We have now finished our work on the latest targeted close-study products - Radio. Next we're on to coursework! Before we start the coursework, we need to complete a short Radio index to ensure we've completed the three tasks for this unit.
As ever, this will highlight if you've missed anything and allow you to catch up if you have fallen behind with anything in the last three weeks.
Your Radio index should include the following three tasks: 1) Radio: Introduction to Radio 2) Radio: Life Hacks 3) Radio: War of the Worlds For your index, the text should link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work on each aspect of the case study quickly and easily. This also means you if you have missed anything you can catch up with the work and notes and won't underperform in future exams due to gaps in your knowledge. Note: there will be a baseline assessment at the start of Year 13 testing your latest CSP units on Magazines and Radio.
Your End of Year 1 exams will be very unusual this year - on your blog at home rather than in an exam hall.
Of course, this isn't ideal but with a two-year linear course it is absolutely vital that we are revising topics regularly so you are confident you know the whole course when you sit the final exams next summer. We'll have full details of how these exams will work next week but for now you need to revise all the terminology, theory and Close-Study Products you have learned in Year 12.
Know your exams
One of the most important aspects of preparing for examinations is knowing exactly what topics could come up in each exam. For your A Level Media exams, your Year 12 content will come up in the following places:
Paper 1 Section A: Language and Representation
Unseen text (advert or music promotion of some kind) - media language analysis
In addition to the above, there will be further media topics we learn in Year 13 - Online, social and participatory media, Videogames and Newspapers. These will not come up in your Year 12 exam. How to revise Revision is a very personal thing and everyone has different techniques. If you have a system that worked for you at GCSE then stick with it. If you don't have a system, I strongly recommend using flash cards (they are often called record cards if you are trying to buy them online or in WHSmiths). The simple act of distilling topics into a few key words or phrases to put on the card will seriously help in remembering the key information in the final exams.
In summary, you need to revise the following:
All media language and theory learned throughout the course so far - look back particularly at the extended MIGRAIN Introduction to Media unit as this contained a lot of key terminology and theory e.g. genre, narrative, industry theory, gender theory etc.
All our CSPs and associated theory - and focus in on the areas YOU ideally want to write about it next year's exams e.g. politics or postmodernism for TV, gender theory or independent publishing for Magazines, Gilroy and double consciousness in Music Video etc.
We need to produce a short index for our Music Video unit. As we've established now, keeping an index of all your work is extremely good practice from a revision perspective. This keeps the vital CSP information fresh in your mind and also highlights if you've missed anything through for whatever reason. This is particularly important with an end-of-year assessment approaching, although it won't be like a normal exam.
Music Video: index Your final Music Video index should include the following:
For your index, it needs to link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work and revision notes quickly and easily. This also means you if you have missed anything you can now catch up with the work/notes and won't underperform in future exams due to gaps in your knowledge.
Our second CSP for radio is the 1938 CBS broadcast of War of the Worlds. This is a famous broadcast of Orson Welles's radio play - an adaptation of HG Wells's science-fiction novel of the same name. It is a text of historical significance due to a long-running debate over the effect the broadcast had over audiences at the time. Here's a lesson video taking you through some of the key ideas around War of the Worlds:
Narrative and background War of the Worlds, a science-fiction novel by author HG Wells, was first published in 1898. It is a story of alien invasion and war between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race from Mars. The original 1938 Orson Welles broadcast is available here:
In particular, focus on the following extracts: Opening: 0.00 – 4.00 Development: 10.00 – 13.00 Emergence of alien: 17.00 – 19.00 Middle section: 39.00 – 41.00 Ending: 57.00 – end Think about these questions while you listen:
How does the radio play seek to engage the audience?
What effect do you think this may have had on radio audiences in 1938?
