LO3: Legal and Ethical Issues associated with planned show

COPYRIGHT

As I am creating a radio show the Copyright act is important as it is a legal means of protecting work. It is a type of intellectual property that provides exclusive distribution and usage rights for the work.  This means whatever content the creator created cannot be used or distributed by anyone else without the consent of the creator. The length of copyright protection may vary from country to country, but it usually lasts for the life of the owner plus 50 to 100 years. This will ensure my radio trail is not copied, distributed or used without my permission

It is illegal for anyone to publish the work of anyone and the result in breaking the copyright law will result in a fine put £50,000. 

I will need to gain permission from potential musicians and people who may feature in my radio show

DATA PROTECTION

Data protection act will allow the data my production team holds to be safe and secure, while allowing my users/ audiences to feel comfortable when giving us their personal details such as name, age, email, number etc. This will make sure the users data is used lawfully and fairly. Everyone who hold data is responsible for following the rules of 'data protection'. 

e.g. Competitions call ins etc. Personal data is given and It is our responsibility to protect it and making our listeners comfortable.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT

Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons over the creations of their minds. They usually give the creator an exclusive right over the use of his/her creation for a certain period of time.

Without protection of ideas and businesses individuals would not fully benefits from their inventions/ ideas. Copy right and trademarks fit into the intellectual property right. The intellectual property right act benefits my radio show and sound as it will be protected from anyone to use/ distribute without our permission.

PRS

PRS (Performing Right Society) will allow me to use music on our radio show. PRS will allow me to use my music without breaking copy right acts.

The PRS website says 

'We pay royalties to our members when their work is performed, broadcast, streamed, downloaded, reproduced, played in public or used in film and TV.'

PRS will be useful to me as any potential music/ sound will be available to feature as part of my radio trail, while I am following the copy right act/ intellectual property right act.

It is illegal to use any music/sound that does not belong to you without any permission it will be brought down and you may be fined.

ETHICAL

As our target audience is 16-24. We should not use unsuitable language or discussions such as swear words, drugs etc. This is due to majority of our audience being young and at school or university.

LO2: Production technologies

To produce a radio show we need a range of equipment for example:

• A mixing desk- This is used for sound effects and adjusting sound levels during the show

• Microphones- Microphones are used for the presenters to talk into it for the audio to be heard.

• Pop filter- A pop filter is used for a noise protection filter for microphones, this is so the audio isn't wispy and makes it clearer to hear.

• Microphone stands- Microphone stands are used to hold the microphone in, this is easier when recording radio stations compared to having to hold the microphone as it could get shaky and the audio will sound different compared to how close you are to the microphone.

                                           

• Shock mounters- Shock mounters are used to improve the quality of your audio and is used smartly to a microphone stand 

LO2: Distribution of radio in the UK

Hallam FM

My chosen radio station for LO1 was Hallam FM. Hallam FM is a local radio station distributed to serve South Yorkshire from studios in Sheffield. It is distributed through digital and analogue signals with the radio broadcasted on 97.4. It is supplied under the contract of Bauer media. Hallam FM is also available online like most other radio stations, where they are streamed. You can access it via the on-air tab on https://planetradio.co.uk/hallam/ which is easy to access for a wider audience. Below is where you can access the radio via online to stream it on Hallam FM web page.

Hallam FM is also available on satellite, cable and DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television). Being able to access radio on your phone via an app is also helpful as audiences can listen to it on the go, this is due to technological convergence-  with a combination of two or more different technologies in a single device. Due to Hallam being owned by Bauer media they also own different radio stations which show at the bottom of the website, this is to get more advertisements towards the radio stations.

 

Hallam FMs website is one form for a lot of radio stations to practice the technological convergence as I have said above, they combine the traditional methods of listening to radio through networks, however they not do it digitally using smartphones and the internet. This helps reinforce the brand and deliver it to the younger audience as they are most commonly on the web than they are listening to radio in a car etc. This will also then gather a wider audience. The majority of radio stations do have the option to stream live on their websites because of the digital age we are in.

LO1: Investigation of a radio station

Hallam FM

Hallam FM is an indepenedant local radio station serving South Yorkshire from studios in Sheffield. They are an adult contemporary station owned by Bauer Media, which were first aired on the 1st October 1974 . Hallam FMs listenership of ABC1 classification is 37% with a majority of listeners in the C2DE class. The gender ratio is also 54% female to 46% male listeners ranging from their target audience age group between 25 and 46 years old. Hallam FM have worked with a lot of big companies when advertising for example Asda, Ikea, McDonalds and Thomas Cook. The advertisements played on at 10am-2pm with Debbie Mac consist of comparison sites, gardening equipment and half term family breaks this is aimed at the older listeners of the target audience as all the adverts are aimed at them. Hallam also fund other projects etc on their radio station an example of this is the funding they do to try and promote cash for kids which support sick, disadvantage and disabled children in south Yorkshire.

Popular Hallam FM shows include Big John at breakfast which is aired from 6am-10am every weekday this is aimed at the families taking their kids to school and on their way to work, they collect their figures from RAJAR. Content aired on Big John at Breakfast are programmes such as pregnancy myths with Lisels diary, trending news, humour, and competitions.  

Below is a screenshot of their social media following, including Bauer medias social media channels, they use social media to promote to their radio programmes, competitions and news about the radio station. They also have links on all their social medias to their radio statio for online use, this is one of the ways people access it via online. People can also access it via radios in cars for example and TV which for radio is broadcasted on 97.4. 

Sourced from Rajar figures the average weekley listeners are 340,000. This suggests