Lo3 - Legal and ethical

Legal:

3. Copyright - allows producers of content to protect their intellectual property

One law that I will have to follow is copyright. This means that any assets that I use in the radio show will have to be under fair use with CCO. one way I will protect myself is by making sure that the sounds that I will download are from the creative commons, I will do this by downloading my sounds from places such as Pixabay as they have filters that can filter out content that isn't in the creative commons. Additionally, for the music that I feature in the show, I will make sure to have the necessary permissions from the artist or the record label that owns the rights to the music. If I don't make sure to abide by this law, then this could lead to fines as well as negative press which could cause a massive decline in viewership.

1. Data Protection act - controls how your personal information is used by organisations, including businesses and government departments.

Another law I will have to follow is the data protection act. To make sure that I don't break this law, when I do the dial-up section of the show I will make sure not to say the phone number of the person calling and I will make sure to gain permission before hand. If I don't make sure to keep to these steps and the caller's phone gets leaked, then it could cause allot of distress to the caller as well as it breaking the law. If I don't follow this law correctly, then it could lead to have fines as well as potential compensation for the person/ people that were effect buy it. Additionally, if I don't follow this law and something serious happens, it could lead to the closure of the radio show entirely.

Ethical:

Ethical issues are more moral issues that can affect the audience as well as the business.

I need to ensure that any businesses that are included need to be represented factually without any bias as well as in a generally positive way. this is import as this could lead to me being sued for defamation which could leading to a decline in interest, sales and potential closure of the business. How I will avoid this is I will fact check everything that I have written, making sure that it is factual and correct, I will also have my script read by other people to ensure that there is no personal bias within the text as well.

Another thing I will need to do is make sure not to mentioning any offensive or harmful content such as hate speech and bad language. Doing so will ensure that no audience members are made to feel uncomfortable while listening, making them want to tune out. it will also keep my show morally correct by not bringing up or talking about any topics which may bring controversies. will create a sense of escapism with the audience (Bulmer and Katz) as by excluding these topics it will make the viewer only focus on the music and the segments.

if I don't make sure to follow the rules I set out to overcome these issues then it could lead to massive controversy around the radio show. This could leave to a decline in listenership meaning less revenue for it and potential closure if things are not properly followed.

Broadcasting codes:

In order for radio stations to be regulated in the UK, Ofcom has10 broadcasting codes that all radio stations have to abide by. It makes sure that listeners are protected from harmful and offensive content as well as keeping content accurate. 

Section 1 - Protecting under 18's:

To follow the broadcasting codes for protecting under 18s, i made sure to not include any explicit content as well as making sure that any language i say is apropiate. To make sure any young people are kept safe, I really wanted to ensure any callers and competition enterers can confirm that they are 18 or over. I think this was crucial as i will be doing giveaways which could then count as gambling which would be illegal.

Section 2 and 3 - Harm and Offense and Crime, disorder and Hatred:

One of the things that i had to do was keeping the content away from any controversial political opinions. I feel like it makes the listener feel safe as well as broadening my listener base as no one will feel alienated out. I also intentionally didn't include uncomfortable topics like brutal deaths, assault, or harassment. I feel this makes the listeners feel more comfortable, as hearing about sensitive topics can harm people emotionally, which I wanted to avoid. For the third section, I made sure that my script did not involve any controversial subjects within my script as well as making sure I don't include any songs that have controversial backgrounds. To make sure I don't say anything that would be out of line, I will follow a script which will keep me on a strict track of what to say.

Section 4 - Religion:

Because the show is broadcasted on Sheffield Live in a very multicultural city, I made sure that my show was neutral to every religion, I feel this is important so no specific demographic feels outcasted meaning that more people would feel invited to join in with the call in sections.

Section 5 - Due impartiality and Accuracy:

My radio show will not be out-putting nay news information meaning that I don't need to follow the rules in this section much. however, if I ever do decide to talk about some news, I will need to make sure that I am impartial and don't add my opinion to whatever I say, and I will double check the information beforehand to make sure that it is accurate.

Section 6 - Elections and referendums:

I intentionally will not be mentioning any political talk as it can heavily diminish the target audience that I can reach, additionally it will provide a sense of escapism within the show it the audience wouldn't be focusing on these issues but instead just enjoying the friendly host and music.

Section 7 - Fairness:

For this section, I will make sure that I treat the call-in guests with respect, making sure that they feel welcomed. I'll also make sure they all consented to be in the broadcasted. For sponsors, I will make sure to check information on the businesses that i will mention and make sure not to say anything that is false, so I don't give the company a bad reputation from what I say.

