A Mix-Tape for Gus

A mix-tape for Gus has beautifully produced radio tribute to Gus who passed away after an accident. Through Gus’s life he recorded songs for his sister on mixtapes and after he passed she didn’t know what to do with them, so this radio show goes through the tapes with her and one of his friends from school they talk about some of the interesting stories that Gus had through his life (Emilylevy, 2014). A mix-tape for Gus was first aired on BBC Radio 4 back in 2014 on the 7th October to their audience who they said where a little older, this was due to the content looking to ‘inform, educate and entertain’ (BBCTrust, 2016). When listening to the show you really get a sense of nostalgia and like this is a way of her saying a final goodbye to her brother, this is also another reason it could connect with the older audience because they have probably experienced a similar loss. The tone of the whole show, however, is very happy and cheery and one thing that she said that really made me think was “Music holds Memories”, so it is like with each song that she plays there is a different story behind it. As well as them telling stories about his life they also play the mixtapes that he mad in the background, this really helps to connect the audience with the show and get a sense of who Gus was like as a person.

However, if I were to flip it on its head and look at their intended audience they do say that they are aiming to educate and inform (BBCTrust, 2016), the tribute maybe lovely but they are cutting off a large part of their intended audience and that could harm them in the long hall. But seeing as this is just a small segment you could say that they are appealing to the hearts of the people.

References

Bbc.co.uk. (2018). BBC – BBC Radio 4 – BBC Trust. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/services/radio/service_licences/bbc_radio_4.html [Accessed 8 Feb. 2018].

Emilylevy.co.uk. (2018). ‘A Mix-Tape for Gus’ Music Documentary | Emily Levy. [online] Available at: http://emilylevy.co.uk/news/mix-tape-gus-music-documentary [Accessed 8 Feb. 2018].

Hepworth, D. (2018). Next week’s radio: from Jeremy Paxman’s A Good Read to How To Dig A Grave. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/sep/27/david-hepworth-radio-preview [Accessed 8 Feb. 2018].

Philippa Grace Blogs. (2018). A MIX-TAPE FOR GUS. [online] Available at: https://philippagraceblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/12/a-mix-tape-for-gus/ [Accessed 8 Feb. 2018].

BBC. (2018). A Mix-Tape for Gus – BBC Radio 4. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04kbjhs [Accessed 8 Feb. 2018].