In the 60's, only three main main radio stations were available by the BBC: Radio Home lasted from 1939 to 1967 and was intended for educational purposes and news therefore, it was primarily speech based. It has now been replaced by Radio 4. Radio Light lasted 1945 to 1967 broadcasting mainly light entertainment such as comedy, drama and music. It has now been replaced by Radio 2. BBC Third lasted from 1946 to 1970 and broadcasted intellectual, art-based conversations between old and smart people regarding recent things in science, politics and musics. It has now been replaced by Radio 3.
Youth Culture The concept of teenagers would have begun in the late 1950's which is when rock and roll evolved and became a significant genre of music. The ideas of rock and roll related closely to being rebellious. Additionally, after WWI ended, a large fraction of middle-aged male population had died fighting in the war, leaving only young people in the society which caused teenagers to rise up and live life the way they wanted to. Youth culture is represented through many things such as:
Radio One was not very popular when it started however, generated a large audience making it the world's most listened to radio station in present day. Currently, it claims to have over 20 million listeners with its target audience being mass but quite specifically produced for a younger audience. There are many reasons for Radio One's lack in popularity, including:
It wasn't considered 'cool' by its target audience since they were loyal to the DJ's of pirate radios. It was also considered quite uncool due to its conservative and traditional values.
The BBC also struggles financially because license fees had not been increased even though the BBC were producing extra products. Therefore, they could not afford to pay for an extra radio station.
Radio One attempted to mimic the style of pirate radios but were far off which didn't attract lots of people.
Radio One, being legal and funded by the BBC, had to follow the public service remit and had to educate along with entertaining.
It had an educational aspect which didn't appeal to teenagers.
'Needle Time' was the only time when Radio One played music which was a maximum of 5 non-consecutive hours of music.
After radio stations in international waters were outlawed, the BBC paid large amounts of money to hire pirate radio DJ's, Tony Blackburn being one of them.
Radio Caroline.
What are 'pirate radios'? Pirate radios are unlicensed radio stations which broadcast radio programmes illegally. They were located in international waters and so were not under British Law, giving them authority to play inappropriate content. In the 1960's, pirate radios were extremely popular because they used content which was restricted on normal radio stations therefore, attracting mass amounts of teenagers to whom this content appealed to. They were not regulated. Also, the people who operated these radios were specifically fancied by teenage girls back then with posters hanging up in rooms. Radio Caroline was a significant pirate radio station, one of the most famous actually.
It was founded and started by Irish music entrepreneur, Ronan O'Rahilly, in 1964 from a ship off the Essex coast.
It used to broadcast from five different ships from 1964 till 1990. It started to broadcast using satellites afterwards up until 2013.
Currently, Radio Caroline plays songs from the 1960's as well as contemporary music.
They also launched a new station named 'Caroline Flashback' which plays pop music from the late 1950's to the early 1980's.
Radio DJ Conflict When newer DJ's were hired from pirate radios, there was lots of conflict between the older and newer DJs as older ones felt that their traditional style was being changed and violated. Opinions about their style of clothing and speech had built up. They felt that pirate DJ's spoke very informally and wore informal, casual clothes which did not meet BBC's standards. Robin Scott mentioned that the press continuously tried to bring it up. However, slowly all the DJ's had a similar motive to attract younger listeners thrg
BBC- a public service or not? Gerard Mansell believed that it was a good thing for pirate radios to be wiped out as it gave the BBC a chance to display that they can attract a younger audience as well. Since there was high demand for continuous pop music at the time, Mansell didn't see why the BBC couldn't meet that demand instead of illegal, offshore radio stations. Therefore, when the BBC received an invitation to get involved in this trend, they definitely accepted. However, it brought huge changed to the BBC itself because it brought even more people to the BBC due the range of contents they offered. Mansell believed that this could not be regarded as a public service because it had turned into pure entertainment rather than partially educational. Therefore, he felt that this area of broadcasting was not a public service. Many people questioned the BBC and asked why the license fee should be going into rude and vulgar content like pop music. People thought that a commercial broadcaster would be more appropriate for this type of content. Mansell said that the BBC should not be playing such content and instead stick to high quality music, good songs and prim, proper, appropriate content.
