Factual and News Programming

Intro

A public radio station is a non profit organisation and they are always funded by the government. The biggest public radio stations in this country are the ones created by the BBC.  The BBC funds its radio stations by utilizing the license fee to charge everyone who owns a TV a fee to watch all BBC related things like TV programs and Radio stations, due to the fact that they already have funding the stations have no advert breaks so the programs just flow into one and another, however the BBC really does have a huge range of different radio programs on offer that all differently appeal to certain target audiences. This can be seen in their attempts to make every station suit a different set of audiences or a certain generation, for example a radio station that has a set target audience of people over the age of 60 will generally stick to news and topics concerning that age group and may even select the music they play to fit the target audience constraints.

A private radio station are more commercial than public this is because they are owned and run by bigger private corporations and are primarily used to make money for the company, they are not funded by the government and they don't have a license fee so they make their money through advertising, the more popular the radio station the more money they can charge for advertising. Companies that pay the bigger private ones usually look to see if their targets audiences match up or are similar in order to maximize their advertising opportunity. Private radio stations also make money by holding different events and competitions events can make lots of money because of all the ticket sales and the different merchandise they can sell.

A community radio station is a station that generally broadcasts in a small area be it a town or a city. they generally report on any local news issues or things happening as their audience is the people they live next to or down the street to. as they are much smaller they generally have little money and are run by local people who use their own money in the upkeep of it. because they have a smaller audience reach there are a lot of community radio stations that are aimed at religion and religious groups, as they can funnel the news that directly concerns them into their small community instead of sifting through national news reports. You don't need a license to run a community radio stations, so anyone can set one up, if there's a space in your community for a radio station and you have to the money to help set it up you could just do it. However this isn't the same for companies as they only use them for profit therefore they must apply.

Types of Speech Package

One of the biggest types of speech package is factual programming. The main aim of a factual program is to provide quality entertaining topical news and facts to listeners, because of this the most common form of factual program is a documentary. The factual programs generally contain informative research into resent topics and sometimes historical topics and have a sort of investigation into the topic, complete with interviews from a range of people from witnesses and experts. I researched a factual program called ' Thirty Years Man And Boy A Calmer Chameleon' The program was about the career of George Alan O'Dowd aka 'Boy George.' There was multiple episodes of the program this intentional decision is a marketing tactic that attempts to get listeners to listen the the episodes each week, by spreading this out they are providing the listener with spaced out segments and they are also making there money's worth as this was broadcast on the BBC so there was no adverts. The program was layered throughout was multiple music beds of George's music. The program also involved an extended interview with Boy George himself and other people including friends and critics alike. 

Another type of a speech package would be a news program this as the title states has the purpose of delivering the most recent news and topics. The topics discussed can vary from overseas issues or issues related to the UK. The presentation of the actual news is fairly similar to the way it is done as it generally has one or two presenters who announce the headlines and go into some detail about what happened, obviously they can't show things like visual graphics or images of what happened as it is radio so they might just describe them to the viewer, I listened to a basic news summary on a BBC radio station and it started with a single presenter who introduced each headlining story and had some details on what happened, the important stories are always first as people want to know important info straight away. The important stories are usually accompanied by some sound clips of people or events as they unfold and they also had an interview or a reporter in the field.

How Target Audience Affects A Speech Package

A speech package's content can change vastly as it depends on what the audience wants to hear, not every news program will report the same news as the audiences tastes will e different for example a news program that is targeted towards younger audiences will want to hear about news stories that directly affect them. The news package I looked at had a target audience of mainly adults who want to hear about the local and international stories that have happened in the last 24 hours, the broadcast would go out at 8:30 when these people would be on their way to work, a short journey is the right amount of time for someone to digest and process the information that is being reported. The age of the  target audience can also have a massive impact on the speech package, as older audiences would want to hear older music and other news stories that would concern them. if you look at more hip radio stations the music they play and the news they report on is aimed to more younger viewers with most of the songs begin played are new and revolve around the more pop and rap based songs. 
 If the target audience is younger then the content of the program will generally be more lighthearted as young people won't be interested in the dark and serious stories. Also the factual programs played on radio will vary on the target audience. They will play documentaries that will have a topic that they believe their target audience will be interested in. Radio stations will do research in to their audience to find out what the majority of them like. They will then find a good topic that relates to their interests and try and make a documentary on it.      

Differences In News Packages

There can be many differences in a news package, it can depend on the audiences tastes and opinions and the actual nature of the radio station as not all stations will report on the same stories, I looked at a news report that was targeted to a younger audience and had some vast differences in the way the news was presented. The radio package had a more upbeat snappy style to it as opposed to one that would of been for older listeners , It also discussed all the latest celebrity news and recent sporting news. It also showed how the younger audiences wouldn't care to hear about world issues and events that have taken place in the world good or bad. Another key difference is the presenter, The presenter was a young person probably not much older than the target audience, this helps the listeners relate more easily to the news package.

I also looked into a more serious news package that was aimed at adults, the package discussed and mentioned the many issues and events that have shocked the world in the last 24 hours. The presenter had a serious and simple voice similar to the content of the reports, as every one had a serious underlining tone and the style was very simplistic.

Differences In Factual Packages

Similar to news packages, factual packages can also differ on various things big or small.
again the tastes and views of the audience all dictate what content is going to be shown in the factual package, this is because the factual packages sole purpose is to be entertaining and enthralling enough so as the listener comes back for more or listens to other productions done by the same company/ station. I have already looked into the Boy George factual program and decided that it was clear that the audience targeted would of been fans  of his music in the 80's this narrows down the age group considerably tom people aged 38-late 40's as they would of been the right age at the time that would of and did enjoy his music, the program was done very professionally and you could really tell Boy George was wanting to be there which is good. This would of been different had they chosen a more recent artist that nobody has heard/cares about as the target audience would of been unknown and very niche if there had been one. 

The other Factual radio program I had researched was BBC Radio Four's "23 amazing reasons this radio program will change your life". This is a program that discusses how journalism is changing over the internet. There is no specific age group for radio four, it is labeled as a service for anyone looking for intelligent program. That being said, the larger majority of radio four listeners are adults. For this reason and the nature of the program I believe this specific program is aimed at young adults (20) on wards. They have tried to make this less serious as it is supposed to be a lighthearted program so there is two presenters in this show who can converse over the topic which can be quite entertaining depending on your sense of humor During the program the secondary presenter would sometimes stop the other presenter and make him explain technical terms. This is intentionally used and a good idea as because of the target audience .

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Like every media production the producers have to take into account the ethical constraints and considerations, when producing a program you have to look at everything and make sure they adhere to as if not things can go quite badly, for example the Sachsgate controversy, this could of been avoided by looking at what content is going out at what time and to who. They must also take great care in not offending people which includes not playing explicit music or having any controversial opinions regarding sexism or racial issues. Above all they must adhere to protecting minors and their innocence as most radio programs I found didn't warn viewers what kind of content is going to be shown which could be an issue when minors are listening as they could be exposed to violence or harsher language.