Commercial Radio Station, Essay Example

Nowadays radio is one of the most commonly used methods in the entertainment industry which goal is to catch the biggest audience with the help of music variety and availability, talk shows and games. Radios accompany us all through the day whether in our cell phones or personal vehicles; we can here its echoes while making our way in public transport or wandering through the shopping malls. Some of the people can’t already dispense with it because it has become a part of there daily routine which incorporates different functions. But what is it about the radio stations that catch our attention and makes us listen to our favorite ones for a long period of time? After having listened to a chosen commercial radio station for four consecutive hours, I have come up with certain inferences which will be introduced in this paper.

All in all, these four consecutive hours of listening to the radio station were both entertaining and informative. Not only was the audience exposed to a huge amount of various songs, but also listened to a couple of news programs, weather forecasts, astrological prognoses as well as to a couple of short entertaining games. The whole process was from time to time interrupted by commercials, advertising different goods and services from various fields of personal interest. As far as I can judge, the four-hour radio program was well-organized and maintained. The DJ’s speech was clear and mistake-free, which enabled the listeners to get a satisfactory impression without having to go along with any distractions or inconveniences. When talking about the musical variety, I can say that it was a lot like what we are used to listening to on other stations. It was a mixture of slow songs, remixes and numerous R&B and pop tracks, most of which were aimed at teenage and 30-below audience.

It is hard for me to say that I have learned something essentially important during these four hours, but there are still a couple of inferences which I feel like shaping. First of all, it looked like radio program producers have done their best to keep the listeners updated with the latest musical releases. Such an initiative has not only given me an opportunity to pick up a couple of new tracks for my MP3-player, but also to get acquainted with the on-going tendencies in the music entertainment industry. Secondly, some of the commercials were quiet informative and useful. One of them, for example, suggested going to a popular band’s concert on the up-coming weekend, giving additional information about the places where tickets could have been purchased and the best ways of getting to the concert hall avoiding traffic jams. Another commercial was about the new shopping mall opening in a week time with information on stores that would be included and sales organized on the day of the opening. There were other commercials as well aimed at specific groups of people rather than on the whole audience like an opening of a pet shop, crop prices and special offers in the regional restaurants. Finally, as most of the listeners will agree, the informative intent behind the news programs and weather forecasts can’t be denied. From the four news programs listened to during the four hours I have become acquainted with the recent national governmental policies, international events and sport highlights. As if it was not enough, two of the programs included spotlights on the lives of celebrities, up-coming events as well as useful tips on what to do on the weekends. The overall impression gained from the four-hour listening is that this particular commercial radio station program was a successful combination of music mixes, informative programs and commercials, which all together in the end have built up an enjoyable time-spending.

Moving on I can’t but emphasize particular areas in which the radio station succeeded from my personal point of view and the ones which still need improvement or can be considered not as successful in comparison with the others. As most of us know, for the majority of people radio is all about listening to one’s favorite songs, so I find it logical to begin the discussion with giving an objective overview of a musical variety offered to the listeners of this particular radio station. On the one hand, DJ filled the air with a wide range of tracks, covering almost all of the popular genres. This effort adds greatly to the station’s image and reputation. However, on the other hand, not all age categories of listeners were covered. It is understandable that every radio station aims to get attention of a particular audience, but, to my mind, some retro tracks of the same or similar genre can be offered to the audience as well. Not only will it enrich and broaden the musical variety, but will inevitably encourage more listeners to stay tuned. Another area, which I suppose should be covered in this discussion, is commercials. In my opinion, the audience was provided with a proportional amount of commercial breaks in comparison to the amount of played tracks. The commercials were aimed at different groups of people which show that the radio station tries to take in consideration concerns of different listeners. What I personally find wrongly conducted is the logical placement of the commercial ads, though their timing was almost perfect: not too fast, so that the main information was not missed, and not too long, which made it possible to avoid listeners getting bored and switching to another station. Some of the commercials interrupted the on-going programs right in the middle. It might have been done to distract the listeners’ attention for a couple of minutes, giving them some time to clear their thoughts and get ready for the next portion of information. What was particularly not understandable for me is why news programs and weather forecasts were interrupted in this way. There is nothing wrong with stopping a talk show or an interview for a short break, giving both interviewer and interviewee some time to rest. But when important information in the news or weather alerts is being broken in halves, it may result in the number of consequences. Listeners may find such way of presenting information inappropriate and badly composed, resulting in a worse image of the station. Moreover, people may not catch the whole idea and will be left with only parts of the message being understood, which, in this case, may consequently bring a number of misunderstandings and false alerts. On a broader scale, however, it is still a great plus to the station that it provides news and weather forecast, especially taking in consideration the amount of people listening to them. The usefulness of such programs for different people can’t be forgotten. Those individuals, using their own vehicles for travelling means, may always stay updated with the current weather conditions and roads’ conjunction. Others, who are not able to surf the net or watch TV during the day, may get all the needed information just in a couple-minute time, which again proves the rightfulness of informative programs being included in the radio station’s program.

When talking about possible changes in the radio station’s program, I would suggest including more interviews with celebrities, especially musicians as their work and popularity are inseparably connected with the rotation of their tracks on the radio stations. Moreover, such interviews can be, for example, organized at the time of the songs’ premières. In this case the musician will have a wonderful opportunity to share with the listeners interesting details about the whole process of the song’s creation. A specific option can be added as well: listeners can be given an opportunity to call in and ask the interviewee questions of their own. To my mind, it will be an appropriate occasion for the musician to get closer with the listeners, to hear their first impressions as well as to allow listeners themselves to get a bit of an inside on the whole creation process. During my four hours of listening to the radio station two songs’ premieres were presented. One was a foreigner’s song so it would have been rather hard to get him interviewed. But with the second track it would have been much easier. The song was the creation of a local boy’s band, that’s why, I think, it could have been very interesting to get to know the whole concept of the song, followed by some specifics like who wrote the lyrics and how they were inspired, who came up with the tune and if all members agreed on the both without any hesitations or doubts. All in all, such interviews will not only be playing a role of entertainment, but will, as well, enrich the listeners’ knowledge and add up to their perception.

Answering the question of whether or not the four-hour radio program was successful, I can respond with a definite yes. Though four hours may seem like a pretty long period of time, I did not get bored or tried to switch to another station. It seems to me like the program producers have a clear understanding of how the program should be composed, in order for the listeners to get a whole range of emotions and impressions and, at the same time, not to get bored with commercials and informative programs. Taking in consideration a fact that the researches have observed and documented that humans are born with an innate musicality, which is being presented in our communication with the help of ingredients that in fact make music like rhythms, musical bars, melody, nuances in intonation (Perret, Trevarthen, 2005), it seems like the radio DJs have done an excellent job of keeping up with that musicality by means of choosing various genres, not only to ensure musical variety, but to help people with their emotions. During the four hours, one had a chance to immerse in peace of the slow romantic songs, or, on the contrary, to get a boost of energy from rhythmical tracks. Such variety and consideration for the listeners were the main determinants for me in stating the success of my four-hour experience.

In conclusion, I can summarize my above experience by stating once again that the four-hour listening process was enjoyable and entertaining. A well-composed mixture of songs, commercials and informative programs made it possible for the listeners to get acquainted with the contemporary music entertainment tendencies, as well as, to come up with certain conclusions of my own, which can be later used as sources of personal judgment and outlook-building process.

Reference

Perret, D., & Trevarthen, C. (2005). Roots of Musicality: Music Therapy and Personal  Development. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.