The next mighty step forward

What up my fellow blog reading enthusiasts ?

So as you may have noticed I haven't posted a lot lately since my work load grew a little and this subject's work was about done.

Though I've been really meaning to update this blog since I did sort of enjoy posting as it gave me a chance to practice another form of writing and do what journalists do (Bernie Russell on blogging 2011). Also it's been made clear to me by  a veteran blogger a blog does need a recurring subject, so I decided for the life span of this blog (since my first year is almost over) to dedicate to stuff in the media i'd like to mexpand/expand on (mexpand: moan AND expand). So this week i'm going to tackle the important subject of target audiences and suitability.

And guess whose using the most mature subject out their ?

That's right it's not me because this examples Power Rangers (mature right ?)

OK for those of you who missed the 90's the Power Rangers was one of the biggest  live action kids TV shows in the West following five (after a while six) teenage superheroes using different coloured costumed identities to fight evil by using flashy and often quite violent fight scenes and gigantic robots.
- Their 'superhero' forms
and a little giggle from another blog:
- The White one is the sixth ranger who's always considered the best and usually starts as an anti-hero but joins the team.
- A megazord. Usually made up of five robotic vechiles like animals or cars to make a Tranformer like weapon.

For those of you who aren't geeky Power Rangers it mostly a rehashed version of Japanese show called Super Sentai. A Western company just simply re-sounded the fight and villain (which explained why the fights took place in the most random of areas and why the rangers never met the villains) scenes with English voices and a Western sound track and cleverly edited all encounters to avoid any suscpion of a cheap Western re hash.

The show was a huge part of lot of my generations childhood and to be fair was quite entertaining if not a little childish and possibly a  bit over violent (the show as banned in New Zeland due to it's violent content and many parents believed this led to hypodermic needle model in which children were then influenced to behave violently to).

So here's the more meaty media bit, as we know some franchise's like Star Wars and Star Trek have a huge fan base of figure collecting lovers. Power Rangers is no different with some people my age and older devoted to everything colour co-ordinated, which leads to a snag of an audience problem.

As it's established the target audience for the show was mainly boys between the age of 6 and 10.

In my research into this subject i've found that a habit for the modern incarnations of the show seem to have a habit of pleasing the old school beyond the point it's ok to wacth kid shows and talk about group by bringing back old characters and plots (like an episode in which every red ranger was bought back to tackle an old villain, apparently it had quite a few continuity errors), which no one of the intended audience of young kids could have possibly been about to wacth unless they religiously wacthed re-runs.

So here it is, this may be occasional but it makes you wonder overall, who are they trying to please ? The older generation or the new ? because the new one will no way have an idea who have these characters are of their importance. OK it's partially Super Sentai's fault in which it's a little more acceptable to wacth these kind of shows at an older age but still when Disney owned the rights their writers bought them back in.

Which leads me onto the game. For this I need a picture:
- As you can see by using nerd vision the three smaller images on the right are the mordern incarnations of the power rangers. While the biggest image on the left is of the first red power ranger. Disney (when they owned the rights) and to an extent Saban (orginal production company who have bought back the rights) are going out their way to bring back retro themes like old characters (Sentai's fault again) and even in their own orginal media like the game hash back to the good old days. Mixing old stories with new don't work with this show, it's ran to long for such a young target audience.

So here's my resposne stop with lame fan pleasing tatics and bring back the original story in a way that efforts been put in. If they're so obessed with my generation of Power Rangers stop using re-runs and badly contunity planned episodes and bring them back with a new cast with the same powers of the original ones and have them stay on in mentor positions (most of the cast left over pay disputes and some are dead so not everyone can come back), turn it on it's head and bring some quality kid's tv. It's seems to be a huge theme to bring 80's shows so begin early and bring back the 90's. I'm sure somewhere out their some big media company would love to repeat the cash cow success of this show. You could reboot like Batman and start a fresh or Green Hornett it and move the story on  many years later and have somone inherit their abilities etc.. (movies examples I know but they worked). Or if you want to lift more out of movies do a Star Trek and create an alternate universe in which the original powers have to passed onto successors (guess what over upcoming movie this steals from).

