Radio
K Bull 93.
This station plays country and only country, so of course in a hodunk place like Utah, it’s pretty popular. The country music is primarily the new stuff from Rascal Flats, Carey Underwood, and the like. The target audience is the younger generation of cowgirls and cowboys or anyone in general who likes the new country music. K bull has a lot of contests to win money and cds by playing name that song. They advertise a lot of upcoming events like country lovers concerts and things like Disney on Ice.

107.9 The Mix
The Mix plays all of the latest music ranging from Chris Brown, Fergie, and Daughtry. I listen to The Mix so I can know what the most recently released songs are. Every weekday they give away a free ipod during the early afternoon to attract people who “listen while you work” as their famous catch phrase goes. 107.9 advertises a lot of clothes and lingerie stores. Recently they have been advertising hip Halloween costume shops and the most frightening haunted houses. This station has fun dj’s and they even have a segment where you can be the dj over the phone for three songs. They try to get their audience very involved

My 99.5
99.5’s big thing is that right after they play a song, they name the artist and the song title. Their slogan is “More music, more variety, my 99.5.” 99.5 is similar to 107.9 in the types of songs that they play except they don’t play as recent songs as 107.9, and they also play a lot of 90’s music. 99.5 doesn’t bother with a lot of dj’s and games, they just give you the music which is attractive to a lot of people. They advertise concerts and upcoming events. Once in a while 99.5 will broadcast a news, weather, and traffic update.

KMTI
KMTI is an am station targeted towards Sanpete county farmers. There is a morning program that talks about the weather and has a thing called “tradio” where people advertise things that they need, things that they need to sell, and things that people are missing. In the afternoon Paul Harvey comes on with his The Rest of the Story. The type of music that the station plays for the rest of the day is country music, the old stuff with a twangy sound. If there is a local high school football or basketball game, it will be broadcasted on KMTI. KMTI mostly advertises for hardware stores and a few local businesses.

KSL 1160
KSL is a news radio station. They feature talk shows from Sean Hannity (a strong republican) and Clark Howard who primarily talks about economics. The morning news with Grant and Amanda is very popular and later in the afternoon the station does a segment called the Utah Noon News. A huge section of this radio station is dedicated to politics, probably because that is always such a hot topic. This station advertises all sorts of things ranging from tires, touring companies, and even other radio stations. They target the average Republican Utahan.

Radio is a very personal form of media. I think the main reason of this is because people usually listen to the radio in their cars when they are all alone. People love to have someone talking to them and that’s what a radio station does; it talks to you. The DJs and the talk radio hosts speak in a way that makes it sound like they are speaking directly to you. We choose the station that best fits our personality and the radio station does the rest. Sometimes I find myself talking back to the radio station DJs when they announce that they are going to play a song that I like I tell the host, “Thank you.” My dad listens to the Sean Hannity political talk show regularly and I’ve been in the car with him on a few occasions while he’s listening to it. He always talks back and gives his two cents even though nobody can hear him. Human being like to participate and feel like they are a part of something and radio helps them feel this way.

Newspapers
I think metropolitan papers have become less popular because they are general interest papers and not targeted to a specific audience. All forms of media have made changes so they are more audience specific such as books, radio stations, magazines, and T.V. stations. Metropolitan newspapers are sent to homes all across the country so their audience is very broad which makes it impossible to satisfy every reader. The stories and news presented there are general interest articles.
On the other hand, small community papers are booming with success. I think it’s because small community paper readers have something in common; they all live in the same area. People want to read stories that directly affect them. People want to know the latest gossip in their home town. In the local paper is where people find out who’s getting married, who’s going on a mission, and who has recently passed away. I think the best part of having a local paper is seeing pictures of yourself and people you know in a real newspaper. Moms eat that sort of stuff up because they can use the newspaper clippings for their child’s scrapbook. My local paper is called The Sanpete Messenger. It is online also so while I’m living in Provo, I check the local paper often so I can know what’s going on in my community. I never check the Daily Herald or the Tribune on the internet and I think that says something.

I analyzed the Deseret News. This paper has a lot of political and economical news. There is a whole section of the paper entitled Utah which has a whole bunch of Utah news including obituaries and special Utah news stories. In the Deseret News, there is a viewpoint section for letters to the editor and people who would like to get their opinion out there. The lifestyle section includes a lot of plays, musicals, and opera productions that will be playing in Utah. This section is mostly dedicated to the fine arts. There is a wall street section and of course there is a section dedicated to sports. The Deseret News favors BYU sports over Ute sports because they showcase huge, colored pictures of BYU players and dedicate whole, color layouts to BYU sports. U of U doesn’t get the same treatment. The paper is very conservative and Christian. There was an article entitled, “Obabma’s character remains highly suspect” and one called “Terrified Christian families flee Mosul.”
I don’t think this paper serves as a “watchdog.” It produces the stories its advertisers want it to produce and the paper writes stories that they feel most of Utah would like to read. The Deseret News targets LDS republicans and I think it does a pretty good job at it.

