on their channels.

4. Not-for-profit-radio
Not-for-profit-radio is radio that operates for a certain community,
hence why it’s also called community radio. The reason people may
listen to community radio is because that they can offer content which
the larger, more mainstream radio stations cannot offer. Places such as
Hospitals and universities have their own radio aimed at a certain
audience as there are two different audiences can be catered for within
their own way. An example of this being that hospitals play calming and
feel good music in order to relax the patients and make them happy and
university music will be contemporary and a bit more dark as most
contemporary music has a darker theme and sometimes a sad message
within the lyrics, and its no good if you play things like that in a hospital.