BBC vs Commercial Radio

                             

                           Local /National/ Commercial?                       Broadcast (accessed) how?
                                                                                   

BBC R4 extra      National                                                         On digital television; online through a     
                                                                                                    computer; on a mobile phone; on an                                                                                                                
                                                                                                    MP3 player.


Spire FM              Local- Salisbury                                             FM Radio only
                             Commerical                                                    102.0 FM



                                                                                                   
BBC Wiltshire     BBC Local radio station-                                103.5FM, 103.6FM, 104.3FM, 
                             Wiltshire                                                         104.9F
                                                                                                     Via their online website



Local (community)- Community stations serve geographic communities. They broadcast content that is popular and relevant to a local, specific audience but is often overlooked by commercial or mass- media broadcasters. Community radio stations are operated, owned, and influenced by the communities they serve.

National- Radio stations available nationally (Capital Extra, Classic FM, Heart)

Commercial- Commercial radio licences are awarded by Ofcom. They have large commercial stations that typically reach the largest audience.


Commercial

• Large commercial stations typically reach the largest audience
• A single pre- recorded interview can kill many birds with one stone, as it will often be broadcast across a number of stations and many areas.
• Normally the interviews are edited down into sound bites, meaning the radio stations can select a short sound clip from a longer interview. The downside, however, is that the branding may be edited out too.
• Larger stations favour stories with celebrities. 
• Smaller stations tend to do longer interviews which are more in-depth and cover more of the research. The commercial radio approach usually shys away from playing new artists 
• To help them make decisions about which songs to play, stations work with labels and promoters to get a better idea of how a song/artist is going to be marketed.
• The more the exposure to the song, the more the station will be convinced that playing it will increase their ratings since it will be familiar to their listeners.
• Adverts are played 3 different times every hour. Advert during this show are relatable to what the target audience would be interested in purchasing.

BBC Radio

• BBC is much stricter when it comes to brand mentions
• BBCs are only allowed one brand mention during the course of an interview. It is likely that a guest will be cut off if a brand is mentioned more than a couple of times.
• BBC mid- mornings often do live chats which are great for brand mentions and you get much motor air time than you do with a pre-recorded clip.
• BBC breakfast slots tend to be harder news stories, whilst mid mornings tend to be more of a casual chat. 
• The BBC believe in super serving the community with local news, guests and informations
• Stations are far celebratory of new, upcoming artists 
• The BBC are fully aware that all commercial stations have commercials before the top of the hour and as a result, they play current chart song deliberately while adverts being played at this exact time. It makes the listener want to listen to a BBC show in comparison to commercial stations because most people would rather listen to music than news and boring commercials.