Q5. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

Q5. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

In our radio news cast we attracted and addressed our audience in a variety of ways in order for them to relate to our stories.

ATTRACT:

TECHNICAL CODES:

SOUND:

Slang ban story – Diegetic sounds such as the airplane and the passing of cars are used to show the listeners that the vox pop was used with real people and it shows the audience that the news cast is live. Audiences are usually reeled in by the idea the event is happening now. Grime and street music were used in the background to give the audience the sense that slang is mainly used in the streets. This links to Stuart Halls’ theory and the idea of ‘preferred readings’ this is because our niche audience (teens) are able to relate to the idea of being pressured not to use slang. During this story the voice used was a chatty, clear and consistent.

Westfield Wonderland – Diegetic sounds like people chattering and the sounds of traffic, gave the audience a sense of realism that the outside broadcast was live. The non-diegetic sound that was used was the Christmas themed song in the background to give the audience excited by the sense of festivity. This links to the theory of uses and gratification as it allow the audience to enjoy listening to the Christmas music and feel the excitement of the upcoming holiday. The voice used was happy and joyful to give the audience a sense of spirit and excitement.

Krokodil story – The diegetic sound used in this story was the noises of the hospital doors opening and closing, this allowed the audience to think about where the location is. The quietness connoted that it is in a more controlled environment. The non-diegetic sound used in this story was the heartbeat - this enabled the audience to recognize the seriousness of the story compared to the other content in our newscast. This story had a very stern tone in order to show the importance of the issue.

Newham story- The diegetic sounds used in this story is the same as the slang ban story in order to show the audience that the story was live from the streets, and the thoughts and voices of the people are real. The non-diegetic noise used in this story was the effect of a jail door banged shut in order to show the audience that this story reflects the consequences of crime and the importance it has. The voice used was formal and serious. This reflected the severe punishments that the teachers faced.

SILENCE:

Silence isn’t used at all during our newscast because we wanted to maximize every second in the 5-minutes to exploit the uses and gratifications the product could offer – particularly entertainment, education and information.

 We also like to include some humour to suggest that news doesn’t have to be boring. This amusement shows that news can support all the entertainment element of the uses and gratifications theory.

THE STORIES SELECTED FOR THE NEWS STATION:

All our stories have teenagers at the centre. The stories selected for the newscast ensured that we were able to inform and entertain our audience. For example by having the Westfield wonderland story it allowed our audience to feel a sense of culture and some of the audience were able to relate to the excitement of the story and its views. This therefore shows that we were able to attract our audience through a popular story and what is a big hit for our teenagers which was the shopping centre.

We also decided to select the slang ban story as it allowed the audience to see and relate to how students felt about this issue. The use of the story enables our niche to be able to see different viewpoints of the story. Our teen audience would get the preferred reading because they generally use slang themselves.

The Newham story enables our audience to think about how unfair and unjust it would be for other students to walk away with grades that they didn’t achieve when they themselves have to work hard.

Lastly, by using the Krokodil story, this allowed our audience to be informed about something which could affect them in the mere future.

ADDRESS TO THE AUDIENCE

We address our audience in a way that they feel included, involved, and comfortable and they connect with the presenters and reporters. By calling the audience "fashionistas" we make our audience feel that this newscast is addressed to them personally, and that they can relate to us.

Our news team decided that we would vary our delivery and address from the relaxed to a more formal approach. This way we would match address to the content of each story.



Image of our presenter preparing to record!

Our presenter uses a clear voice so that our audience is able to hear what we are saying. For the most part we use more formal language typical of newscasts. However, in certain places we add bits of informality to make our audience feel a little more relaxed. For example, when our presenters says ‘don’t forget to buy me that snazzy scarf’ this allows our audience to see that although we are informing them about information we also remind them that we are ordinary teens just like them and we share their interests.