Comparing two digital audio

products
I am comparing two radio breakfast shows. The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on
Radio 2 and Today, which is the breakfast show on Radio 4

The Chris Evans Breakfast Show

Target Audience
The Chris Evans Breakfast show is said to be an interactive show for all the
family. This seems like a very wide audience but I think that the show is more
specifically aimed at middle-aged people who work. This is because it is
broadcast from 6:30am to 9:30am every weekday so people who are retired will
probably not be awake so will miss the show.
However, in my opinion there is also a secondary target audience which is
children. BBC Radio Two is stereotypically seen as a radio station for middle-aged
and older people. So, Chris Evans tries to involve children in the show as much
as possible, for example, every morning just before 7:30 he gets children to
phone in and tell everyone something that they are doing for the first time.

Purpose
The purpose of this radio show is to entertain people in the morning and to get
them in the right frame of mind for the day ahead. This is achieved in a number
of ways which I will explain in the next section.

Features of the radio show and how they link to the target audience
and purpose
One notable feature of the Chris Evans Breakfast Show is the amount of public
involvement. He tries to get as many people to text in as possible so that they
can share what exciting things they are doing in the day ahead. This links back to
the target audience of getting people in a god frame of mind in the morning.
The general structure of the radio is that Chris will talk about something with his
team or read out some text messages from listeners and then he will play some
music. The music will be played at regular intervals, this helps to keep the
audience interested and to raise their mood.
Another feature of this radio Show is the guests. Every Friday there will be a
selection of famous guests. For example on the show that I was listening to while
writing this there were the following guests:

Charlie Higson (500 word judge)

Robson Green
Quentin Willson
Meghan Trainor
Miss Ballooniverse

During the week Chris tells us which guests will be coming on the Friday morning
show. This gives people something to look forward to during the week and it also
helps him to advertise his show in order to get as many listeners as possible.

Ben Bryden

In my opinion one of the best features of Chris Evans show is the personal feel
that he puts across to his listeners. I have been listening to this show since it
started 5 years ago, and I feel like I know Chris personally. A good example of
this was when he was running a competition to win tickets to a concert. The
person who won wanted to take her daughter but unfortunately she was too
young so Chris said to her Mam to bring her on the show on the Friday morning
to meet all of the guests.
The final feature that I would like to mention is very simple but is, in my opinion,
vital to the success of the show. It is Chriss phenomenal energy! Nick Grimshaw,
who does the Radio 1 Breakfast show said that he couldnt believe how much
energy Chris had in the morning, and he could never be that energetic. It is
obvious that Chris loves what he does and he loves the mornings and this comes
across to the listener and can rub off on them too, again this links back to the
target market because it helps to energise busy families in the morning.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages
Very Energetic, which links to its
target audience and purpose to get
working families in a good frame of
mind for the day.
The large variation of guests attract
listeners with different tastes.

Disadvantages
The show may be too energetic for
people who want a calmer start to
their day.

Today Radio 4
Target Audience
The target audience for Today is much older than the target audience of The
Chris Evans Breakfast Show. This show is aimed at people aged between 55 and
70. This is obvious to the listener because the show is based on current affairs,
news and parliament. Th3ese are topic which generally interest older people
because younger people would get bored. Sticking with the theme of boredom,
This show isnt as fast paced as The Chris Evans Breakfast Show so younger
people would lose interest more quickly.

Purpose
The purpose of this Radio shows to inform people about what is currently going
on in the world and give them different opinions on the matter. A lot of older
people will listen to this radio show so that they have something to talk and
debate about at the pub.

Features of the radio show and how they link to the target audience
and purpose
This radio show is very calm, it isnt fast paced and unlike Chris Evans show it
isnt trying to wake you up and get you in a good frame of mind. It is designed
for people to listen to while they are still in bed because the majority of the
target audience will be retired and wont need to get up early to go to work, so
they will want something calm and interesting to listen to before they get up.
This is shown through the lack of music and the very calm presenters. The
current affairs and opinions from listeners are designed to make the listeners
Ben Bryden

think about current issues and form their own opinion on them so that they can
discuss them with other listeners.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages
It provides a calm alternative to other
breakfast shows.
It is good at educating people about
the current world affairs.

Ben Bryden

Disadvantages
Many people will, understandably,
think that this show is boring.
The lack of music will put a lot of
people of the show.