Lincoln: Onward & Upwards

Broadcast Information

Station: Siren 107.3 FM

Online broadcast and download for non-Lincoln residents.

Audience

We have chosen to target our feature at the following:

Demographics:

Residents of Lincoln(shire) and Tourists

Ages 12-24 (siren audience 9-24)

Both Males and females

All social classes

 

Psycographics:

People who enjoy; Social culture, tourism

People interested in; Business, economy, culture, re branding, are regeneration.

Radio Proposal and Treatment Form

Lincoln School of Media – University of Lincoln

 

Assignment No: 1

 

Group names/Roles:

 

Edward Neely: Producer

–       Oversees project

–       Collates research

–       Organises paperwork

–       Makes sure everything is running smoothly

–       Organises interviews

–       Helps with recording

–       Helps with editing

–       Makes final decision in which material to use

 

Danielle Watson: Reporter/Co-Editor

–       Gathers research

–       Records voxpops and location sounds

–       Helps with editing

–       Writes a clear and direct script for the narrator to follow

–       Assists with recording of interviews

 

Emily Mullender: Narrator/Editor

–       Interviews representatives

–       Helps with recording

–       Collating all the audio into a polished production

–       Deciding which audio material is suitable to use

–       Gathers all the audio recorded

–       Narrates feature using pre-written script

–       Creates a link/relationship with target audience

 

Terri Hampshire: Reporter/Co-Editor

–       Helps with editing

–       Gathers research

–       Records voxpops and location sounds

–       Writes script

–       Assists with recording of interviews

 

Title: A 14 minute factual feature ‘Refreshing Lincoln’

 

 

 

Background – (Set out the context, in terms of audience and why this will interest the audience)

 

Lincoln is a Cathedral city and the county of Lincolnshire. It has a population of 85,595 people and the city is still growing. Although being a relatively small city, over recent years it has developed into a major tourist attraction, with the main attractions being the Cathedral, the castle and step hill. Lincoln is also home to thousands of students studying at the University, to accommodate this there is a vast number of restaurants, bars, clubs and shops and they are still developing.
Places to eat in Lincoln range from a traditional pie shop through to Thai and Chinese cuisine restaurants. In 2011 Lincoln has been made home to a brand new club ‘Tokyo’ and another is set to open later this year. This feature will explore whether people feel that Lincoln is providing the necessary facilities for people living in the city, including places to eat and nightlife and whether there is enough choice. It will look at the shops in Lincoln and discuss whether late night shopping in the centre would be beneficial and if not why not. It will also look at which shops have attempted to pioneer late night shopping in Lincoln and whether they have been successful or not.

We will be interviewing Lincoln County Council representatives, the General Public, Restaurant Managers, Nightclub Managers or Employees and Shop Managers or Employees, to gain a wide range of opinion on whether Lincoln is becoming a key player on Europe’s social map.
The feature will look at how Lincoln has come along over the last few years and where it is planning on going in the future.

 

 

 

• Aims & Objectives:

–       Find out if Lincoln is an up and coming (rebranded) city and if it is a success.

–       Investigate the most popular social activities for all ages.

–       Discuss with local businesses, restaurants, clubs and shops if their recent operations have been successful and include impartial opinions from external organisations such as Lincoln City Council to understand their current and past plans for the city, Lincoln BIG to see how Lincoln has improved and the public to learn more about the changes to the city but also their personal opinion on how they feel about the changes – is it a burden or a blessing?

–       Interview the public and see whether they think Lincoln is becoming a bigger name city

–       Explore how Lincoln has developed in the last few years and why the city is more attractive to businesses

–       Find out whether Lincoln is trying to move away from being a massively student populated city.

–       Explore the competition as a by-product of all the new social businesses.

–       Find out whether schemes set by the Council such as late night shopping to improve the city are working.

 

 

–       Key Contributors

–       Zizzi’s/Harvester – Find out whether the recent heat wave has affected peoples choice to dine out or not. Also ask why these restaurants see Lincoln as a good location to branch out to. Find out the differences between the chains on the Brayford and the independent restaurants in the Bailgate area.