Either way I doubt this will happen happen since the show's content is dictated by it's Japanese counterpart into what overly theme move they make next, but here's just hoping some Power range obsessed media big wig see this and thinks hmm...

DISCLAIMER: I'm not attacking Power Ranger fans here, I want them to have what they want. They're childhood bought back in way old and new can enjoy it without years of confused and muddled plots being involved.

The BBC saga- Episode 4: New news and knowing news

So this our prize at the top of the hill was meeting with BBC Lincs news editor Maggie Curtis.

Like any good editor Maggie was well prepared and seasoned enough to give us a few tips and shiny learning things. Would you like to know some ?

Well tough luck because with scrolling down you'll see them.

1. News sources. Every journalists needs these, like fish needs water of builders need bricks or Michael Bay needs an 80's kid shows he can douche up. These come in many shapes in sizes like:
The Internet and conventional media like newspapers and controversial press releases- Maggie made it clear BBC journalists do not churnelise stories and everything must be original. Their may be similar stories with rival outlets but rarely and with the BBC doing their own ground.
People- People are key to journalism just like a door. Maggie encouraged us to get on the phone and talk. Local journalists will make relationships with people which hopefully lead to future stories. Cue the importance of a contact book.
Social network- That's right a way to be legitimately on Facebook and Twitter and you boss not getting upset. Keeping an interesting set of friends could rustle up new stories or good commendable contacts. For Twitter following someone else then a D list celebrity like Stepehen Fry or BBC news could you keep you close to the breaking news of the world. A sentence of warning though, not all sources and friends are reliable. So be careful not to like or retweet everything, double check with over sources, wrong information could lead to a lot of things going wrong.
2. The Beebbook- That's right to score even more bonus points with your boss at the BBC use their own special social network program/ online diary- ENPS. ENPS is the BBC personal social network in a digital nutshell. The programme provides breaking news updates from all the BBC journalists, an example would be whilst Maggie showed us said programme news broke. The system files important breaking news in red, so guess what colour came up ?. It may have been the most dramatic thing but it was a big key thing for that day. As the Chancellor was on the way to deliver his budget a journalist reported via an instant messaging like function the fact people were laying down in front of his car.
3. No more 9-5, it's infinity to infinity- The confines of 9 to (well I've never had this because I always worked till 3) 5 and comfy office is just a dream. To be a good journalist you need to be on alert all the time. Maggies said any journalists which didn't turn up to a news meeting without an idea or had been talking to people over the weekend in case of it being a Monday weekend was not doing their job and shouldn't be inside the building. Also you must be ready to get up in the night if code red news came in and more importantly preparation was key. Maggie told us two hours before she started she'd consuming news via the net to keep up and be ready, knowing what will be on the bulletins. She even listened to her own station to keep up to date.
4. Soft soft software and the curse of magnetic hardware- Another lesson Maggie imparted onto us was that your use of software will explode as a journalist. Maggie had ENPS and Radioman (sound editing software, very similar like many sound editing software systems to our own Lincoln one Cool edit). Though here's the downside Maggie hinted that maybe be higher up the journalist food chain you come a bit reliant on technology as your only news source. Maggie recalled what was a dark incident that morning when she had no access to her PC for 2 hours and compared it to missing a vital limb. So key a thing as editor is to never let your feet leave the ground and leave your precious news sources slip away.

The BBC saga- Episode 3: Sounding right

Since radio is sound and no pictures (a phrase constantly repeated by a certain radio tutor back in college, which will one day lead me to a break down) it's need to be right and attractive for all.

This week we had our little BBC session with sound guru Tim Johns. What Tim taught us was that sound software is all pretty similar but more importantly he focused on jingles.

Most people consider jingles to be cheesy little tunes followed by some cheesy pop; however a lot of work goes into it. Like anything in the media it must appeal to its target audience. For example Radio 1's jingles are fast paced to suit its healthy active young audience. BBC Lincolnshire jingles however are a little slower and more relaxed and a slower beat.