Section 8 - Privacy:

to stay in keeping with the Data Protection Act, as mentioned above i will make sure that all information that comes into the radio show stays private and secure via methods such as two factor authentication. A way i will do this is by when I take a caller's name and number, I will immediately safely and secure delete any information that is given after it is used. Also, when competition winners get prizes delivered to their house, I will make sure to discard their home location immediately, this is critical to making sure nothing is at risk of being leaked which could cause controversy for the show as well as potential fines.

Section 9 and 10 - Commercial references and Commercial Communication:

It will be very important to make sure that my audience will easily be able to know the distinction between the radio show and the advertisements, this is very important as if an advert / sponsorship, then it could lead to massive fines via OFCOM and the consumer protection act. I also had to make sure that when choosing a sponsorship, it would be something that the view would to be advertise with as to not annoy the viewer and take more the company gets higher business from it. To make sure the audience will be able to distinguish between the content and the ads, I will use the radio show's jingle before and after as well as mentioned that we are going into a ad break.

Lo4 - Evaluate Product, Audio levels and flow of the final product

Overall Evaluation:

Overall, I feel that I successfully created a radio show that was catered well to my target audience of 18+ students in the C2DE demographic. I think I successfully managed with the assets such as the songs and sound effects that I featured, with them being things that are quite popular with the target audience that I am appealing to. Additional I feel that advert segment I included also successfully targeted the audience with being a music shop that primarily sells 80's songs via cd's and vinyl's which the target audience would already be interested in. I also feel that I successfully used the tools that were available to me to create a high-quality radio production that both sounded professional and was entertaining. I think my choice of equipment successfully helped elevate the quality making it nice to listen to for the listener as well as making it more eligible in general. However, I feel that there are some things that I could improve on for the show such as the jingle not being "funky" and outstanding enough for it to pop from the rest of the show and intern not helping the viewer keep their attention on the show as much.

Strengths:

Firstly, one of the primary strengths I feel the radio has is its structure and engaging content. When planning and editing this 11-minute show, my main focus was to structure the segments in a way that makes sure the audience stays engaged. The show opens with an upbeat Kelham FM station jingle that immediately establishes an energetic atmosphere as well as the brand for the show with the broadcast transitions smoothly into a casual conversation about current events, allowing the audience to settle in. 

The second major strength of Kelham FM lies in the sound design and music selection implemented during post-production. with my show directly at a student demographic (aged 18-24) who like retro music, I made sure that the music was upbeat, fitting with the younger demographic while still fitting with the genre of the 80's. This can be seen with the song selection that I want for including songs such as Mr blue sky and life on mars. This fits the core genre of Kelham FM perfectly. Beyond the commercial music, the integration of copyright-free audio elements such as the jingle, background music and segment transitions. This works well to entertainment as well as spark personal identity within the audience, which aligning perfectly with Blumer and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory.

Finally, I feel the advertisements and sponsors I chose for Kelham FM perfectly catered to the interests of the target audience. The advert that I featured was for HMV, a shop that is currently getting very popular for being one of the only places left to by CDs and vinyl's. In addition to it being great for an advert it was also a really good item to use as a prize to the competitions, making the audience actually want to participate in it.

Weaknesses:

One area I think I could improve on is the rigidness of the script and delivery of script. because I was reading everything off a script resulting in my delivery sounding quite stiff and rehearse. If I were to make another episode for the show, I would make sure to make the segments sound as natural as possible, opting to use a billet point list of talking points rather than a strict script. This would make me sound allot more natural as I would still be talking naturally and at my own pace rather than keeping sure to keep to a strict script.

Lo4 - Final radio Production

 

Lo4 - Offline edit

 

Lo4 - Editing and Reviewing content

Voices:

Due to my use of the Vocaster One during the production of the radio show, for the main presenter apart from having to put pauses that were overly long, I didn't have to make any alterations at all, I was happy with how the EQ sounded strait from recording and it was just loud enough due my constant checks on the gain levels while recording. However, I still had to make some edits to the vocals for the jingles and transitions between segments.

Jingles:

For the jingle for the show, I first layered the vocals for each word on top of each other, this was to make the audio fast and snappy while also not feel like its abruptly cutting between each word but instead still naturally fading in between each word. once the vocals were placed out correctly, I added vocal effects separately to each word, making them each sound different. Some of the effects that I added to my voice are; EQ's which was used to make my voice sound less bassy and tinnier making it sound like it's from an old radio, Distortion which was used to add that extra crackle to voices making the vintage sound feel more authentic and Reverb which made the voice sound like it was recorded in a large hall, making the final word I say feel "cinematic" like an epic announcers voice. This is very conventional for a radio show as it adds some interesting sounds to the show keeping viewers engaged.

show transitions:

For the transitions between songs and segments, I used the fading effects in audacity at the end of the clips. The reason why this is important is if a clip doesn't fade away it will just end abruptly which can be really harsh on viewers ears depending on the sound as well as just overall sounding unprofessional.