–       Gino’s – On location interview finding out why the restaurant has become so popular and has it’s exposure on channel4 helped? Are they competing with the chains or do people dine at Gino’s for different occasions.

–       Tokyo – What has the initial response for the club been like, has it been as/more/less popular than expected and why?

–       Luminar Leisure (Owners of Ritzy’s, Pulse & JJ’s) & Wahoo – Interviews asking if they are finding it hard to compete with new competition, if people have moved away from enjoying these clubs, will they come back when the novelty of Tokyo wears off?

–       Business Improvement Group (BIG) – Asking how they have helped to improve local businesses and how efficiently it is working and the reasons behind this. Also asking them to express their opinions in response to the questions posed towards the possibly biased businesses.

–       O2 – Asking why they pulled out of the late night shopping scheme after only 2 weeks

–       Debenhams – Have reported Thursday’s can be their busiest days and find out whether late night shopping there is a success.

–       Donna – Manager at House of Fraser – Arrange on location interviews with staff and find out whether late night shopping has been a success there, or if they are just continuing it because they can.

–       Waterside shopping centre – On location interviews with the public in a shopping environment. Asking questions about whether they go late night shopping and if they would if more places were open, questions discover what is going wrong. Also to find out why they had been shutting their doors early even at the beginning of the initiative.

–       Wayne – Store Manager at Topshop

–       Ian – Events Manager at tower bars/engine shed. Asking whether the opening of clubs like Tokyo is posing a threat to the engine shed and tower bars and what they are doing to keep up with the competition.

–       Lincolnshire County Council/City Council Media team – Arrange interviews to see whether Lincoln is competing for attention and significance

–       Lincolnshire Echo – Previously reported on a successful start before reporting on the abandonment of it and ask what their findings were.

–       Interview people on the street/the general public

 

 

 

Content/Style/Structure:

The feature will be walking the audience around Lincoln in a metaphorical and informal way, which will be reflected in the script.  This will sum up any interviews of each subcategory, which are – late night shopping, restaurants and the clubs and bars in Lincoln City Centre. Lincoln’s social scene will be the main topic and how Lincoln is a up and coming city to visit and explore, whether it is for a late shopping spree or to dine out or just for a social drink, the outcome of this will be to shine a light on the expansion of the city and how it affects existing business.

 

 

Audience/Station/Web

This feature would be aimed at a local audience, as it is based on Lincoln, its Eating Out and Night scene and issues surrounding Late Night Shopping.

It could be placed on Siren FM, but it is not strictly aimed at students, it can appeal to a wide age range, of around 16 and above.

It would not be suitable for a national station because it is so specifically centred around the city of Lincoln. It would also not suit a local station such as Lincs FM, as this is a commercial station and does not broadcast features such as this. It also wouldn’t suit BBC Lincolnshire as BBC Local radio’s remit is for ages 50 and above.

The feature could be available as a podcast on the website, alongside information explored in the feature such as Lincoln’s restaurants and the findings of the Late Night Shopping investigation.

Siren FM often plays features and hosts shows aimed the local community and even business such as ‘Lincoln: Mind Your Business’ with Andy Deighton and ‘Weekend Lincs’ which gives listeners ideas of what to do with their weekend.

 

 

 

Treatment: (This may change depending on the range of interviews/audio available).

Feature will start with a short soundscape of night sounds such as club music, dining sounds and shopping sounds (sounds of people walking in heels, loud chatter, sounds of tills). There will then be an overview of the topic and an introduction. (Spoken by narrator) with the sounds of the hustle and bustle of the city, again, shopping noises (till drawer noise), restaurant noises (sounds of plates stacking and knives and forks) and the sounds of clubs (mainly the bass before transitioning into a short clip of reflective music. The narrator will relate this to other key European cities.

 

Narrator will explain what has changed in the recent past in the city touching how brand new bars, restaurants and clubs are emerging rapidly.

 

Ambient sound of Lincoln nightlife will continue.

