LO4 Task 5 - The impact of media product on the audience, and audience theories - Big John at breakfast

The first things to consider when dealing with how the audience is affected by what they hear on radio and other media is that there are two main media affect theories. First is the Hypodermic Theory. The Hypodermic theory also knows as the Passive Audience Theory, Marxist theory and Magic Bullet theory.  The theory was made by a group called Marxist lead by a man named Theodore Adorno in 1930 at Frankfurt School. The theory is that anything that people hear on the radio they will believe and that the media can control the public in this way, making them buy particular and change their opinions.  This theory is a bit outdated now however it is still applied to thing like games, films and music but for a radio station it would be applied to advertising and what the presenters say and in our case it is Big John. A good example for the advertisement is that when they play subway add it talks about how cheap their £3 sub meal is and that it is the place to go at their lunch break. So then this make the audience think next time they have lunch on how good value subway is and will go. This is where the theory applies.

more information on this theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation_(Marxist_theory_and_media_studies)

The second Media affect theory is the Active Audience theory. This theory was devised by and researched by Stuart Hall between  1973 and 1980. The theory goes that every body is different so every audience member will take in what they have just heard or seen differently from another audience consumer .  even if there is a preferred meaning the media is trying to get across. The theory also states that most people will look at things differently depending on there background. Thing used to define their background would be Gender, age, culture, social grade.  This will give the media out let a better understanding on how there audiences will take what is being said. If I use subway as the example again however using the active audience theory instead of Hypodermic theory a. So when the advert is played on Big John @ Breakfast instead of just thinking that subway is better than say McDonald's, the audience member will be more influenced but will not make there decision on just what was said on the radio. This theory is that the audience member still has their own free will on what they do.  

more information on this theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_audience_theory

You can begin to get an understanding about the audience from what is being advertised and the shows content. A good give-away of the target demographics social grade is the amount of loan adverts like Wonga.com for example. This ad is played approximately every half an hour so this shows that a large amount of big Johns listeners may require the services of those types of advertisements.

representation

Representation Theory is how the represents things.  Radio stations use stereotypes to get across ideas through sound, not in bad way as such, but to help get a message across well .
on the Hallam FM show big john at breakfast, one of the convocation questions is "79% of men in South Yorkshire lie to their partners at Christmas about what?" This can be seen as a stereotype of men's attitudes to relationships and is asked to a man who gets the answer correct.
Another example of a represented stereotype in Big John @ Breakfast is its use of Yorkshire accents in the advertisements, helping represent the South Yorkshire so it appeals to the listeners, who will be living in South Yorkshire.

wonga.com is a prime example of an advert big John broadcasts to its demographic

As in every media form there is the legal and ethical issues to consider. A way Big John at breakfast avoids controversy is by not commenting on any large news headlines. So when they do talk about the news , majority is about like TV shows like x factor for example.  Another legal consideration is the music royalty's to the artists. This means that when an artist or record label produces a track , they get money every time it is played, if the company playing it is making money off it. To gain the ability to play music on air stations like hallam FM must have a PRS for music licence ( which is to the artist) a PPL licence which is payment to the record label or an MCPS (licence which is a payment which entitles them to play a record as many times as the please for a set period of time). Artists that would be effected in the big John at breakfast show would include the likes of little mix, the killers and avicii. so If hallam did not pay these royalty rights they would be breaching copyright law and would be vulnerable to suing. 

PRS is a licence which pays the royalty rights to artists when a track is played

Shows such as big John at breakfast are regulated by organisations like Ofcom. The purpose of Ofcom is to regulate the content of media programs so nothing harmful or hateful is said towards any religion race or specific group of people. There has only been one instance where a caller phoned in and said something racist which Ofcom picked up on. Ofcom also regulates the promotion of alcohol,drugs,smoking and violence. Ofcom also looks out for breaches of privacy. An example of this would be big John talking about a member of the public and giving away there full name and any details the person would not like broadcasting such as phone number or house address. An example of Big John @ breakfast obeying the ofcom rules is the conversation from the clip, the subject is very mild and not offensive and talks about family friendly content at Christmas time. so because it is very clean and offensive language is kept nil it doesn't get pulled up by ofcom.

OFCOM or office of communications ,regulates the content of media products broadcasted

BCAP codes

BCAP Codes:

The British Committee of Advertising Practice have regulations on what can and can't be featured in media advertising. 
Big John @ Breakfast is careful with their advertisements and radio show content to keep it appropriate for the audience, such as their advertisement to promote safety with drinking - they wouldn't make the man in the advertisement promote his drinking to ensure the audience wouldn't be influenced by his actions.
the staff writers for big john at breakfast also make sure that there is no abusive content towards any religion or belief and that they never encourage violence . 
An example of Big John not breaking these regulations includes when Big John mentions Christmas and the time of year , he dosent suggests that everyone should celebrate Christmas -and he is cautious to consider the other religious backgrounds that may be listening to the radio station. He is also careful to never use bad language that may offend others.

ASA code

ASA - Advertising Standards Authority

- Adverts should not cause offence
- Adverts should not glorify alcohol, sexual activity, drug taking
- Adverts should not cause harm to children
- Adverts should not be misleading
- Adverts should not give false information about what they are selling/promoting or exaggerate claim made.

ASA covers broadcast media (TV, Web, Radio, Film Trailers) and print media (magazines, newspaper)

link to ofcom website
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

link to PRS website
http://www.prsformusic.com/Pages/default.aspx

link to MCPS website
http://www.prsformusic.com/creators/memberresources/MCPSroyalties/Pages/MCPS.aspx

link to PPL website
http://www.ppluk.com/