Magazines
The magazine that I chose to analyze is called Antiques and Fine Arts. The groups of people that this magazine seems to attract are those who want to furnish their home with fine art. Since they own homes and are interested in furnishing them with very expensive items, the readers of Antiques and Fine Art are probably wealthy and in their “later” years. These groups of people like the rustic, classic look for their homes. They are interested in new and upcoming artists as well as the traditional artists. They also restore old antiques.

The Effect of the Electronic World on the Magazine Industry
Today, almost every magazine has its own website where its viewers can log onto the website and see sneak previews of what’s in the latest magazine issue. The fans can buy the magazine if they want the full story. I’ve visited People magazine’s website on several occasions to see pictures of celebrities and read about the latest gossip. But after seeing the pictures on the internet, I’ve never had the desire to go out and buy the magazine. I’ve already read what I’ve wanted to read and seen what I’ve wanted to see on the website. Plus, if I was really interested in a specific story, I could find it anywhere on the internet for free. If it is people’s sole purpose, when reading magazines, to get information, then the electronic world hurts the magazine business. But I don’t think that that is the main reason people read magazines. They read them for entertainment. It can be relaxing and it’s always fun to look at all of the bright, colorful pictures. Reading a computer just isn’t the same as reading a magazine

Books
When I polled ten people and asked them about their reading habits I got some very different and similar answers. The two high school boys I interviewed both said that they had read no good books lately and the only books that they had read in the last six months were text books for their classes. I asked one middle-aged man the questions and he said that he had read no good books lately and the only things that he had read recently were the scriptures and a few articles from magazines. The two younger boys (early middle school and late elementary) that I interviewed had both read some young adult books like Holes, Despereaux, and NFL Superstars. They had read between five and ten books over the last six months.
The girls that I interviewed were a lot better readers. The youngest girl that I interviewed (about 10) had only read one book lately called Diary of a Wimpy Kid and read two books in the last six months. The three college girls that I interviewed had read plenty of good books lately ranging from Women’s Murder Club Mysteries, Pride and Prejudice, and The Book of Mormon. They all had read between eight and nine books in the last six months. And finally, the eldest woman that I interviewed had recently read the popular book Peace like a River and enjoyed it and had read about two books in the last six months.
From these results, it’s pretty obvious to see that women are more likely to read a book than men, and younger boys are more likely to read a book than older men. For high school jocks, I think it’s probably considered “lame” to be an avid reader and the boys I interviewed were definitely the athletic type. Or maybe they just don’t have enough time with all their athletics to read. Maybe one of the reasons that boys, on average, aren’t as good of readers as women is because there are more children’s books targeted towards girls like The Babysitters’ Club and The American Girls Series. Girls start out reading and so they have a good “reading foundation” to build upon for the rest of their lives. Or maybe other mediums of media are taking the place of books like TV and the internet. We only have so much time in one day so we have to choose and it’s very likely that the average person’s first choice is not to read a book for entertainment. Whatever the reason may be, there needs to be a change because the benefits of reading are so great and will help you for the rest of your life.

Paper Books or Electronic Books?
I have used both kinds of textbooks in college, electronic and regular, and I’ve got to say, I prefer the regular textbooks. Even though the cost is much cheaper and in many cases free, it’s easier on my eyes to read paper. Plus, I can mark and highlight important information very easily on a textbook. There is the option to print out all of the text, but I think it is a hassle to print hundreds and hundreds of textbook pages. It takes up time that I just don’t have.
Hands down I would rather read a regular book instead of an e-book in my leisurely reading. Call me old fashioned but there is just something special about curling up on the couch with a blanket, cup of hot chocolate, and good read. It wouldn’t feel the same trying to get cozy with my laptop computer. I like to feel the pages and know how far I’ve gone in the book. Books are easily portable, cheap, and they don’t have to be plugged in. Sometimes, you just can’t beat the original.

Magazines

Stereotypes in the Media

Stereotypes definitely exist in the media today. A favorite T.V. show of mine is The Simpsons. This show embodies the whole idea that there are stereotypes out there. On the show, there is a character that is smart and gets good grades so naturally, he is portrayed as a geek, a pansy, and a coward. There is a character who likes to ride a skateboard and gets bad grades; therefore, he is a troublemaker. Probably the most offensive stereotype in the T.V. show is that of the local small, grocery store owner named Apu. Apu is an Indian immigrant, speaks with an Indian accent, and is poor. This is just one T.V. example but I’m sure that I could pick out a stereotype in any T.V show, billboard, or magazine in America if you asked me to.