Hybrid genre
Orson Welles was initially reluctant to adapt War of the Worlds, describing it as 'boring'. He was persuaded by the prospect of using recent developments in radio news reporting to create a hybrid-form radio play designed to sound like a real breaking news story. The broadcast begins with a music performance that is increasingly interrupted by breaking news of martians invading New Jersey. Historical context
In 1938, the world was on edge as Germany mobilised to invade Europe and populations feared gas attacks from another world war. In the weeks leading up to the 1938 broadcast, American radio stations had increasingly cut into scheduled programming to bring news updates from Europe on the chances of war. This meant Welles's use of radio news conventions had more of an impact on listeners who were unaware that it was a fictional radio play.
Media effects theories The War of the Worlds radio play has become a much-studied text with regards to media effects theories. The initial reported reaction from audiences provided evidence for the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory - that suggests people believe whatever they see or hear in the media. However, later studies suggest the audience reaction was exaggerated by the newspaper industry (under threat from radio at the time) and that audiences are more sophisticated consumers of media than first thought. You can also apply Gerbner's Cultivation Theory, the two-step flow model and Stuart Hall's Reception Theory to Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast.
Radiolab podcast on War of the Worlds The American podcast Radiolab looked back on the significance of the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds and later attempts to recreate the effect. It's a brilliant summary of the context and reaction from the audience alongside clips from the broadcast and transcripts from interviews at the time. You can listen to the Radiolab podcast here.
War of the Worlds: Blog tasks
Media Factsheet Read Media Factsheet #176: CSP Radio - War of the Worlds. You'll need your Greenford Google login to download it. Then answer the following questions: 1) What is the history and narrative behind War of the Worlds? 2) When was it first broadcast and what is the popular myth regarding the reaction from the audience? 3) How did the New York Times report the reaction the next day? 4) How did author Brad Schwartz describe the the broadcast and its reaction? 5) Why did Orson Welles use hybrid genres and pastiche and what effect might it have had on the audience? 6) How did world events in 1938 affect the way audiences interpreted the show? 7) Which company broadcast War of the Worlds in 1938? 8) Why might the newspaper industry have deliberately exaggerated the response to the broadcast? 9) Does War of the Worlds provide evidence to support the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory? 10) How might Gerbner's cultivation theory be applied to the broadcast? 11) Applying Hall's Reception Theory, what could be the preferred and oppositional readings of the original broadcast? 12) Do media products still retain the ability to fool audiences as it is suggested War of the Worlds did in 1938? Has the digital media landscape changed this? Analysis and opinion
1) Why do you think the 1938 broadcast of War of the Worlds has become such a significant moment in media history?
2) War of the Worlds feels like a 1938 version of 'fake news'. But which is the greater example of fake news - Orson Welles's use of radio conventions to create realism or the newspapers exaggerating the audience reaction to discredit radio? 3) Do you agree with the Frankfurt School's Hypodermic Needle theory? If not, was there a point in history audiences were more susceptible to believing anything they saw or heard in the media? 4) Has the digital media age made the Hypodermic Needle model more or less relevant? Why? 5) Do you agree with George Gerbner's Cultivation theory - that suggests exposure to the media has a gradual but significant effect on audience's views and beliefs? Give examples to support your argument. 6) Is Gerbner's Cultivation theory more or less valid today than it would have been in 1938? Why?
We have now completed our second in-depth CSP topic - print magazines. You now need to create a final index of all the tasks we have completed for Men's Health and Oh Comely before we start to focus on our end-of-year assessment. This will not be an exam in school as normal so we are working on an alternative approach that you can complete at home. In terms of the magazine unit, you know by now that keeping an up-to-date index of all your work is extremely good practice from a revision perspective. It keeps the vital CSP information fresh in your mind and also highlights if you've missed anything over this strange Covid-19 lockdown period. In addition to your end of Year 12 assessment, you'll also have a baseline assessment when we come back in September. This will be on radio and magazines (the two topics from the summer term) and will be an opportunity to improve your UCAS predicted grade for your university applications.
