Late Night Woman's Hour

Based on the overview and specific content from two episodes ( the episode 'Home' and one other), explain the following about Late Night Woman's Hour with examples from the program supporting your points.

• History and background of  LNWH
• Summary of content and audience of Radio 4 Themes and subjects covered in LNWH

• Structure and content of typical episodes ( interviews, feature pieces, discussion , phone-in , etc.)
• Presenter ( age, gender, background, broadcasting history, comparison with previous presenters )
• Use of spoken language ( mode of address, formal/informal, emotional language)
• Use of audio codes ( music, sting , theme  )
• Opportunities for audience feedback
• Any marketing /advertising  of  own program and other  BBC content
• Target audience of LNWH ( age, gender, class, interests, use of media etc.)

Lauren Laverne and guests discuss home is the episode 'home'. They ask what home mean to the spectators and if it is domesticity a joy or a drudgery? This is a much more formal episode where the people speak much differently to the modern episodes which include swearing and a quite comical approach. 

The target audience is generally women from 35-50 years old. The show is also shown at 11pm on Thursdays and Fridays which is a time that middle-aged women would normally be at home resting, instead of going out, for example, on a Friday night like younger people would do. This would give them a chance to watch the show while their husband or children are sleeping, as they wouldn't want them to hear some of the explicit contents, for example cheating, vaginas and masturbation. 

The presenters for this show on the first run were Lauren Laverne and Jane Garvey who led panels of five guests in discussion of a particular topic such as fan fiction or lust, which would normally interest younger audiences, hence making it an interesting topic for older women to discuss. Some of the topics also discussed in the first run were lying, datings apps and Tinder. These were broadcasted after the watershed as the conversations were quite frank and adult. 

The show is presented on BBC Radio 4, which is a radio station owned and operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It was founded in 1967. 

BBC Radio 4 is also available through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and on the Internet, which allows it to be accessed very easily if a show is missed or if preferred to watch later. However this has its negative aspects as it means that anyone can access it, especially on the internet, allowing even young audiences to hear it. Younger audiences shouldn't have access to it because of the explicit nature of the topics which may disturb them. 

Lauren Laverne, an English radio DJ, model, television presenter, author, singer and comedian, was the permanent host of Late Night Woman's Hour until autumn 2018. She was born in 1978 in Sunderland, England and is now 41 years old. 
In autumn 2018, live broadcaster and journalist Emma Barnett took over. She is 34 years old and was born in Surrey.  
Late Night Woman's Hour became available in a weekly podcast format in 2018, which listeners can access via BBC Sounds as well as other podcast apps. 

Radio Industry summary

Use your class notes and other resources such as this industry resource  and this worksheet as well as your own research to answer the following questions.

• LNWH is no longer broadcast by the BBC but is atill available online. Summarise the differences between broadcasting and podcasting  for the audience and how it may affect the contant and structure of a programme.
• Define and give an example of a commercial  and a public service  radio broadcaster, explaining the key differences.
• Explain the identity and purpose of the BBC based on its origins, history  and how it is funded
• How does the BBC broadcast or provide content nationally, locally and globally? ( give examples)

Content  and style of BBC Radio 4     LINK

Based on the types of programmes available, the branding of the station , the choice of presenters and listening to the content, explain the general content, identity and audience of Radio 4 and give some examples of speech-based radio programmes from the station.

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves).

The field of broadcasting includes both government-managed services such as public radio, community radio and public television, and private commercial radio and commercial television. This means audiences can hear the audio live as it comes on television and they can watch it with family or friends and can discuss it instead of watching it online at a different time to others. 

A podcast, however, is an episodic series of digital audio or video files which a user can download in order to listen. Podcasting often uses a subscription model, whereby new episodes automatically download via web syndication to a user's own local computer, mobile application, or portable media player. They are usually mainly audio but videos shared following a podcast model are sometimes called video podcasts, vodcasts or vlogs. This is useful when audiences prefer to binge watch something instead of waiting a long time between each show. 

Commercial and Independent radio stations include Capital, Classic FM and Absolute. These stations are funded by advertising. This means they can show and present whatever they like and while doing so they advertise themselves and create a wider audience.

The term "public service broadcasting", on the other hand, refers to broadcasting intended for public benefit rather than to serve purely commercial interests. A major one in the UK is the BBC, which focuses on the interests of the audience and not so much on making money as they are already funded to educate, inform and entertain.