Marissa Burian

2023 September 5th

GEOG 161

European Radio Assignment

For this assignment, I chose to listen to TalkRADIO which is a radio broadcasting station

located in London. I listened to about forty-five minutes of the station where they covered three

different topics and three radio hosts discussed these topics in a conversation debate style.

What stories were covered in the broadcast?

The first story covered in the radio broadcast was a national crisis their culture is facing

which is the use of vapes and nicotine products. One host even went as far to call it an

“epidemic.” This epidemic is particularly affecting their teen population in urban cities. Many

schools have put smoke detectors inside bathrooms at school to prevent these teens from using

vapes on school property. According to the radio broadcast, 4.5 million Britts admitted to being

active vape users and a large percentage of those Brits are of the younger generation within

their later teen and early adult years.

The next story covered was about a political candidate, Nick Fletcher, advocating for a

minister for men. He believes this position is critical in order to see improvements in paternity

rights, an increase in male role models in primary schools, as well as an advocate for men’s

mental health. According to the broadcasting station, only 1 in 7 primary school teachers are

men and many feel like an increase in male teachers could benefit those that have a lack of

male role models at home. The broadcast also stated that in Great Britatin, suicide is one of the

leading causes of death within the male population and many would like to see an increase in

support for men’s mental health.

The final story that was covered in the broadcast was the decrease in the welfare budget

that is pushing many to find work. Britain has roughly one million people living off sickness
welfare that will now need to search for work as there was a decrease to the welfare budget.

Those with anxiety and depression that were deemed not able to work specifically will need to

search for work. There could be penalties under the new government plans for those with a

history of self harm that were on welfare that do not find work within the given time frame.

Which of those news reports would you be interested in learning more about and why?

I would be most interested in hearing more about Nick Fletcher and his campaign for

minister of men. I find this interesting because in America I feel like we only really hear about

women’s rights and we don’t really hear a lot about male rights and where there is a lack of

male presence. I would love to hear more about his campaign and his plans for the country if he

were to earn the spot of minister of men. I would also be interested in hearing about what the

people of Great Britain think of this and if they also see a need for this position in their

government.

What is your overall reaction to having listened to the internet radio station?

Overall I found listening to the UK radio station very interesting. I expected there to be a

bigger difference in the stories and topics they discussed but it honestly sounded like every

American radio station. I also found it interesting that vaping is a large issue among their youth

similar to how it is such a large issue for American youth as well. I didn’t realize that schools

globally had to install smoke alarms in bathrooms to prevent the use of vapes on school

grounds. One difference I noticed between American radio stations I’ve listened to and the UK

radio station broadcast is American radio is much more opinion based while the UK radio was

more fact based and there were even statistics added to the conversation to make it more

credible and factual.