Tim taught us any jingle music must be instrumental as any lyrics could clash with the audio within in the jingle. Though to go on top of this he explained timing was deftly key. For (yet) another example a jingle he played us followed the tone of the advert. The ad was about a woman with an eating disorder so the first 20 seconds was quite depressive to match her sad story, though the pace picked up at the end when her story become uplifting and cheerful.

Among his other tricks Tim taught us the concept of allowing a song with lyrics (only use if necessary) to breathe. The idea that if you use a song with lyrics at least allow popping out a few lines before starting with the dialogue. Also he commented that sometimes a specific target audience meant sound was restrictive and you couldn't also pool in new listeners, like for example using a slower relaxed tempo for a jingle appeals to an older audience but probably not a young drum and bass generation.

Tim's final little sound tip or more of a fact was jingle and ad sound could vary in how long it takes to produce. For example if you have clear idea it could be done within half an hour, though if you’re out of your comfort zone a little longer.

Also he taught us sound files weren't the most transferable of software from one computer from another after finding a lot his examples couldn't be opened.

The BBC saga- Episode 2: Audiences

So week 2 of our adventures at the top of the hill revolved around that key thing for any media, the audience.

Our session this week was taking with the unique named Audience Editor Andy Roach. Any media savvy chap know that all media tends to have a target audience, like Teletubies is for (well supposed to be) young children and The World today on Radio 4 is for new savvy mature adults above the age of 30.

Though this week we took a focused view on how radio stations measure audience and specifically how the figures for radio stations in Lincoln look. We first did a short pub quiz (minus the beer) in which we had to guess the percentage of listeners for radio stations for adults and teenagers in Lincoln. Then we looked at habits of BBC Lincolnshires target audience (roughly fifty year olds with an interest in Lincolnshire.)

The not so pub quiz stats:
Adults of fifty to seventy years olds in Lincoln listening habits:
BBC Lincolnshire- 17%
Lincs FM- 37%
Capital FM- 9%
Smooth- 6%
Classical FM- 12%
BBC Radio 2- 28%
BBC Radio 1- 28%
BBC Radio 4- 14%

Listeners 15 to 23 year olds in Lincoln listening habits:
BBC Lincolnshire- 0%
Lincs FM- 46%
Capital FM- 34%
Smooth- 7%
Classical FM- 5%
BBC Radio 2- 10%
BBC Radio 1- 41%
BBC Radio 4- 6%

Average listeners to each radio station in Lincoln:
Lincs FM- 44 years old
Capital FM- 33 years old
Smooth- 51 years old
Classical FM- 58 years old
BBC Radio 2- 52 years old
BBC Radio 1- 38 years old
BBC Radio 4- 60 years old

Owners of a digital radio 3 years ago among listeners: 15%
Owners of a digital radio now: 25%

Stats on the habits and life's of BBC radio Lincolnshire listeners:
Work- 29%
Retired- 55%
Visit the website- 27%
Use the website daily- 17%
Not everyday- 43%
Own a mobile- 69%


Now these figures opened my eyes to one thing, their isn't that much radio listening youth as I expected and their is much more of a selection locally and that most people seem to supplement this with more national stations.

Further more Andy broke it down for the two types of listeners they receive:
Utility listeners- These people listen for a specific reasons, like the news or for information on a big event like a snow day
Emotional listeners- These people have a bond with the station, it's like swearing by a product like cadburies over Mars. They could have a bond or liking with one of the presenters or just enjoy the programming.

Another key thing here that made this all possible was RAJAR ( Radio Joint Audience Research) the data research group for British radio. They took 600 people in Lincoln of a wide variety who over a week noted down which radio stations they listened to, which show, what time and day. This then gives radio stations a chance to see what working and what isn't, like if their day time stuff is working well or not.

The BBC saga- Episode 1: The tour

So instead of waking up at 9am on a Tuesday for my usual 3 hour lecture Sue decided to shake it up and send us off four sessions at the BBC on a Wednesday for more respectable 11am.

