Prenter Led Music Programmes....

Presenter Led Programmes....


Steve Wright introduces this show through a voice-over. His mode-of-address is informal and chatty and he gives the viewers just enough information to anchor the images.

The text is positioned in a colourful box and again anchors the images that we are seeing. Information such as the chart position and an interesting fact about the performer scrolls across the screen, feeding our need for surveillance.

The programme plays on our nostalgic needs, as it shows us a variety of performances from TOTP over the last 50 years. Comments are often made about the costumes and the dancing, these are the historical and cultural codes that interest us, particularly as music is a good insight into the fashions of an era.

Due to the nostalgic element to the programme and the fact that it is being presented by a Radio 2 presenter, we would guess that the target audience would be slightly older than teenagers and would incorporate people who have been watching TOTP for many years.


Popworld is a very different type of music programme which is heavily presenter led. The programme relies on the personalities of the presenters to build up a relationship with the audience.

Presenters employ a direct mode-of -address and adopt a very ironic tone when they are introducing guests and videos. This way of presenting ensures that they are never really voicing an opinion on the quality of the music and all guests are subjected to the same sardonic style of interviewing.

Presenters are always young and fashionable and very much in the same way as MTV presenters relied on their quirky presentation techniques to forge a relationship with a young media savvy audience, Popworld presenters have followed suit. Simon Anstell has gone on to present Never Mind the Buzzcocks which is aimed at an older more adult audience.

Popworld is part of Channel 4's T4 strand of programming, which is aimed primarily at teenagers but also draws in a huge amount of students and young adults as a secondary audience. The presenters of T4 employ the same mode-of-address, creating the kind of relationship with audiences that Disney have managed to do with their popular animated films over the years, ie; codes and conventions that appeal to young people but a sardonic undertone which appeals to an older audiece.

The visual elements of the show are very important, such as the set and the dress of the presenters. Presenters must be able to attract an audience on different levels, so it is not just a sense of humour that is important, presenters must look the part. The way the presenters are dressed is part of the mode-of-address and a visual cultural code.

The audience must feel that they can identify (personal identity, U&G Theory) with the presenters so its is important that there is a high level of cultural verisimilitude evident in the programme, this is created by the choice of clothes, the tone of voice, the language used (slang, colloquial, ie; mingin!). The programme must appeal to a target audience and to do that it must reflect its target audience, it must in essence, speak their language.