Radio 1 essay

Radio 1 Breakfast show essay

How is the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show reaching, targeting and encouraging audience interaction?

The BBC Radio 1 breakfast show reaches, targets and encourages audience interaction in a few different ways. One of the main ways is the daily quiz where a listener calls in and answers questions live on air. There are always a variety of prizes available for people to win if they complete the quiz. This reaches the audience as everyone has access to a mobile phone, and they can call in from anywhere, such as work or on public transport. The prizes available also encourages a high level of audience interaction due to the value of the prizes, for example tickets to sport events, concerts, holidays and more.

A second way the Breakfast show encourages audience interaction is through the Radio 1 big weekend which is a festival which targets young adults and teenagers. It brings artists from all over the world and up and coming British artists to perform live. The festival is promoted through the breakfast show where they also give away tickets on the daily quizzes. This is very appealing to the younger audience, so this is another important way that Radio 1 reaches its target audience.

Another way they encourage audience interaction is through their social media pages. A large number of their 15-29 target audience spend a lot of time during the day on social media such as twitter, Instagram, Facebook and snapchat. Greg James incorporates this into the breakfast show by encouraging the audience to join in with a conversation on social media, for example the topic could be on peoples’ stories from the weekend, or peoples’ opinions on things, or song suggestions. This is a large part of the audience interaction as the target audience is normally on their phones and on social media in the mornings before school or work, whether they are in the car or commuting.

There is another way similar to this where people call in and talk about a topic that Greg James suggests, for example living with multiple siblings. This encourages the audience to interact because they can share their stories and opinions on things close to them, and it is another medium that Radio 1 can use to reach the audience, so now all most everybody is able to interact with the show in some way.

BBC Radio 1 also have another medium in the form of their website. On their website you can access the live show at the top of the screen, any videos they have done with celebrities, for example interviews or games. Other things the website shows includes the music charts, podcasts, latest tracks and more. The website is important for Radio 1 as it offers the audience an easy way to listen to the radio on the go, such as on the commute to school or work.

A very popular part of the Breakfast show and the Radio 1 YouTube channel is the celebrity interviews. They normally have big celebrities on the show when they are promoting a new movie they are in. for example, last week there was an interview with Rami Malek who starred as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody uploaded onto their YouTube channel. Usually they also do an interview or game with them on the Breakfast show to, so then fans of the film and the actor will tune in and listen. There is also added incentive when Greg James allows the listeners to call in and talk to the celebrities. An example of this is when Chris Pratt was on the show and people called in talking about their hot takes, for example one person said, ‘baths are overrated’, Chris Pratt and Greg James would then respond to this with their own opinions about it.

Overall, the Radio 1 Breakfast show reaches, targets and encourages audience interaction in many different ways, and although listening figures are decreasing, overall the popularity of Radio 1 is increasing, due to the growing number of platforms you can access it on, and the variety of content they are releasing is expanding its audience and allowing everyone to have access to it.