Library and online resources
PowerPoint software
Laptop for presentation

A mix of lectures and workshops introduce the broad challenges facing station managers and schedulers. They include contributions from visiting speakers. In independent study you research the social context of viewing and listening and investigate a number of specific case studies and scenarios. In conjunction with guided practical workshops you explore a range of scheduling exercises based on available audience research. You are also introduced to the skills of report writing and constructing PowerPoint presentations for professional contexts. Working in a small group you will be asked to carry out a detailed scheduling task and draw together the group's findings into a PowerPoint presentation to your 'station manager', setting out the background, alternative options and your recommendations. This research you will than detail in an individual formal written report.

How should television and radio stations plan to reach audiences in a multi-channel 21st century? How far can they rely on the accumulated experience of the preceding, so called 'broadcast century' and the continuity of the 'broadcast day'? This module examines the many factors that shape stations? decisions about scheduling. To build a successful schedule a station needs to understand the general social factors that influence viewing and listening habits, such as shifting public attitudes, changes in lifestyle, and work and leisure practices. Within that framework they need to arrive at a more detailed understanding of the particular tastes and tolerances of their target audience and to do this they use a range of audience research methods and feedback mechanisms through which they try to discover what content causes their audience to tune in or out. This they use to inform their decisions about what programmes they can offer, within their set financial constraints. To this we must add today's debates about the extent to which new distribution technologies challenge traditional concepts of the collective broadcast audience.

1. An individual formal written report detailing your research method, your findings and your recommendations in response to a given scheduling task
[ Learning Outcomes 1,2,3,4]

2. A group PowerPoint presentation summarising your research and recommendations to a 'station manager' in response to a given scheduling task. [Learning Outcomes 4]

Keith, M. 1997 The Radio Station, 4th edn. Boston: Focal Press
Kent. R, (ed) 1994 Measuring Media Audiences Thomson Learning
Lacey, N. 2002 Media Institutions and Audiences: Key Concepts in Media Studies Palgrave Macmillan
Ross, K, & Nightingale, V 2003 Media and audiences : new perspectives Maidenhead : Open University Press
Ruddock, A. 2001 Understanding Audiences: Theory and Method London: Sage
Schroder, K., Drotner, K., Kline, S., Murray, C. 2003 Researching Audiences: A Practical Guide to Methods in Media Audience Analysis London: Hodder Arnold