Our first lecture, well actually not a lecture and look into the life of BBC Lincolnshire. So here's what we learnt. We found out the target audience is roughly 50 years old and it's a mainly speech based station, something we found out on our tour when we walked in on the Melvyn Prior show in which he was using a radio suitable voice to charm listeners as he discussed the top topic of the day which was fuel prices.

So to begin with we were introduced to station manager Charlie Patridge, a lovely man who seemed proud of his successful radio station. He took for a tour around the station and we found out it used to be an old cinema which explained some of unusual architecture. He showed us the main radio studios mixing desks and pointed out that the old school tapes and 70 styles computers had just simply been built over for the new hip flashy equipment, which we actually found out was fresh from 1985 but no system had yet to outclass it.

We found out another thing to, radio stations aren't just for radio. In a small hidden away room with a camera just in case anyone from the local area is going to be on BBC news and needs a live link up. We also found upstairs in the bustling but calm as a clam news room two dedicated techies working on the Internet site. The news team seemed pretty together and had everything ready for the upcoming 12 o'clock bulletin and was giving themselves a pat on the back for what sounded like another high quality bulletin.

Back downstairs we found the batmobile of radio. A highly visible BBC radio car taken out on local events to help the BBC get around and make the county realise the BBC wasn't just a channel, (we'll skip over the mysterious dent we found).

So what I found out from this was simple. This wasn't a relaxed community radio station, it was serious, from the two producers trying desperately to get an interview for Melvyns shows and to the journalist who had to be in for 5am to do her shift. My view of local radio has gone up and has seriously impressed me.

Project echo answers

In the print edition the story is marked as 'exclusive'.
What is your understanding of this term? Has the definition of it
changed since the advent of the internet? Explain your reasoning and
reference any sites you access/texts you look at to back up your
conclusions.
Following on from Jon's comments on storygathering at the Echo, how do
you think the Echo reporter got the idea for the story and the
information to write it?
Following the appearance of the story in the Echo can you find evidence
of any other local media outlets trying to follow it up? Suggest
organisations which may have been interested in it and how they reach
out to different sections of the community.
Can you suggest an angle for a follow-up story by the Echo? List
individuals and organisations you would consider approaching and their
contact details.
Finally, do you think the Echo style of journalism, with its 128 year
tradition, is still relevant today?

Project: Echo- Group work

Previously on Joshes blog...

Josh and his fellow FDA enthusiasts travelled to the whimsical dimension of the Lincolnshire Echo to speaker to the master dimension only known as editor Jon Grubb regaling us with tales of wonder about being a honourable warrior known as a journalist. After leaving this dimension the FDA's were tasked with answering a set of riddles for their blogs, the catch was it must be answered in groups.

Ok now wannabe comic bit's over let's get going.

Following on from Sue's last lecture our job was to answer questions surrounding a exclusive article the Lincolnshire Echo published surrounding councillors shady dealings with expenses. Link here- http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/news/COUNCIL-EXPENSE-PURSEarticle-3245880-detail/article.html

The trick was doing it in a group. These are the steps we took to get it done and little log along the way:

Arrangement: The first thing was to get everyone somewhere we could all talk and do the work together. This started off we a few of us sending out ideas via text. After we decided a location, date and time we sent out a mass email to everyone in our group explaining why we emailed and our plans. Also to come prepared with ideas of how to answer the questions.
Making sure everyone got the message: Since not everyone used the Universities email we knew it's possible some people may have not got our message, it involved us meeting with people prior and post lecture to make sure they knew the plan. On the day we meet, we had a seminar so we reminded everyone once more to the time and place and luckily we had special session that day, so those who attended went to the library after that.
Getting to work: So the place we chose was the libary due to the fact it had wide resources and made use feel really clever when we told people where we would would been. When we got their we sat in a group at the computers and bought up the questions on Blackboard and worked through them logically. We noted down our answers and gave everyone a chance to speak.

So what made this whole little adventure work? Well it was being able to communicate and I’m now pleased to say I do have suitable contact details for people now. Another key point was using an old GCSE English trick called the PEE (Point Example Explain) chain when we went through the questions verbally. So you'd bring up an idea, draw on some kind of example to support your idea and then explain it to get your message across.