Audio production essay New Version

Tuesday 13th September 2011

Outline broadcast and non-broadcast audio products and their formats (PASS)

Describe broadcast and non-broadcast audio products and their formats with some detail and with reference to appropriate illustrative examples (MERIT)

Challenge ObjectiveEvaluate broadcast and non-broadcast audio

products and their formats with reference to precise and detailed illustrative examples (DISTINCTION

Literacy Focus

Write an essay which describes and explains (with

examples) broadcast and non-broadcast audio products

and their formats.

You can use the presentations and hand out’s produced

by both classes last week and any of your own research

that you want to carry out.

Terrestrial radio Community radio DAB

Podcasts Internet radio In-store radio

Live As-live Recorded

Broadcast

audio products

Non-broadcast

audio products

News & feature packages

Music & speech programming

Commercials Drama Commentary

CD Music TV Digital files

(e.g. wav, mp3 etc)

Form

Genre

Formats

Start by giving a simple definition of radio

Then give a brief overview of the history of radio – who invented it, how was it used at first, when was the first broadcast in the UK, what was the first radio station in the UK etc.

Then introduce what you are going to do in the essay

In order to achieve a PASS simply describe the products and their formats.

In order to achieve a MERIT explain them and give examples

In order to achieve a DISTINCTION explain them, give examples AND evaluate their advantages and disadvantages.

Radio is the transmission of sound waves across frequencies that can be received and

transformed into sound by a receiver. It is hard to say that radio was invented by one person

because there were a number of people and companies involved in its development. In 1878

a British scientist and musician, David Hughes found that sounds could be heard in a

telephone receiver when experimenting with his carbon microphone. He developed this

further so that eventually the sounds could be picked up over a few hundred yards. In

1885Thomas Edison and his employees began to experiment with forms of radio and these

were later picked up and developed by The Marconi Company. In the years following there

were numerous other experiments in various countries but it was not until 1896 that there

was a patent introduced in Britain for the first electric radio. In 1897 The Marconi Company

established the first radio station on the Isle of Wight and ‘the wireless’ as it came to be

known was born. Interestingly its original uses were not for entertainment purposes as most

of us would now know it for but instead for practical uses, for example it was used in the

armed forces such as the army and navy to pass messages and orders. It was not until the

1920s that broadcasting radio across great distances to use as a form of mass entertainment

became possible when receivers were installed across Europe. Since the 1920s radio has

Evolved in many ways and there are now countless forms of radio and radio formats, this

essays aims to discuss and analyse these. The essay will be split into categories in which I will

outline and explain broadcast radio, non-broadcast radio and their audio formats and then

evaluate their advantages and disadvantages.

There are two technical categories of radio; broadcast and non-broadcast.

Broadcast radio consists of terrestrial, community and digital radio whilst

non-broadcast consists of podcasts, internet and in-store radio. In the

following sections I will outline and explain each form of radio. I will

then discuss their advantages and disadvantages both technically and for

the audience.

Terrestrial Radio

Terrestrial radio is radio that is emitted through radio waves and is

broadcast on traditional radio frequencies such as AM and FM. In order

to broadcast, terrestrial radio stations require large transmitters and

receivers across the country (and the world if they are broadcasting

globally) and this can cost a lot of money. An example of a terrestrial

radio station in the UK is Radio One.

In this essay I am going to discuss broadcast and non-broadcast audio products and their formats.

I will start by explaining/describing/exploring/ discussing/ investigating...

Broadcast radio consists of....Non-broadcast radio consists of...The advantages of this form of radio/audio format are...The disadvantages of this form of radio/audio format

are...The audience most likely to enjoy this genre of radio

programming are...The audience least likely to enjoy this genre of radio

programming are...This example of _____________

shows/proves/justifies.......

ExplainDiscussInvestigateDescribeAnalyseCompareContrastCompareContrastAdvantagesDisadvantages

• Audience• Genre• Broadcast• Non-broadcast• Podcast• Audio formats• Frequency• Entertain• Inform• Instruct