 

We will then play voxpops of the public stating their age and what they like to do socially at night time. Including what they like about Lincoln night culture and what they dislike about it.

 

Narrator explains Lincoln’s newly introduced late night shopping before going to side-by-side interviews with a shop that takes part in the scheme, compared with one that doesn’t and whether they think it’s beneficial for a business. This will include both employees from the shops and higher up positions.

 

More vox pops of people stating why they do/don’t go late night shopping and their reasons, before moving on to an interview with an external source who can comment on our above findings. Again with the shopping noises in the background with a bit of diagetic music.

 

Next we would transition this with the introduction to the restaurants section (narrated). A brief explanation of the new restaurants that have arrived in Lincoln and asking the question why do we think this is.

 

Vox pops of the response to “where do you dine?” and “why?”

 

We will move on to a formal interview with a representative from the restaurant with ambient sounds in the background (chatter of diners and sounds of plates, cutlery and kitchen sounds)

 

Next we will get another opinion from the external organisations and their thoughts to why our findings are how they are.

 

We will then transition this into the Nightlife section with another short narrated introduction talking about the new clubs and bars that have arrived (Tokyo, appletree & the new club opening) This will have sounds of bottles clinking and loud chatter/music (as if it is coming from another place – high bass) ambience sounds in the background.

 

 

We will then have more vox pops of the public response to “where do you go?” (In relation to clubs and bars.

 

The narrator will then pose the question “is competition killing Lincoln’s former popular clubs or is it wiping out the new ones?”

There will be formal interviews with Clubs and bar’s managers/owners explaining the fierce competition and how they think they are doing as a business.

Before responding with a final external opinion on the same questions

 

Next there will be a montage of the key quotes from the interviews to refresh the listener’s memory.

 

Finally it will conclude with discussion of our findings in relation to whether Lincoln is becoming a key player in the way of becoming and iconic European social hotspot and whether Lincoln’s potential is being utilized.

 

Research Summary: List of Credible Research Sources for Primary/Secondary Research

Source 1- Web)

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/Successful-start-late-night-shopping-Lincoln/story-12913523-detail/story.html – This is a report from the Lincolnshire echo about the success of late night shopping when it first started.

Information includes:

It started on the 14^th July 2011 with more than 100 shops staying open until 8 on Thursday Nights.

“It is a good idea for the city to do this, it works in other cities and I think once people get used to it then it will be good in Lincoln as well.”

 

Source 2- Web)

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/Shops-Lincoln-abandon-late-night-opening-trade/story-13447597-detail/story.html – This is a report talking about how many shops have abandoned the initiative except the majority of shops in st. mark’s area of town.

Source 3- Web) Information on Lincoln’s shops and restaurants highlighting potential for competition.

“Lincoln’s High Street is home to over 300 shops and restaurants, including many of the country’s favourite high street names and a variety of locally owned specialist shops.”

“Lincoln is one of the country’s top 50 retail destinations and one of the most important shopping centres in the East Midlands.”

 

“Over 200 locally owned shops and boutiques”

 

“in exactly the same place the Romans once enjoyed their own retail therapy almost 2,000 years ago.”

http://www.shoplincoln.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=125

Source 4 –Primary)

Spoke to employees of a number of shops including O2, Goldsmiths, Next, House of Fraser, Phones4U, The Fragrance Shop and Topshop.

Employee of Next (Tritton Road) confirmed that the Tritton Road shop stays open until 8pm every night and trade is good.

 

We also spoke to a Bar worker and promoter for Tokyo who stated that there was not much competition for them, numbers are high weekly and they have big events planned for the future to keep it fresh. She also confirmed a new club opening in the town centre called The Annexe.

 

Spoke to Zizzi waitress who said business appears to be good as far as she knew and it seems to be busier around the Brayford in general.

