Radio Times

By Abbie Shuttleworth

Masthead

Cover line/s

Alliteration

Buzzwords

Price/barcode/information

Main image

IntroductionRadio Times is a British weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, founded and originally published in-house by BBC Magazinesfrom 1923 to 2011 when the BBC Magazines division was merged into Immediate Media Company.

About the publication?

The radio times at one point was the largest circulation in Europe. The radio times is the ‘Immediate Media Company’ and ‘BBC magazines’. The images show other publications that are involved in the radio times.

‘The latest circulation figure (January 2013 –January 2014) for the Radio Times is 831,591 ( 6.9%) making it third in the TV listings magazine market behind TV Choice (1,374,813 11.8%) and What's on TV(1,049,558 14.1%).’

http://www.4rfv.co.uk/directory/235x1/publications

What makes it sell?

The magazine is located in a Newspaper of the Times which is more of an upper newspaper than the Sun. The magazine is British meaning that it appeals to people who watch British television.

Colour codes Between June and December 1990, the programme page headings were deep pink for films, dark blue for television and a lighter blue for radio. After then they then changed to:

Saturday: RedSunday: BlueMonday: YellowTuesday: PurpleWednesday: GreenThursday: MagentaFriday: Cerulean

Doctor Who is the most represented programme over the Radio Times cover, it appears on over 29 issues since the programme has started. This could suggest that the main target audience could be male.

This magazine has glossy finish meaning it could be more aesthetically pleasing than one that isn’t.

The characters are all framed to be powerful. For example the middle magazine uses a slight low angle shot to make the character seem strong. Also the facial expression of the character is quite serious which gives the impression that the character is powerful.

Evaluation

What I like about it?

- Fonts are clear- Looks more upper class to other magazines such as TV Pick- Wider target audience (male as well as female)

What I dislike about it?

- Uses dark colours so it doesn’t stand out as much- Doesn’t have many cover lines to attract the audience

How well does it target the audience?

I think that it targets the audience well as it is aimed at the same target audience as the paper that it is located. I think that it targets more of a male audience as it features a lot of Doctor Who. The colours of the magazine as blue which are represented as male where as of the magazine was to be coloured pink then it would be a female target audience.

Has this research been helpful?

I think that this research has been helpful as it has shown me on how I could lay out my front cover such as having the main image in front of the masthead. It has also helped me by looking at if the magazine was to be published glossy like this magazine (radio times) or matte (The sun TV magazine).