Remember, for your index it needs to link to YOUR corresponding blogpost so you can access your work and revision notes quickly and easily.
If you are missing any of this work, complete it this week as aside from revising for the upcoming assessment, the index is your only work on the exam side of the course this week. Due: next Monday
Our first CSP for radio is the BBC Radio 1 show Life Hacks. Our key concepts for Radio are industries and audience so these are the contexts we need to consider when studying the texts. This video gives you a brief outline of the CSP and the contexts we need to study:
Previously on: The Surgery Before being merged into Life Hacks, The Surgery was an evening radio show on BBC Radio 1 that ran between 1999 and 2017. Most recently, it was on every Wednesday at 9pm and ran for 60 minutes. It featured presenter Katie Thistleton and advice from Dr Radha Modgil. It worked like an agony aunt column in old teenage magazines and took on controversial subjects such as gender identity, sexuality, relationships and mental health. It featured texts and calls from listeners and the post-watershed slot meant adult topics could be discussed.
The Surgery > Life Hacks
In November 2017, The Surgery was merged into a new Sunday
afternoon show called Life Hacks that runs between 4pm – 6pm presented by Cel
Spellman and Katie Thistleton. This mostly plays music but offers advice
segments with Dr Modgil covering similar topics to The Surgery.
Although both The Surgery and Life Hacks ran in scheduled
broadcast slots, in recent years the programme has been available as a podcast
and encourages digital consumption and interaction.
The Surgery Life Hacks: Stormzy interview Life Hacks: debt advice feature on BBC Sounds Listen to this debt advice feature on BBC Sounds. BBC Radio 1: History BBC Radio 1 launched in 1967 playing pop music and using jingles in the style of American radio. It was a significant change from previous BBC content and was hugely popular in the 1970s and 1980s (some shows had 10m+ listeners). It became available on DAB digital radio in 1995 but not promoted until digital radios were more popular in 2002. It is available via digital TV and online via BBC Sounds. Radio 1 is famous for events as well as radio – summer Roadshows, Big Weekends and the annual Teen Awards. Industries: Radio in decline Although the BBC still boasts impressive audience figures for BBC Radio 2 and 4, it has struggled to attract young listeners to BBC Radio 1 in recent years. Since 2010 listeners have declined – and although BBC R1 targets 15-29 year olds the average listener in 2017 was aged 30. Radio 1 is increasingly focusing on digital and social media with 16m weekly YouTube views reached in 2018. Radio 1 Audience profile:
Slightly more female than male
58% ABC1 (against population average of 55%)
90% white
41% of audience is in target audience range of 15-29
Median age of 32
Industries: BBC remit and regulation
In 2011, BBC Radio 1 was part of a review into what the license fee should fund. Critics suggested that the content of BBC Radio 1 and 2 should be left to the commercial sector.
In response, the BBC made major changes at BBC Radio 1, aiming to re-target a core 15-24 audience and offering more diverse programming.
Since 2017, the BBC has been regulated by Ofcom. It is responsible for BBC content and ensuring it is delivering on its remit.
BBC Radio 1 - Life Hacks: Blog tasks
Analysis
Read the notes and listen to the extracts from Life Hacks above before answering the following questions:
1) Go to the Life Hacks iPlayer page and analyse the content. What does this suggest regarding the Life Hacks audience and what the BBC is hoping to achieve with the programme?
2) Go to the Life Hacks podcast episodes page. Listen to a few episodes of the podcast and explain how the topics may a) appeal to a youth audience and b) help fulfil the BBC's responsibilities as a public service broadcaster.
