DeclanTyldesley
AnalysingForms of Radio News
The BBC’s (BritishBroadcastingCorporation)publicservice radiostationhastomanage to entertain,
informandeducate withinall of their radiostations.Aswell asthis,the BBC’sradio hasto appeal to
all of the publicwithinthe UnitedKingdom.Therefore,the BBCmustalwaysrefertoABC1 scale so
theirradiostationscan appeal tocertainpeople’sneeds. Asanexample,BBC’sRadio4 station
intendstoattract a more prominent middle (B) touppermiddleclass(A) profilesinreference tothe
ABC1 demographicsocial class scale. Theirradiostationsdoalsoattract lowersocial demographic
profilesfromC1to E as they needtoappeal toeveryone inthe UnitedKingdom.However,asthis
radioshowusesveryformal style these lowerdemographicsmaybe distracted. AsRadio4 has such
a formal target audience theymustuse certaininformativeelementsthatappeal totheirtarget
audience’s needs suchasnewsonthe electioncampaign.However,asthe BBC isa publicservice
radioas a newsprovidertheymustnotchoose sidesbetweenthe leftandrightwingastheymaybe
seenasbias. Therefore,people dostate thatthe BBC newsproviderismore leftwing,possibly
because mostof the publicare forthe leftwing. Furthermore,one of the BBC’s radionewsshows
that broadcast’son Radio4, is Worldat One.
The World at One radioshow is presentedbyMarthaKearneyandthe show broadcasts onRadio4;
it isa heavilyformal lunchtime newsanalysisprogramme thatprominentlyfocuses oninformative
and educational mediatexts,followedbyasmall usage of entertainment. Inmyopinion,Ibelieve
the presenterMarthaKeeneyattractsthe correct targetaudience toRadio4 as she is aroundthe
age of the people thatmightlistentoher radiostation,therefore she isable touse jokesasan
example thatherage groupmay only reluctantly understand. Thisparticularnewsprogramme will
alsonot talkabout celebritynewsasitdoesnot appeal totheirtargetaudience profile(s),sothey
will more thanlikelyformallyfocusonworldnewsorpolitics. Inaddition,inordertoinform, educate
and entertaintheirtargetaudience profile(s)they’ll needtouse certainformsof radionewsto
appeal tothemsuch as; Bulletins,Headlines,CopyOnly,AudioClips,Voicers,Wraps,Live Cross,Two
Way (live and‘as-live’). The WorldatOne publicservice radionewsprogramme thatbroadcastson
weekdaysat13:00 usesall of these formsto efficientlyinformtheiraudience of recent official
events,aswell ason-goingstorieswithinthe media.
A radionewsprogramme prominentlystartsoff withthe news headlines.Withinbroadcasting
headlines are shortsummariesof afewimportanton-goingstories;thatwill soonun-foldinthe
bulletinsbroadcastedafterwards. Inaddition,the headlinesconductedwithinthe WorldatOne
radiobroadcast newsprogramme were;“Ed Miliband haslaunched thelabourparty’sgeneral
election campaign”,“GeorgeOsbourneattackslaboursspending planssaying thecountry facesa
starkchoice at the generalelection”, “Should Ched Evansbeable to play for OldhamAthleticafter
being convicted of rape”,“Launch of a yearcelebration asthe World at Oneturns50”. Additionally,I
believethese headlinesappeal totheirtargetaudienceprofile(s)as itbrieflystatesnewstheywill be
stereotypicallyinterestedin,suchasthe official electioncampaignnews. The headlinesbroadcasted
on thisnewsprogramme were alsoveryintriguingasitmakesthe middle andupperclasslisteners
wantto stay tunedinto hear more aboutthese on-goingstories suchasthe ChedEvansrape
convictionreportstory.
Chronologically,the nextaspectbroadcastedonthe radionewsprogramme Worldat One was the
Bulletins.A bulletinisanorganisedcollectionof newsstories thatbroadcastona radiobroadcast at
a regulartime,elementsof the bulletinmayinclude aspectssuchas;royaltyreports,sportreports
and electioncampaignnews.Moreover, twobulletinsthatwere statedwithinthe newsprogramme
were;“Three peoplehavebeen arrested on suspicion of murderaftera body of a woman in her early
20’s wasfound in a primary schoolin Shrewsbury”,“PrinceAndrew isfacing claims by an American
woman,thatshewasforced to havesex with him when she wasunderaged”.Inreference tothe
ABC1 demographicsocial classscale,the demographicgroupsA and B mighthave appealedtothis
formof newsas itpartlyfocusesonroyaltyand police reportnews. Asyoucan see the Worldat One

DeclanTyldesley
radionewsprogramme isbroadeningtheirbulletinsquite widelyastheywantto make sure they
appeal tothe needsof theirtargetaudience.
In addition, anotherformof radionewsthatissubstantiallyusedisa Copy Only.A copy onlyradio
newsformiswhenthe newsreaderreadsonlythe on-goingnewsandnothing.There are alsono
interviewsaswell asnobodyelse speaking.The copyonlyaspectwithinthe WorldatOne radio
broadcast states;“Two main hospitalsin Gloucestershire havedeclared majorincidentbecauseof
high demand in A&E departments.Second timein a month NHShavecalled action.”This copyonly
aspectinformedthe BBCRadio4 listeners aboutthe NHS’scurrentdanger,whichIthinkeffectively
appealedto theirtargetaudience profiles because theymaybe worriedaboutthe NHSstrugglingto
keepupwiththe amountof patientsvisiting.
