Audience theory applied to radio

Overview

Four gratifications Blumler and Katz identified, one criticism of uses and gratifications and negotiated reading position.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Summarise the uses and gratifications approach.

   Model answer

   Uses and gratifications treats audiences as actively selecting media to satisfy needs. Blumler and Katz set out the approach in the 1970s.

2. 2

   Name the four gratifications Blumler and Katz identified.

   Model answer

   Blumler and Katz's uses and gratifications are usually taught as four needs: information or surveillance, personal identity, social interaction or personal relationships, and entertainment or diversion. Each names a reason an audience chooses a text.

3. 3

   How does a breakfast show supply the personal relationships gratification?

   Model answer

   A regular presenter becomes a familiar voice and a form of daily company. Listeners describe such presenters as friends they have never met.

4. 4

   How does a news programme supply surveillance?

   Model answer

   A news programme lets listeners monitor events that may affect them. Information about the wider world is the gratification sought.

5. 5

   State one criticism of uses and gratifications.

   Model answer

   Uses and gratifications assumes listeners can accurately explain their own motives. The approach also risks ignoring how far the available choices are set by industry.

6. 6

   Summarise Hall's encoding and decoding model.

   Model answer

   Hall argues that producers encode meaning and audiences decode it. The two processes do not necessarily match.

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