Absolute Radio

Absolute is a rock and guitar ordinate station playing popular music from the past 50/60 years. I listened to this station during the Bush and Ritchie drive time show, The presenters engage in often irreverent topics of conversation, whilst playing rock and indie tunes. When I listened to the show they were asking listeners to call in with their worst experiences on supermarket self-checkouts so they could compare them with their own. I think the majority of listens are men as the station tends to play more music written and performed by men, however I believe the station also has a sizeable female listenership. I think the station’s targeted demographic is people between the age of 30 to 50 as many of the artists they play are in this age range, I think this station is different to something similar like Radio X as they play more modern guitar based music and Absolute tends to play more of the classic rock genre. Personally I like listening to Absolute I think it plays really good music and the hosts engage really well with the audience.

Classic FM

Classic FM is a Classical music station that broadcasts nationally on FM, DAB Digital radio. Classic FM became the UK’s first new classical music station for 25 years when it launched in 1992. The station plays exclusively classical music , I Listened to Classic FM drive with the composer John Burning who adds little links between symphonies but aside from that does not speak as much as the presenters of the other stations we are listening to this week. The show mainly played symphonies by a range of different composes from Gustav Holst to Beethoven. The show has adverts roughly every 20 minutes typically between two pieces of classical music. I believe that the shows main target audience is both males and females over the age of 50 as that is the biggest demographic of people who listen to classical music, the show also has a very grown up feel to it which is reflected in its choice of presenter and adverts that appear on the station. I enjoyed listing to Classic FM, It is not a station I would normally listen to as I don’t listen to much classical music, however I found everything about the programme very relaxing and enjoyable, and will probably listen again when relaxing or wanting to have some music in the background when working.

Smooth Radio

Smooth radio is an adult contemporary station that in its own words plays the biggest and best music of the past 40 years, however, the genres they play tend to be soft rock, older pop music with a mixture of RnB and soul songs, I listened to the stations evening show the smooth sanctuary, where their playlist differs to the day time shows and tends to play soft easy listening music, for example the stations  day time playlist included the Wham! Song ‘Everything She Wants’ whilst the evening shows playlist featured the George Michael solo hit ‘kissing a fool’ both music by the same artist, however the later song has a much more laidback jazzy feel, which given the time of day, suits the mood of the show. I feel the shows main target audience is both males and females over the age of 40 as the stations style is very slick and has a grown up feel to it which co-insides with the type of song the play and the adverts that appear on the station. I enjoyed listening to Smooth Radio. There was a wide range of songs from different genre and era’s that I enjoyed, I feel the station really engages with audience and has a nice friendly feel to it.