2/2/24- Have you heard Georges Podcast?

 Have you heard Georges podcast? - 

• Is highly a-typical and unconventional of the podcast genre.
• Discussion of hard hitting and affecting points, including the issues faced by black inner city British youth.
• Consideration of stereotypical representations of black youth, specifically through the lens of UK hip-hop and rap 
• Also deals with the issue of jail, punishment and rehabilitation. George draws attention to issues such as drugs in prison, and constructs a hard hitting and complicated narrative for the target audience. 
• Introduction features George looking at a group of inner city children, and speculating over how many will die or end up in prison.
• George is freely circulating his own opinions and labels them as such.
• An engaging and immersive use of atoms sound, forcing the audience to understand his points.
• However, a range of deliberately distracting and even confusing sound effects can conversely make the episode more relatable to the target audience.
• Uses examples from UK hip hop and rap tracks to convey the experiences of young black British men who have experiences these things.
• George has mixed opinion on hip-hop/rap. He clearly loves it, is knowledgeable, and even sings along, yet also criticises the potential that UK hip hop and rap to glamorise criminal lifestyles. 
• The entire podcast is encouraging audience discussion, and requires a significant level of contextual knowledge.      

 Art vs Industry

• Many media producers start off in pursuit or creating art, but end up considering being financially successful.
• In order to make media we need money therefore in order to make media we must make media that makes money.
• However, producers ae not solely motivated by money. They will often make a media product to make an impact. For example: raising money for charity, to build a community, too educate, draw attention to real world issues, to express themselves, to entertain... all these things still have to make money. 

However 'Have you heard Georges Podcast?' is produced and funded by the BBC, a company which is prefunded by the British public, and has a legal remit to appeal to a pluralistic range of niche audiences. 

Current and Seaton- Power and the media industries.

Power is related to ownership. The more media organisation owns the more power they have. In recent years, digital technologies have allowed certain cooperation to reach a wider audience, and therefore exert more power.

In addition, vast corporations such as Disney continue to conglomerate and buy out other companies, both vertically and historically integrating, in order to eliminate competition.

However, in doing so, this creates a monopoly, and Disney's business practices completely dominated the film industry. Arguably this has lead to less creativity and less choice in the market. 

How have digital platforms changed the way we consume radio?

Accessibility- Mobile phones make listening to radio as easy as simply downloading BBC sounds and creating an account. This allows radio to appeal to a wider and more diverse audience.

Personalisation- Using a service like Spotify, algorithmic optimisation allows platforms to present audiences with more of what they want to listen to. However, this arguably only presents audiences with a narrow viewpoint of media, as certain companies are able to pay to be included in this optimisation.

Mobility- Due to the fact that podcasts can be downloaded, they can hypothetically be listened to on other planets.

Quick, easy, convenient - Have you heard Georges Podcast is hosted on Sounds and YouTube, which provides audiences with options. Allows audiences to repeat, rewind, fast forward. Allows audiences to distribute share and edit the podcast themselves.