On the other hand, David Hatch believed that Radio One was a public service. He thought that through the huge demand for pop music, Radio One kept its significance as a public service. Radio One enabled the BBC to gain a large audience through its mix of multi media such as music, news and special feature broadcasting. Hatch feels that it attracts a predominantly young audience and educates them about social/political issues which they would not encounter anywhere else. Hatch states in his interviews that Radio One takes 15 minutes each day, in the middle of the during during a time where a lot of people listen to the radio, and discuss important issues like alcohol abuse, AIDS, drugs, etc. He even goes on to say that it more of a public service in that sense than Radio Three and Radio Four. Therefore, because these issues are not often brought up to young adults, they listen to radio, a channel they can trust because it plays music which they like, allowing them to learn about ongoing issues and in return live a better life. Hatch passionately argues that Radio One is definitely a public service.
Conclusion? Personally, I would agree with David Hatch because his words contain more logic. He states that ever day, there is a small amount of time where issues are discussed and brought up. Furthermore, I agree that teenagers would gradually grow to love and trust BBC's Radio One and therefore, believe everything they discuss. So, I think that Radio One is a public service in the sense that it educates as well as entertains and meets the demands of young people.
CSP - Apple Beats Radio 1
Apple Beats Radio 1 is fully owned by Apple. It was launched in 2015 and is a subscription based streaming service. It is aimed at people who are likely to listen to the radio and purchase the tracks from iTunes. This is more likely to include older people who own credit cards and can easily purchase the music, unlike teenagers. Nowadays, our access to media is quite saturated, meaning we have access to a colossal range of media which has developed immensely over time. For example, there are 600 licensed radio stations and 1000's of online broadcasters currently, in the UK alone. Also, the sound quality has improved over time going from AM to FM to DAB (digital audio broadcasting). Radios specialize in very specific types of music rather than generalizing genres. Some radios focus on music from specific eras (ed. 70's, 80's, 90's) whilst some radios focus on a specific genre such as indie, rock, pop, etc. Apple developed Beats Radio 1, Apple Music and iTunes quite strategically so they all link and work in conjunction with each other. When a track the listener likes is playing on the radio, they can immediately go to iTunes and purchase the track. This gives them full media ownership as they have bought it and now have the right to do whatever they want with it. Whereas, Apple Music is more based around streaming music rather than buying it. Hence why, if you decide to change your phone, you would have to subscribe to Apple Music again. With iTunes, you can simply sync your purchases onto your new phone thus it is also more expensive than Apple Music. Apple Radio boosts iTunes as more people will want to buy tracks. This keeps customers in a very distinct 'Apple bubble' as they will remain loyal to the brand for providing convenient services which all work together. Radio 1 launched 3 of the best, quite demanding DJ's:
Zane Lowe: from New Zealand, has worked at BBC Radio 1, MTV Europe and xFM
Julia Adenuga: of Nigerian descent, has worked on Rinse FM, the younger sibling of Jamie and Joseph Adenuga who are famous British rappers also known as Skepta and JME.
Ebro Darden: is an American hip hop DJ from New York
Apple have chosen an incredibly diverse range of DJ's. They are from all over the world such as North America, Africa and Oceania. Therefore, I think that this creates a very good image for Apple Radio as they are supporting all different ethnicity and seeing as Julia Adenuga is of Nigerian descent, she supports the BAME community in the UK. Unlike Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer, Apple Radio utilizes live DJ's. This is more effective than on-demand music as it allows the listener to develop a personal relationship with the radio they are tuning into even though it isn't an actual conversation. By using the pronoun 'you'