This paper aims to look at the role and importance of listeners’ participation in community radio using Radio Grahamstown, a community radio based in Grahamstown, South Africa, as a case study. While radio has proven itself as a very important developmental tool, it is also important to note that listeners’ participation is important for development and empowerment to take place. This paper therefore seeks to know if and to what extent listeners’ are given platforms for participation in Radio Grahamstown. Another critical issue that this paper seeks to unravel are the hindrances to listeners’ participation, if any. The theoretical framework that underpins this paper is Paulo Freire’s theory of dialogic communication as a normative theory of participatory communication. Freire points to a strategy that involves traditional participants deliberating on issues that are of great importance to them and stresses the importance of local communities’ participation in developmental processes at all levels, be they international, national, local or individual. This paper also builds on the democratic-participant theory, which postulates that individual citizens and minority groups have rights of access to media and information with a right to communicate, and also rights to be served by the media according to their own determination of needs. The study adopts qualitative research approach and data was collected through interviews with the radio station manager and focus group interviews with selected listeners and subsequently analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the radio station encourages listeners’ participation using various strategies. The participants also gave their views on their involvement in the radio station and the benefits of their participation and lack thereof.

Authors:
Oluyinka Osunkunle, University of Fort Hare, South Africa

About the Presenter(s)
Prof Oluyinka Osunkunle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa.

See this presentation on the full schedule – On Demand Schedule

Bookmark