Anotherradionewsformthatcan be incrediblyusefultoinformandeducate theirBBC’sRadio4
target audience profilesare audioclips.Audioclipsina brief summarypreventsthe newsreader
fromreadingout a quote,thereforeanaudioclipof the original quote isoftenplayedtoprove the
actuality. Moreover,anaudioclipwhichwasplayedwithinthe WorldatOne radionewsbroadcast
was a clipfromEd Milibandtryingto influence peopleintovotinglabouratthe general election
campaign. He said; “This is nothing less than a once in a generation fightaboutwho ourcountry
worksfor,it’s a choice between a tory plan whereonly a few at thetop can succeed and ourpublic
services are threatened ora labourplan thatputsworking peoplefirst, dealswith thedeficit and
protectsourNHS.” Thisparticularaudioclipwouldhave appealedtomainlypeoplewhosupportthe
labourparty howeverasthe BBC is a publicservice newsprovideritmustmake reference tomost
partiessotheyare not seenasbias.Therefore,the WorldatOne radiobroadcast made reference to
boththe conservative partyandthe Britishliberaldemocratparty,toappeal toall or the majorityof
theiraudience profiles.
Additionally, anotheruseful formof radionews isVoicers.The voicersformof radionewsisa
recordedreportcontainingonlythe journalistsvoice,there isalsono actualitywithinthe voicerasit
may have beenrecordedinthe studio. Twovoiceritemswhichwerebroadcastedonthe Worldat
One radionewsprogramme were;the ChedEvansitemandthe Prince Andrew item. Asanexample,
the journalistonthe ChedEvansitemtalksabouthow he wasconvictedof rape andif he shouldbe
able to playforthe club.He also mentionshow 20,000 people have signedapetitionforhimnotto
jointhe clubOldhamAthletic. Inmyopinion,Ithinkthisformof radionews appealed totheirsocial
demographicprofileclassesasitfocusesslightlyonanentertainmentside. Therefore,stereotypically
I thinkthe ChedEvansitemwouldhave appealedmostlyto males;howeverthisitemisstillmostly
informative.
A radionewsformnamed Wraps,is a recordedreportinwhicha journalistvoice occursat the
beginningandatthe end,and the audioclipor actualityisplayedinbetweenthe journalist’svoice.
In addition,the reportiswrappedaroundthe actuality. The wrapitemwithinthe WorldatOne radio
newsbroadcast;isby a journalistnamedChrisMason whotalksabout the differentpartiesbattling
for theirseatsinthe general electioncampaign.Asanexample,ChrisMasonbrieflyexplainsGeorge
Osborne’sattackon the labourparty bymentioningatwentybillionspendingblackhole andthenhe
introducesthe actuality;“Theevidenceproduced today showsthelabourparty havenot
demonstrated thephysicaldisciplineor economiccompetencethatearnson opposition,the
credibility to forma government,theevidenceshowsthey area risk to economicrecovery.”I believe
thisformof radionewsappealedto theirveryupperclassprofiles(A/B) astheyare heavilyfocusing
on the election campaign. Ithink theiraudience profileswill appeal tothis,asIbelieve theywantto
knowwhoto put theirtrustin as the new Prime Ministersotheywill be intriguedtowhateachof
themhas to say.
Moreover,a Live Cross is anotherformof radio newsandit isusedto give theiraudience another
sense of actuality.A live crossiswhenduringthe live news,the presenter(MarthaKearney) passes

DeclanTyldesley
overto her correspondentwhowill be broadcastinglive fromanotherlocation, andthey will also
more than likelybe atan eventfulscene todowitha particularnewsstory. Withinthe Worldat One
radiobroadcast theymade a live crossto theirsportscorrespondentDanRowanwhowaslive
outside BoundaryPark where the playerChedEvansusedtoplayforOldhamAthleticFC.The sports
correspondentwasthere tocarry on the ChedEvansreport storywhere itwas leftoff,togive the
listenersasense of actuality.
Overall,anotherformof radionewsisa Two Way (live and ‘as-live).A twowayisan interview
conductedbya presenterin the studiowithacorrespondentinthe field.Thisparticularformisvery
similartoa ‘Live Cross’,howeverthe onlydifferenceis,isthatboththe presenterandthe
correspondentare broadcastinglive sotheycanessentiallytalktoeachotherby askingquestions
aboutthe on-goingreportstory. The twowayform conductedwithin the WorldatOne radionews
programme tookplace when Martha KearneycontactedhercorrespondentPaul Johnston.The
subject-matteratthe time of event wasaboutthe labourgovernmentincreasingborrowingby20.7
billionpounds. Thisnewsstatementwouldhave appealedtotheiraudience profileslistening
because Ithinkthey’ll wanttoknow whythe labourparty are borrowing20.7 billionpounds.
In myconclusion,Ithinkthe numerous amountsof radionewsformsusedwithinthe WorldatOne
radiobroadcast newsprogramme allowedthem toinformtheirtargetaudience profilesmore
effectively sotheycanessentiallyunderstand whaton-goingnewsstoriesare takingplace.