Sound effects:

For the sound effects for my radio shower, I made sure that all the sounds I found online were in the create commons as to not violate any. while integrating the sound effects they were usually way to loud compared to the rest of the tracks meaning that i had to lower the sounds by -6dB up to -24dB for the background music so that all the tracks would match the same sound level and stay below 6dB, keeping the listening experience comfortable for the listener,

Lo4 - Evidence of setting up equipment and recording

Setting up equipment:

for my equipment I used a XLR microphone going through a audio interface. Below I have attached pictures of the area I used for all of the recordings, this was suitable for me to record my radio show due to the fact that the room is soundproofed meaning that there won't be any echoing in the recording making the recording sound good and professional. another reason I chose this room to do the recordings is due to it having all the equipment I need as well as being the place where I will be doing my editing, this is useful as if I realise I made a mistake and need to do another take, it will be much easier to do it then rather than going to a separate place, streamlining production.

Recording:

While recording, instead of having the microphone record directly into the computer, I had it go through a audio interface instead. This first reason why I did this is because my computer does not have a XLR input I cannot plug in directly anyway, but the second reason is because the audio interface acts as a cleaner for the audio removing allot of noise that comes from things such as the cable and power running through the microphone. Additionally, with the specific interface I am using (Vocaster One) there are presets such as a radio preset that i can apply while the data is running though it before being sent to the computer, meaning that the audio is being altered while it's still going through the initial processing allowing for the best sound while also eliminating some steps in post-production such as adding compressors and EQ. As I was talking into the microphone, I kept checking the gain level (the green bars flashing). This is because if the gain is too high, it can cause peaking which is when the microphone fails to pick up on certain sounds if it is too loud, causing distortion and noise making the recording practically unusable.

To actually record my voice, I had the microphone record directly into audacity, this was very beneficial as I could directly record into the tracks I need, meaning that there would be no need for a huge library of external files for each of my recoding's. Additionally, this allowed for essentially lossless recording as I did not have to export my audio each time recorded it which causes some compression even on files such as WAV and FLAC.

Lo3 - Justifying codes and conventions

When creating and producing my radio show, I will heavily followed the codes and conventions that are very stereotypical of classic throwback radio stations. This will be to attract both younger retro-enthusiasts and older listeners look for nostalgia music to listen to. One example of this will be when I'm creating the jingle for the station, I will make sure that it reflects the retro party demographic that i am targeting. Instead of modern electronic beats, my jingles will use classic 80s synths and energetic announcer dialogue as well as old sound effects over my speech. The jingle will be played at the start of the show which is very conventional for a radio show as it lets the viewer know what they are listening to as well keeping them engaged in the show. By replicating this classic radio style, It will make the show feel more nostalgic and authentic. This attention to making sure to stick with the theme will make the show feel more professional and harmonious.

I will also utilized interactive competitions to build a stronger relationship between the presenters and the audience. Throwback stations often use music trivia to drive engagement, and to replicate this, I will feature a recurring "Guess the Soundbite" competition. Listeners are encouraged to call in and identify a classic 80s track from just a few seconds of audio. This interactive format appeals to the younger and audience demographic, making them feel as if they are a part of the show. The prizes are specifically tailored to the retro and local theme: winners can receive tickets to a local concert or tribute performance, a vinyl set, or a gift card for a free night out at a club in Kelham Island. This incentivizes participation by perfectly merging the audience's love for physical media (vinyl) with the party lifestyle of the target audience.

Furthermore, sticking to traditional radio conventions, I will include tailored advertisements that fit well with my target audience. Because the show is heavily listened to during commutes via traditional radio in cars, our app, and the website, the show will feature highly targeted, localized advertisements that fit the retro theme. These will include promotions for HMV's CD's and vinyl records and players. This Hyperfocus on brands that will heavily appeal to the target audience will satisfy the 'Surveillance (Blumler and Katz's) aspect of the show fulfilling a user's uses and gratification for the radio show.

Finally, my target audience is directly reflected in the radio station's host and overall content. Because Kelham FM aims to target 18–25-year-old university students, specifically targeting the September launch window when freshers are moving to the city, the host reflects this audience by being the same age and position in life, making them highly relatable to the target audience. Additionally the presenter will also share a similar liking for the 80s aesthetic and music, meaning they can authentically connect with listeners.