LO1 Task 1 Investigating a radio station

a). The ethos of Sheffield live is a small scale non-profit radio station and its purpose is to bring the community together. Radio Sheffield live is independent so it isn't owned by anyone however it is run by Commedia Sheffield (community Media Sheffield). They produce lots of radio programmes mainly to entertain and inform its audience. Five example of radio shows produced by Radio Sheffield are, Alphabet Sounds which is a informative show on the sounds of the alphabet, this is aimed at young children. Another example is Africabeat which is a music show that features the best in African music this mainly caters to people of all ages that are of African culture. Another example is Business Live which is a programme that educates and informs the audience on growing or starting a business, the audience for this is likely to be people above the age of 20 and of all ethnicity's. Another example is Communities Live which talks about local issues and news this is focused at people of all ages and ethnicity's. My final example is Da Beat Down, which focuses on the very best in reggae and R&B music, this caters to people of all ages and all ethnicity's, but mostly fans of these types of music. Sheffield live is regulated by Ofcom and broadcast shows both pre-watershed and post watershed, the shows that are broadcasted pre-watershed are the shows that are family friendly and the shows broadcasted post watershed can contain profanity, sexual references or violence.

b). Radio Sheffield broadcast many different genres of programmes. Some examples of genres of shows that are broadcasted could be comedy, this contains a lot of humour, interviews with various personnel that are relevant to recent story's, news which broadcasts all local and city wide news  and music, which is made to entertain people. The music played also has genres for example pop, R&B, reggae, Asian pop and indie.

c). Radio Sheffield Live has many different radio shows and each one of these shows has a different audience. Walk a mile In My Shoes/ The Golden Years. This radio programme is a show dedicated to the life, passion and music of Elvis Presley, it also features various other classic rock & roll artists. The target audience for this radio show is aimed at people aged 50-60 both genders and of all ethnicity's .These people are likely to live in suburbs or the countryside and be American by culture. The NRS is the national readership survey. The NRS says that the audience for this show are likely to be middle to older aged people so they'd be in the demographic A or B because they have disposable income and they are most likely retired from work. Deep Groove is a radio show that is for the  underground, local, global, universal music and people who are involved with it. This radio shows audience is likely to be of both genders, aged 15-30 and have a personal interest or hobby in music.

d).The production process for this radio show is very similar to all the shows on Sheffield Live, this means that there is a schedule and each part of Sheffield Live work together by using the same equipment and offices to make there products. All producers, presenters and reporters are voluntary.  Radio Sheffield live is a non profit organisation so all the revenue generated from adverts going into funding the shows. Pre-production for radio shows requires scripting, time scheduling and team meetings to decide broadcast order, content management meetings, advertisement and sponsorship organisation. Production of the shows requires a live broadcast, presenters, mixing desk. Post production requires vox pops, editing of the broadcast. Most post production is done in podcasts which are recorded during production and then they are edited and distributed to their website.

e). Sheffield Lives' main competitors are BBC Radio Sheffield and Hallam FM. This is because they broadcast in the same areas as Sheffield Live and also because they cater to a community of people just like Sheffield Live. Radio Sheffield Live stands out from its competitors because it is a non profit organisation and is run for the good of the people. The stats for Sheffield live are that 11% of the radio audience for the area that they broadcast listen to various shows on there station, this is 32,000 people. This seems small however to think that this station is run on analogue which reduces its audience massively means that is it actually catering to a massive range of people.