Media Factsheet Read Media Factsheet #196 Close Study Product: Radio - Life Hacks. You'll need your Greenford google login to download it. Answer the following questions: 1) Read the first page of the factsheet. What content does Life Hacks offer to listeners? 2) Which of the five central purposes in the BBC's remit does Life Hacks cover? 3) Read the history of Radio 1 on page 2. Why was the launch of Radio 1 both significant and controversial? 4) Do you consider Life Hacks to be a 'distinctive offering' that helps the BBC to fulfil its public service broadcasting remit? Why? 5) Look at the figures on page 3 of the factsheet. How much does the BBC spend on Radio 1? 6) How has new technology impacted on radio? 7) What has Radio 1 done in response to the changes new technology have had on radio? 8) What are the audiences targeted by Radio 1 and Radio 1 Xtra? What is their actual audience? 9) Applying Gerbner's Cultivation theory, how might Life Hacks influence its listeners (or 'cultivate' certain views)?
10) Applying Hall's Reception theory, how might different audiences 'read' Life Hacks? What pleasures or reactions might different audiences have to the programme?
3) Now read what the license framework will seek to do (letters a-h). Which of these points relate to BBC Radio 1 and Life Hacks?
4) What do you think are the three most important aspects in the a-h list? Why?
5) Read point 1.9: What do Ofcom plan to review in terms of diversity and audience?
Read this Guardian interview with BBC 1 Controller Ben Cooper. 6) What is Ben Cooper trying to do with Radio 1? 7) How does he argue that Radio 1 is doing better with younger audiences than the statistics suggest? 8) Why does he suggest Radio 1 is distinctive from commercial radio? 9) Why is Radio 1 increasingly focusing on YouTube views and digital platforms?
10) In your opinion, should the BBC’s remit include targeting young audiences via Radio 1 or should this content be left to commercial broadcasters? Explain your answer.
Our final concept for Oh Comely magazine is industry. This is crucial concept because Oh Comely is a small, niche independent magazine - completely different from the global brand that is Men's Health. We need to explore the surprising rise in independent publishing in recent years and why small print magazines seem to be surviving and thriving in the digital age. I'm aware I haven't done a lesson video for Oh Comely so here's a brief recap over what we've done so far and the key points for the industry concept:
Lesson notes The independent print magazine is characterised as: “…published without the financial support of a large corporation or institution in which the makers control publication and distribution…'independent' in spirit due to a maverick editor or publisher who leads the magazine in an exploratory, noncommercial direction” (Thomas 2007).
Despite the renaissance of print through independent magazines, there are still huge challenges:
Distribution: finding distributor, risk of unsold stock
Lack of advertising revenue: meaning high cover price (all over £5, many around £10 or more)
Audience: finding and targeting a viable audience
Ironically, the internet has proved an unlikely saviour for independent magazines – it facilitates direct sales and subscriptions and allows magazines to find niche communities, crowdfunding and contributors.
Iceberg Press: an independent publisher
Iceberg Press is completely different to Hearst UK – the publisher of Men’s Health and subsidiary of global conglomerate Hearst.
It publishes just two magazines: Oh Comely and The Simple Things.
