Week 1

I took on the role as Head of Music for the Music Radio module. As a group, we had narrowed our options down to either producing a station on new music, or 90’s music. We decided we would go for the 90’s option. The group and I then decided we would base our station specifically on Britpop. I excited to get started on the project as I have been a huge britpop fan and listener since my early teenage years. Soon after, I started to brainstorm some artists which would be suitable. These included such artists as Oasis, Pulp and The Stone Roses.

Week 2

One of the most challenging part of this module was deciding how specific to britpop we wanted our music to be. Whist collating the original playlist I included music from the defined britpop year of 1993-1997 with artist including the Happy Mondays and The Cranberries. However, I also included songs and artists which were influenced after the britpop years with such bands like The Stereophonics and Franz Ferdinand. It was then decided the station would focus specifically on the years 93-97. So Franz had to be cut sadly. When this was decided, I started narrowing down and cutting the playlist.

Week 3

By week 3 I had a good idea of what music would be playing on the station. One myth of the britpop era which is untrue is that there are not so many bands featuring female vocals. When this was addressed I was allowed to explore woman in britpop a lot more. Some of these included Dubstar and Echobelly. Both of these artist featured in our final show. We also had a small feature in the final show which explored the history of female artist in britpop during our live broadcast. Deciding the A,B and C playlist for the station was a important role which was a progressive on going project in itself. I assigned songs into the playlist based on how popular they were on release, how many records sold, the pace and tempo of the music. The list included many well known songs such as ‘Parklife’ by Blur and ‘There She Goes’ by The La’s. B list included slightly lesser known songs but which were still popular and C list was composed mostly of slower, more downbeat melancholy music. Including songs such as ‘No Surprises’ by Radiohead and ‘Bionic’ by Placebo. Slower songs were included the occasionally slow down the pace of the usually fast paced show.

Week 4

After writing the Playlist the next job was to write the Music Policy explaining the decision making beind the music and also to write the music scheduling document. This was a steady process but taught me a lot in what is required by a Head of Music  on a radio station. I also assisted in writing the shows schedule. We then had our pilot show. The pilot show went well, however it was far from perfect yet, and some of the music still needed altering. I added band such as ‘Placebo’ and ‘Sleeper’. I also did more research into the artists which were included. The clock and schedule needed quite some changing around before the final show.By the time the final week came around, myself and others felt the show was in good steed.

Week 5

The broadcast, which went very successfully and was a joy to work on saw many members of the groups ideas and hard work come together. Although the playlist was (nearly!) perfect. I decided to change one song around ever so slightly and included ‘Love Speads’ by The Stone Roses, instead of Fools Gold, which was released in 1989. During the show, I had my laptop set up in the studio so I could get any relevant info during the show to assist Presenter Joe with. The show went well and was fun to work on with a great team. Being passionate about the music you are broadcasting is a big factor in being part of a successful radio organic body. Interested in doing more music scheduling in the future.

Many thanks, Joe