LO1 Analysis of Radio Drama

The Archers

Radio Drama-

This audio media product is a radio drama on BBC Radio 4

The main purpose of this audio media product is to entertain the listener like all media products created, and by doing this, it gains the audience’s attention which therefore helps their 'hidden agenda' which is to inform and educate them on the radio station BBC Radio 4 and the company BBC i.e. to promote and advertise the BBC company and its programs.

The form and style in which the audio media product 'The Archers' is presented is both formal and informal, conversational and argumentative as there are several scenes in which there are different characters talking using formal language and arguing using informal language, the form in which The Archers is presented as is as a series of podcasts available on BBC Radio 4.

The audio media product consists of a series of events between a community, known as The Archers; the events consist of things such as family/relationship issues between The Archer cast and basically everything that you would expect from a stereotypical country life (rural life).

The meaning behind the audio media product The Archers'' was to both influence and engage the audience in thought as by influencing and engaging them you are getting their attention and making them think about either that program or even what issues the program/episode raised which means they are much more likely to remember or recognize the company/program and are more likely to promote and advertise the program and the company BBC themselves by word of mouth (Talking about it to their friends and family) which overall means free promotion in the long run.

The genre of this audio media product 'The Archers' in a broader sense is educational as it informs you on certain things and events on people life's/livelihood and their situations, the most obvious genre that 'The Archers' fall under is drama and entertainment.

The target audience of the audio media product 'The Archer' would be the lover of drama and soap operas as this allows The Archers the biggest chance to increase their popularity and recognition even more, However the intended target audience is much harder to pin point as some people may have grown up with their parent or grandparents listening to it and might be fans themselves but the most likely target audience is the elderly as this would be more appealing to them.

The production process of this audio media product is like that of all audio media products: pre-production, production and post-production. Pre-production involves the planning and scripting of the audio media product. However there are a few things that happen before the pre-production stage such as figuring out the financial cost of everything and making sure you have the funds. Then there the production stage in which it would have been recorded and edited to make sure any hick-up and imperfections are cut out and are not present in the finished version. Then there is the post-production stage which consists of advertising and promoting the finalised product and the distribution of said product.