 

Source 5- Web)

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/restaurants
Lincoln has a wide selection of places to eat ranging from American right through to Thai Cuisine. This suggests that there is a clear demand for restaurants in Lincoln, especially as more and more restaurants are opening up each year.
Lincoln is renowned for its local food and produce, so much so that Lincolnshire distributes 20% of the nations food around the country, giving people living in Lincoln a huge amount of choice of places to eat.
http://www.lincoln.world-guides.com/lincoln_restaurants.html

 

Source 6- Web)
As Lincoln is home to many modern, chain restaurants we will be looking at the impact this has had on the smaller, more traditional places to eat such as: http://www.brownspieshop.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.ginoslincoln.co.uk/index2.htm.

 

Source 7- Web)
Lincoln is also home to the ‘Lincolnshire Sausage’ and to celebrate this they have an annual sausage festival bringing up to 10,000 tourists to Lincoln. This shows the huge part food has to play in Lincoln’s culture.
http://www.visitlincolnshire.com/events/the-big-tastes-of-lincolnshire-sausage-festival-castle-hill-saturday-29th-october-p450481

http://www.lincolnbig.co.uk/

Source 8- Books)

Chris Couch, Charles Fraser, Susan Percy (2003) Urban regeneration in Europe

Wiley-Blackwell

 

Franco Bianchini (1988) City Centres, City Cultures

CLES

 

John McIlwain (2007) Lincoln (Pitkin City Guides)

 

MUSIC LOGGING FORM

 

Title	Lincoln: Onwards & Upwards
Producer:	Edward Neely
Date of Show:	N/A

 

Song Title	Performer	Composer/ Arranger	Record Label	Publisher	Full Duration (used in piece)
Untitled	Edward Neely	Edward Neely	N/A	N/A	4:08

Lincoln: Onwards and Upwards

Narration Script

Intro

With it’s historic cathedral & castle, wide range of diverse shops and businesses,

buzzing nightlife and the ever-changing Brayford Waterfront, Lincoln attracts over three million visitors a year.

 

The City is home to over 85000 people. This documentary will explore how efforts are being made to generate investment and the millions of pounds being spent to ensure the city centre stays vibrant.

 

I’m Emily Mullender from Siren FM and I’m going to be taking you on a walk around the city centre, to see first hand what’s on offer and how it’s evolving.  Uphill Lincoln attracts many tourists who’re keen to see it’s historic cobbled streets and walk down the famous Steep Hill.

 

As we walk down the hill towards the high street, we are joined by Emma Tatlow from the Visit Lincoln Partnership which campaigns to promote the city.

 

We’re currently stood on Park Street outside the nightclub newly named ‘Home’, formerly The Annexe. Do you think the opening of this club will have a big effect on Lincoln’s nightlife as a whole?

 

Michael Armstrong from Lincoln BIG gives us an understanding of what they do and his view on the changes around the city centre..

 

House of Fraser stands in the centre of Lincoln city and is a flagship store which participates in the recent Late Night Shopping scheme. On a Thursday night, like some other stores, house of fraser is open until 8pm. There has been a lot of talk questioning whether late night shopping is or will be a success in Lincoln. We spoke to Jade Butcher from House of Fraser…

 

 

We now walk under Stonebow Arch into the heart of Lincoln city centre, the high street is busy as ever, bustling with shoppers, promoters and sales people.

 

As we head down onto Brayford Pool, we’re hit with the noise of all the building and construction along the Waterfront.

 

As well as the launch of Late Night Shopping, there has been a huge development of the Brayford Waterfront. Currently under construction is the six million pound 115- bedroom DoubleTree Hilton hotel and since 2010 we’ve seen the arrival of three new restaurants including Harvester, The Handmade Burger Company and the Italian chain, Zizzi. Ricky Price is waiter at Zizzi.

 

As you probably know, there are plenty of new bars and clubs popping up around the city like L4, Tokyo and the £3m renovation of brand new club ‘Home’. So how do you decide where to go for a night out?

 

 

As we walk along the front towards Engine Shed and stand on the campus bridge it’s clear that we’re very much in the university area of the city, with the crowds of students milling around and a significant difference to the busy high street.

 

Ian Spenton, Engine Shed Events Manager enlightened us on what goes on at popular student venue..