Topic:

For my specialist topic, I am discussing the nightlife in Dublin. I will be talking about the licencing laws in Ireland, non-alcoholic Irish bars, bring your own booze (BYOB) bars, and the increase of venues on the north side of Dublin.

I will also be talking to people who are working in the nightlife industry, and what they think of the industry in Ireland at the moment.

Research:

I plan to undertake primary and secondary research for my piece.

Primary:

For primary, I would like to speak to Vaughan Yates, the owner of The Virgin Mary, a non-alcoholic bar in Dublin, and Sunil Sharpe, a DJ and spokesperson for Give Us The Night, an organisation that is campaigning to change the licencing laws in Ireland and improve the nighttime culture.

I believe this research is unique to my specialism as Vaughan Yates and Sunil Sharpe are in the nightlife business, being a bar-owner and DJ respectively. They are familiar with the clubs and bars in Dublin and would have knowledge in the area.

I am also considering getting vox pops from students in college as they are my target audience and they will have experience about going out to clubs and bars.

Secondary:

For my secondary research, I plan to look at the Irish constitution on the Irish Statute Book website, to see what the licencing laws are like, such as the Liquor Intoxicating Act 2008.

I am also going to search for bars that have a BYOB policy and investigate how many places serve non-alcoholic beverages.

I will then look at what bars and venues are available on Dublin’s north side.

I will also be looking for statistics on how much alcohol we consume as a nation, and how many pubs/nightclubs are open in Ireland.

I believe this research will be unique to my specialism because alcohol is generally consumed when you go to venues and bars. The licencing laws are also linked to the nightlife scene as they affect the industry.

Looking at non-alcoholic bars also shows how the industry is changing, and that you can now go out without drinking alcohol, which is unique to my specialism.

Compare/Contrast to another specialism:

I will be comparing and contrasting my specialism to news.

In a news organisation, the information must be new to the public. For my topic, some information has already been released online and on newspapers, as I am using secondary information.

With news, there is a lot more urgency. News organisations need interviewees as soon as possible if a story is breaking. This can be a lot more difficult as they are under pressure to get primary research. Conversely, with my piece, I have time to get my interviewees, by sending them an email and setting up when and where I would like to interview them.

News organisations are also a lot more concise and objective. With my topic, I am solely talking about the nightlife in Dublin and I will be a lot more informal compared to a hard news piece.

 

Needs of your intended audience:

I want to inform my audience about the nightlife of Dublin, and to notify them of the various options that are available to them, such as BYOB and non-alcoholic bars.

It is important to add a hook to the beginning of my piece. This means that my audience will be intrigued to hear more about my topic and will be concentrated. Though it is important to both of my audiences, I need to grab the attention of my non-specialist audience instantly.

While my specialist appeals to the lifestyle audience, a large percentage of 18-24-year-olds go out. Therefore, I will be referring to several venues/bars in the Dublin area that I believe my specialist and non-specialist audiences will understand.

For my specialist audience, I want to give fresh and current takes on information that they may already know, so that they can consume the material in an uncomplicated way, while also gaining new knowledge about the nightlife in Dublin.

For my non-specialist audience, I want to use simple and non-technical language in my podcast. I want to surprise them with facts and figures about my piece, but I want to do it in a way so that they are not intimidated and overwhelmed.

Content format:

I will be distributing my piece as a podcast. I was considering doing a blog, but I believe I will best reach my audience by audio.

Hearing a person’s opinion on a topic will sound a lot more satisfying than reading it in a blog. I also believe that using nightclub/bar ambience as audio will be an entertaining way to relate to the audience. A podcast can also be a lot more informal than a blog, and with the target audience being young, it will appeal to them more.

I am also doing a podcast because I plan to include my full interview with Sunil Sharpe. If I distributed my piece as a blog, I wouldn’t get as much freedom because I wouldn’t be able to share my whole interview with him.

There are also a few podcasts that have talked about nightlife. One example is Nialler9’s podcast, with some of his episodes being nightlife-related, such as the closure of The Bernard Shaw.

Another example is Mixmag, an electronic dance and clubbing magazine. Their podcast is titled On Rotation, and episodes include Amsterdam’s club scene, and interviewing DJ Marc Kinchen (MK).

Jacob Hawley’s podcast, On Drugs, is a series that talks about the drug culture in the UK. Episode six, Clubs and Nightlife, talks specifically about the British club scene.

Trends in the content format:

Podcasts have become extremely popular, as they are available on several hosting sites, such as Spotify, Soundcloud, and Castbox.

People are now using podcasts as a form of income. The Joe Rogan Experience, hosted by the eponymous presenter, is sponsored by a number of companies like 23andMe and ExpressVPN. Merchandise is also sold, meaning that monetisation is prevalent in podcasting.

The rise of social media has made it easier to promote your podcast. People can now share their pieces on apps such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. An example is Squawka Talker, a podcast by football analytics organisation Squawka, who post their podcast episodes on their Twitter account. I will be doing this with my podcast to try and gain more listeners.

There are now also podcasts that reference pop culture, such as films, television shows, or music. This makes the listener feel nostalgic and can relate to the presenter when they are talking about topics that used to be popular in the past.

An example is Jacob Hawley’s podcast named On Drugs, where in episode six, Clubs and Nightlife, he references Mr. Mackey from the animated sitcom South Park, and inserts a clip of the character saying “Drugs are bad“. I want to embed this type of work into my content as it will make my podcast fresh and different.

While a lot of podcasts are non-fictional and gives information to the listener, there are now fictional podcasts, similar to a television series. This changes the podcasting landscape and opens it up to different audiences. An example of a fictional podcast is The Black Tapes, which is about Dr. Richard Strand, an “Evangelical sceptic” on a mission to debunk all claims of the supernatural.