RADIO CRITIQUE

FINAL RADIO CRITIQUE
VERA MARION (07-1240)

The weekly radio show aired on the local radio station is my healthy living airing on Hope FM every Friday, while the one on BBC is health check. The local time that health check airs is on Monday and Tuesdays at 4:30 pm while on Sundays it airs late in the night.
My healthy living in Hope Fm is a 30 minute program that talks about our health and nutrition, how to adopt to a healthy living lifestyle and to sustain it. The show is in a show. The bigger show is “activate” which is a morning show that comes every weekday from 5:00am to 9:00am. My healthy living is a small show in “activate” that airs every Friday from 7:00am to 7:30am, unless otherwise whereby the topic on discussion needs more clarification or upon a request by the presenter due to public demand. The “activate "show is hosted by James Okumu and he hosts Kate Kibara on the health show.
Health check in BBC, on the other hand is a programme on its own. It takes 28 minutes and strictly that because BBC is time conscious. The show is presented by Claudia Hammond where she discusses matters pertaining to health in different areas. On the BBC time line it airs on Sunday at 1:32 pm whereas on the local time it airs on Monday and Tuesday at 4:32pm.
The main characters in the Hope FM show are only two people. James Okumu , who is the presenter and Kate Kibara. She is a clinical nutritionist as well as a colon-hydro therapist. Then there are also the listeners whom I’ll also group them as the main characters because without them there is no show.

In BBC, Claudia Hammond is the main character. She is a broadcaster, writer, academic psychologist, presenter of “all in the mind, case study and mind changers” on BBC radio 4 and the weekly health check on BBC world service radio. She is also a faculty at Boston University’s London base where she lectures in health and social psychology. She is also an author.
In Hope FM , the program is all about nutrition and how we can adopt a healthy living lifestyle. Kate Kibara discusses various issues that affects us heath wise. She emphasizes on exercising and eating well, which is a well balanced meal without skipping meals as doing so, makes our bodies to work on deficit energy. The theme in this program is a healthy living lifestyle- a lifestyle that you adopt throughout your life.
In BBC’s health check, the show is all about health though not in any specific area. Claudia touches on various issues that affect different people. She may talk on issues ranging from surgery to pregnancy in women to the Hajj among the Muslims.
In BBC the stereotypes that I identified was the fact that there were no experts that came from Africa even when she was talking about Malaria (13th September) given that Malaria is more prevalent in Africa. In my view she makes Africa look like that place where nothing much can avail. The positive in this program is that she brings two guests who have varying opinion on the issue on hand at that particular day; hence one gets to listen to both sides of the coin. The negative in this program though is time. Given that she may have two different issues that she is dealing with, she rushes through them because she only has 28 minutes.
In Hope FM, the negatives in this program, is that it assumes that everyone is from Nairobi, because when the two talk they only concentrate on the people who live in Nairobi yet Hope FM can be listened to across the country. The positive in this program is that it helps one to have an introspection on their health. It makes you want to start eating healthy and keeping it going. The show is also educative.
I believe that the program’s idea is original given that people talk about health and go round about it. With Kate she has centered her discussions on nutrition. In BBC, I believe that the program though original lacks originality. It’s good to deal with health but she should have concentrated on a specific issues then bring varied concerns that relates with the theme of her show.
The two programs do not have sound effects, except for the tune signature for BBC’s health check and then a voice over that says what is going to be discussed. There are also vox poxes from people who give their views on the issue at hand. As for Hope FM, the presenter- James Okumu- introduces the program earlier on in the show and what they will discuss on that particular day. There is no signature tune in this program except for the main program- activate.
In BBC, Claudia’s voice is clear; you hear every single word that she utters. Her voice is also engaging and it doesn’t sound like she is having an interview rather it sounds like she is having a conversation with the guest in the studio. I would not say the same for Hope FM because it sounds like “yes we are interviewing someone you better be attentive to what is being said.” With Kate there is no variation in her voice. There is also no special music for this program except the music that James plays as part of the activate show.
In both programs, there’s no mood that accompanies the issue that is being discussed. It’s seriousness all through except for James and Kate who throw a laugh here and there once in a while. The story line for Claudia’s show is well crafted. In the beginning of the show we are given a short summary of what to expect and her transitions from one item to another is excellent because she gives a case scenario of an issue before embarking on the subject. One such scenario was when she talked of ketamine a horse tranquilizer that the youths in Hong Kong were using as a recreational drug (11th 0ctober).As for Hope FM, the story line is also well crafted and their discussions flow smoothly even when answering questions from the listener.
The agenda being put forth in Hope FM is agenda setting because they give the listener something to think about. It’s true that we always think about our health, how one can loose weight, how to eat a well balanced diet but Kate will say something that we had not explored in that particular angle as yet and it will give you pause to really sit down and look at it from her perspective. Christian worldview was also passed across because she always bases her ideas with the fact that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit so we really need to take care of it.
As for Claudia, I will say that the agenda running through her programme were post modernism as well as scientific naturalism. Post modernism in a simpler term is "what works well for me is what suits me." This brings to mind one show where she had two guests with her (Velleman and Costello- 27th September) and they were discussing on how to improve global health. Velleman was of the mind that people need to have clean water supply and decent toilets above all things. Costello on the other hand was championing for education as a way of improving global health. They both argued out their points and that is what suited them the best. The listeners also giving out their ideas is a form of post modernism because not what is being discussed, they agree with.
As for scientific naturalism, it’s about observable phenomenon-you observe something then come up with a conclusion. A case scenario is when she was talking about the father of tropical disease. (13th September) Sir Manson must have taken time studying the mosquitoes for him to come up with the conclusion that he came up with-that mosquitoes could spread diseases from one person to the other.
The values in these two programs did not conflict with the people of the faith because for Kate what she was talking about, anyone could do that whether you are a Christian or not. They were simple everyday things that we would do normally if we’d want to keep our bodies healthy. As for Claudia, I don’t think that her values conflicted with those of the faith, because she was basing her questions on the scientific view point which I believe was dealing with facts which can’t be changed.
If I were the producer of the Hope FM program especially, I’d make sure that it gets a one hour slot because people are concerned about their health nowadays above all else. The listener is bombarded with health issues from foreign content and this will be a good platform to have a local content on health issues.
Finally, the target audience in Hope FM is men and women both young and old who want to live and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The target audience for Claudia’s show would be varied because she talks to different group of people on every show but the medical practitioners as well as students studying medicine would find a home with her program.
All in all these two shows have really been an eye opener because it makes you have four ears instead of two because you also get to hear the things being said in the silence as well as the pause. It makes you think. It makes you look at the coin critically on both sides.