Are People Tuning Out the Real World?
Let me tell you a story about my little brother Jordan. He is the youngest of four boys and was born in the late 90’s. All of Jordan’s older brothers are very into all types of sports and they are all very athletic, but Jordan doesn’t really care for athletics. He would just as well stay inside all day and play his Nintendo DS, watch a movie or play a cool computer game. I think Jordan is the way he is because he grew up in a time of great technological advances, whereas, his older brothers didn’t have as many neat gadgets and gizmos. This has greatly influenced Jordan’s character, I think, for the worse.
This is an increasingly big problem in America and I think that it will only continue to get worse. If you walk on any American campus, you will see students all over the university with headphones in their ears; each person in their own little world. Instead of visiting our friends and families, we text, email, and call them on our cell phones. I don’t think technological advances are going to decrease so that means neither is society’s impersonal trend.

Journal 1

Newspaper:
The Sender is the journalist, the message is the news, and the receiver is anyone who is reading the newspaper. The channel is, of course, the newspaper and possibilities for noise that disrupt the communication could be loud sounds, making it difficult to concentrate on the paper, or smudges, rips, or spills on the newspaper itself. Other possibilities for noise could be too advanced words or an editor’s biased opinions, changing the content of the news article. If the receiver wanted to give feedback to the newspaper they could write a letter to the editor or simply call the newspaper company.

Magazine:
The sender is the staff writer or editor, the receiver is anyone reading the magazine, and the message, depending on the magazine, is usually a story of some sort, hints and tips to achieve a certain goal, directions on how to create something, or information on a particular place, people, time era, or object. The channel is the specific magazine. The noise could be rips or smudges on the magazine, loud sounds preventing the reader to fully comprehend the idea that is being portrayed. Other noises could be biased writers or grammatical errors in the magazine. If the receiver wanted to give feedback to the magazine they could send an email, write a letter, or call the magazine company.

Radio Program:
The sender is the show’s host or it could be the writer for the radio show. The message is usually news, gossip, political updates, or music and the receiver is anyone listening to the radio program. The channels are sound waves traveling through the air. Today, there are radio programs on the internet in which case the channel would be the internet. The receiver is anyone listening to the radio program. Options for noise could be static or other loud noises impairing the receiver’s hearing of the program. Often times radio programs have specific times in the day when they take calls from the public, letting them ask questions, express their opinions, or try to win prizes. In these ways, the receiver can give feedback to the sender. The receiver could also write a letter, email, or call the radio program.

T.V. Show
The sender could be a variety of people: a director, an actor/actress, the script writer, or the television corporation owner. There are many alternatives for a message on a T.V. show but a few options could be a joke, a story, or news. The receiver is the person watching the television and the channel is the T.V. set and all of the cables, antennas, and satellite dishes that help transfer the message to your living room. Noises that interfere with communication are static, false information, bad acting, power outages, and other sounds that disrupt concentration on the program. If the sender would like to give feedback to the T.V. station, they could write a letter or email the broadcasting corporation.
The Best
I think the form of mass media that does the best job informing the public is the T.V. It is just so easily accessible. People are usually no more than a few feet from a television set. It takes time for a newspaper to write, print, and send out news but through a T.V. program, the news can be delivered virtually at the same time that the news is happening. Also, T.V. is accompanied by moving pictures, sound, and real people talking to you. None of the other forms of media offer this. Informing the public in this way makes it more memorable and understandable. When I think of September 11th, I remember all of the news shows and clips on the T.V. I don’t remember the newspaper articles and I don’t think I ever listened to the events of that day on the radio.
By far, the most entertaining form of mass media to me is T.V. Like I said before, it doesn’t just offer one form of communication like sound, music, pictures, words; it offers all of them. Most of us set apart time in each of our days to watch T.V. because it is so personal. When reading a magazine, you can see pictures of your favorite celebrities but they don’t talk, move, and make jokes in the magazine. Also, watching T.V. is something that we like to do together to make the experience more enjoyable. We don’t gather together to read a newspaper or listen to a radio program. In fact, tomorrow my apartment is having an Office party where we are going to watch the season première of the show with all of our friends.
I am more inclined to buy a product showcased in a magazine rather than in a T.V. or radio commercial. Magazine advertisers make advertisements that capture the eye with neat color schemes and pictures that are attractive to people. With a magazine advertisement, I can look at it a lot longer and pay more attention to it than I could a commercial. Magazine advertisements are art forms whereas commercials usually aren’t. I have an advertisement of a watch hanging on my wall, not because I like the product advertised, but because the man in the picture is super attractive. I see that watch advertisement several times a day and when I’m looking for a present for my dad or brother, guess what I’m going to think of. You can’t cut out a commercial but you can a magazine advertisement.