I have chosen to Analyse Hallam FM's BIG JOHN @ BREAKFAST , one of South Yorkshire's biggest radio stations and most popular breakfast shows. The general purpose of this show is to entertain those on their drive to work, commute or school run and set them up for the day ahead - this is done through a variety of content during it's running time from 6am to 10am including phone ins, competitions such as the '1k minute' and the lively hosts. The entirety of the show is presented in a peer to peer mode of address to entirely immerse the listener into the conversations of John, James and Liesel and it is this chatty, informal format that is favoured by listeners all over South Yorkshire. Inbetween songs, John addresses the audience directly using statements and questions which are often resulted in humour which again reinforces the peer to peer mode of address. Due to the purpose to entertain, the show is coded restrictively so it can be enjoyed by many. Hallam FM is a commercial radio station meaning it relies upon advertisement and sponsorship to be able to continue broadcasting and most importantly the popular cash givaways which help solidify the purpose of the programme. The interesting thing about the advertisements that are provided by Hallam is that they are cleverly geared towards the social grading, age and spending power of their average listener.
Generally, the social grading for the Hallam listener is C2DE, this is due to the popularity of the programme with those of a lower spending power for example students. These types of listeners are generated from the genre of music that is played, ranging from chart hits to popular 'proper tunes' dating back to the late 90s - this is relevant as is it is expected that this demographic of people are needing to cut back on spending due to their low disposable income therefore the adverts that supplement the show are based on just that , from saving money on your food shop at Aldi to placing bets at coral ( a popular past time for those with low disposable income). These type of advertisements help the show run not only because of the payment the companies have to pay to be a part of the break, but it entices listeners to the station to start their morning and find the latest high-street deals.
Hallam Fm 's Big John @ Breakfast is broadcasted from 6am in the morning until 10am which is the typical time people are making their journeys to work, college or the school - this is justified by the hourly updates on traffic to advise those on the best routes to take on the way and also in times of adverse weather updates on which travel services are disrupted or school closures. This relates back to the scheduling of the programme being at breakfast time as these updates could potentially effect the progression of the listeners day. These updates are hourly therefore it is highly likely that during this timeframe the average listener should hear 2 of these updates which will show the progression of these disruptions or events.
The Content of this show rarely varies day to day, it consists generally of the top 40 hits, weather/news updates hourly, competitions and phone ins from listeners - this regimented format gives the listener a guideline on how long their commute has been and perfectly fits the entertainment genre for the show. Listeners are given the opportunity regularly to ring/text to enter competitions such as the Friday 1k minute which has recently been advanced to 10k for foreseeable future. Due to the peer to peer mode of address the audience are made to feel the show is personalised to them, where they live and how they speak due to the show only being broadcasted in south Yorkshire. The News and Weather updates which are given are relevant to the broadcast area (South Yorkshire), this means that the audience are only listening to bulletins specific to the places they live – people often tune into radio stations like Hallam during times of adverse weather to keep up to date with school closures, traffic and rail travel disruption. Other radio stations such as Capital FM have a different broadcast target area meaning the news updates are on a more national. Local news stories specific to your region or area often get missed from larger radio broadcasters therefore this Is an easy way of keeping in the loop.
Hallam Fm has a predominantly female listenership which is aided by the content the breakfast show broadcasts, there is a section specifically integrated into the breakfast show that includes celebrity gossip - this subject matter is stereotypically geared towards the female listener as they are more likely to be in touch with celebrity lifestyles and television programmes associated to this area.
Hallam Fm has a predominantly female listenership which is aided by the content the breakfast show broadcasts, there is a section specifically integrated into the breakfast show that includes celebrity gossip - this subject matter is stereotypically geared towards the female listener as they are more likely to be in touch with celebrity lifestyles and television programmes associated to this area.
The presenters of Big John @ Breakfast are John, James and Lisel , having a variety of both male and female presenters on this breakfast magazine talk show engages a wider target audience of both males and females and also varies the topics they can discuss together. All the presenters using informal peer to peer mode of address are focussed on getting the audience ready for their day ahead therefore are chatty and humorous, often sharing jokes with one another and laughing live on air - this again gives a personable touch and involves the listener with the shows environment. John in particular is an experienced broadcaster and is popular with listeners due to being part of the show now for eighteen years, listeners have effectively grown up with John on their morning radio show and have grown to know him on a more personal level due to the key stages in his life which Hallam has seen him through.
