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Fighting Talk

BBC Radio Five Live - Fighting Talk

Every Saturday, for one hour at 11am, BBC Radio 5 Live broadcast a topical sports show hosted by Colin Murray and “features sports journalists and SJA members such as Will Buckley, Martin Kelner and John Rawling among its panelists” (sportsjournalists.co.uk, 2011). The BBC describes the podcast as a “sparky sports debate (bbc.co.uk, 2003) with “key sporting questions of the day” (bbc.co.uk, 2003)

I listened to ‘Fighting Talk’ on BBC iPlayer from Saturday 30th September 2017.

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The topics talked about on the show are suitable for a mainly male target audience due to football and other sports talked about on the show being stereotypically male sports because “men continue to dominate most sports” (Rose, 2017). At the start of the programme, the presenter and guests talk about the death of Hugh Hefner. This appeals to the male audience because “Hugh Hefner created the men's adult entertainment magazine 'Playboy,'” (biography.com, n.d.). Therefore, this shows that the target listenership for ‘Fighting Talk’ is men due to the content that the presenters talk about. 

The programme includes a variety of sound effects to add to the comedy aspect of the show. Sound effects give the radio programme atmosphere and for the quiz segment of the show, it gives the listener an indication of the right or wrong answer when the guests are being asked questions.

‘Fighting Talk’ includes phone-ins and the presenters read out messages from the audience as part of the show to “encourage listener participation” (Ofcom, 2009). This audience interaction works well because they are “unexpectedly entertaining and insightful” (Shanahan, 2014) which brings more comedy and entertainment to the sports programme. 

Talksport is a commercial radio station and the “world’s largest sports radio station” (talkSPORT, n.d.) has similar content to that of ‘Fighting Talk’ on BBC Radio Five Live. Programmes such as ‘The Warm Up’ which is a “light-hearted look at the weekend’s football fixtures” (talkSPORT, n.d.).

References

Sportsjournalists.co.uk. (2011). TalkSport leads sporting triumphs at radio awards – Sports Journalists' Association. Retrieved 6 October, 2017, from, https://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/sports-broadcasting/talksport-leads-sporting-triumphs-at-sony-radio-awards/ 

Biography.com. (n.d.). Hugh Hefner. Retrieved 6 October, 2017, from, https://www.biography.com/people/hugh-hefner-9333521

Bbc.co.uk. (2003). BBC - Press Office - Johnny Vaughan's Fighting Talk.  Retrieved 6 October, 2017, from, http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/09_september/29/vaughan_fighting_talk.shtml 

Ofcom. (2009). Audience Participation in Radio Programming. Retrieved 6 October, 2017, from, https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-2/audience_participation 

Rose, M. (2017). Male Vs. Female Sports. Retrieved 6 October, 2017, from, http://www.livestrong.com/article/269380-male-vs-female-sports/

Shanahan, M. (2014). How talk radio listens to its audience, provides lessons for online publishers.  Retrieved 6 October, 2017, from, https://www.poynter.org/news/how-talk-radio-listens-its-audience-provides-lessons-online-publishers/ 

talkSPORT. (n.d.). About.  Retrieved 6 October, 2017, from, https://talksport.com/about 

talkSPORT. (n.d.). The Warm Up.  Retrieved 6 October, 2017, from, https://talksport.com/the-warm-up
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