Oh Comely Industries case study - blog tasks Work through the following tasks to complete your work on the Oh Comely magazine CSP. There are plenty of questions here but you will find the reading gives you a brilliant insight into a vital aspect of media - the power of independent institutions. Iceberg Press Visit the Iceberg Press website - particularly the Who Are We page and the Why Are We Here page. Read the content and then answer the following questions: 1) Why did the people behind Iceberg Press set it up? 2) What is the Iceberg Press mission statement? (It's on the Why Are We Here page and is a series of statements). 3) What are the two magazines that Iceberg Press publishes? 4) What similarities do you notice between The Simple Things magazine and Oh Comely? 5) What differences can you find between Hearst UK, publisher of Men's Health, and Iceberg Press? Writer's Edit journal article Read this excellent Writer's Edit academic journal article on the independent magazine industry and answer the following questions: 1) What is the definition of an independent print magazine? 2) What does Hamilton (2013) suggest about independent magazines in the digital age? 3) What is the aim of Kinfolk magazine and what similarities can you draw with Oh Comely? 4) Why does the article suggest that independent magazines might be succeeding while global magazine publishers such as Bauer are struggling? 5) How do independent magazines launch? Look at the example of Alphabet Family Journal. 6) What does the article suggest about how independent publishers use digital media to target their niche audiences? 7) Why is it significant that independent magazines are owned and created by the same people? How does this change the creative process and direction of the magazine? 8) What does the article suggest regarding the benefits of a 'do-it-yourself' approach to creating independent magazines? 9) The article discusses the audience appeal of print. Why might audiences love the printed form in the digital age? 10) What are the challenges in terms of funding and distributing an independent magazine? Irish Times feature Now read this short feature in the Irish Times on the growth of independent magazines and answer the following questions: 1) Why are independent magazines so popular? 2) Why is the magazine publishing industry set up to favour the big global conglomerates? 3) What does the article suggest regarding finding an audience for an independent magazine? 4) What are the challenges for magazine distributors? 5) The article suggests that many independent magazines only make money by diversifying into other products. What examples do they give? TCO interview with Ruth Jamieson Finally, read this excellent interview on the TCO London website with Ruth Jamieson, who has written a book on the renaissance of the independent magazine sector. Answer the following questions: 1) Why does Ruth Jamieson suggest there's a renaissance in independent publishing? 2) What are the common themes for successful independent magazines? 3) How many of these aspects can you find in Oh Comely? Make specific reference to the CSP pages where possible. 4) How does Jamieson see the future for the magazine industry? 5) How might this future impact Oh Comely? Do you think Oh Comely will survive the next five years - and why? Due: next Monday
Our final exam topic on the coursework side is Radio. We have two CSPs to study for this topic and also need to consider the place for radio in a digital media landscape. Here's a brief video updating where we are in the course and introducing the new topic:
Radio CSPS
War of the Worlds – Columbia Broadcasting Company (1938) Life Hacks – BBC Radio 1 (2017-) These are targeted CSPs and need to be studied with reference to two elements of the Theoretical Framework (Audiences and Industries) and all relevant contexts.
Example exam questions
Briefly define public service broadcasting (PSB) [2 marks]
To what extent is War of the Worlds a historically significant media product? [20 marks]
Identify two strategies or techniques used by Radio 1 to attract a youth audience. Explain the reason for each. [4 marks]
Explain how regulatory contexts shape the output of media industries. You should refer to your radio Close Study Product, Life Hacks. [9 marks]
Key question: Is radio still relevant in the digital age? How does radio respond to the digital media landscape we now find ourselves in. Will younger audiences listen to the radio? Does it have influence? Are podcasts the future for younger listeners? BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a relatively new app designed to bring younger listeners to BBC Radio content. It aims to fulfil its requirements as a public service broadcaster while also responding to the demands of the digital media landscape. The ShoutOut Network The Shoutout Network is a London-based network of diverse podcasts designed to give a platform for BAME voices. It demonstrates the rise of independent media producers in the 21st century media landscape. The representation of minority voices also arguably provides an element of public service broadcasting. Introduction to radio: blog tasks Create a new blogpost called 'Introduction to Radio' on your Media 2 Coursework blog and complete the following tasks: BBC Sounds Read this Guardian feature on the launch of BBC Sounds and answer the following questions: 1) Why does the article suggest that ‘on the face of it, BBC Radio is in rude health’? 2) What percentage of under-35s use the BBC iPlayer catch-up radio app? 3) What is BBC Sounds? 4) How do audiences listen to radio content in the digital age? 5) What does Jason Phipps suggest is important for radio and podcast content aimed at younger audiences? 6) Why does the BBC need to stay relevant? Now read this review of the BBC Sounds app. 7) What content does the BBC Sounds app offer? 8) How does it link to BBC Radio? 9) What are the criticisms of the BBC Sounds app? 10) Two new podcasts were launched alongside the BBC Sounds app. What are they and why might they appeal to younger audiences?
