RADIO LISTENERS’ CHOICE OF STATION AND PRESENTATION

RADIO LISTENERS’ CHOICE OF STATION AND PRESENTATION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

          Mass media has been the most effective means of converging messages to large and heterogeneous listeners.

Akpan (1987) expressed that “advances in technology increased the efficiency of communication as it then became possible for a single communication to reach a large number of listeners with the same message at the same time. In other words, the mass media are the channels of disseminating processed information through technological device to mass listeners.

Apart from the print media such as newspapers and magazines, the broadcast media — radio, television and internet are all part of mass media of communication.

However, this study will dwell more on radio news presentation and listeners choice of station as a medium of information dissemination.

The radio is an audio medium which has the capacity to break through the barriers of illiteracy and geographical boundaries.

Research has shown that the use of radio as a medium of information is truly widespread even among rural population (Okunna, 1992).

Radio is one of the major channels used in conveying messages to the mass listeners. It is a powerful medium with the potentials for educating, informing and entertaining the listeners.

Radio is a widely used medium which provides great potential for effective communication in the rural areas. Apart from being the most affordable means of mass communication, radio is very effective for educational purposes. It plays an important role as human beings learn more from listening to radio cultural issues such as values and virtues, attitude formation and inculcated in the minds of the listeners.

Radio is an effective tool in creating awareness regarding many social issues. It is an important and interesting tool for both formal and informal education. Its educational programmes cover a wide range of subjects in different countries. In many countries radio demonstrate the capacity to enhance economic development, contribute to technological advancement, improve health, strengthen national security, combat crime and corruption, give expression to cultural pluralism, enhance attitude formation and promote democratic process among others. Perhaps this provides the reason for the government in Nigeria, through the millennium development goals (MDG) to use radio most as medium of information dissemination because of its penetrability to the rural areas.

This study embarks on a journey of the news listeners in Uyo Urban with a view to obtaining the varied opinion of listeners on the subject matter. Again, books, journals, magazines, newspapers and the internet will form sources of obtaining documented information or data as they relate to issues about radio news presentation and listeners choice of station especially from the general spectrum.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

News listeners behave with a great deal of discrimination towards radio station and news broadcast. Apparently, the way news is presented on radio has made certain people to prefer certain stations to others. The researcher’s interaction with various radio listeners in Uyo metropolis formed the basis of interest in the study.

Listeners claimed that there were certain factors that attracted them to particular stations at a time. Based on these claims, it became necessary to ascertain if these claims are true or not.

Above all, it is believed that there is a down turn in radio listenership among adults in Uyo urban which is rooted in the pattern of radio news presentation. The problem of the study therefore is: To what extent does radio news presentation pattern influence listeners’ choice of a radio station in Uyo urban?

  • OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are as follows:

  1. To find out extent to which the pattern of AKBC, Uniuyo FM, Atlantic FM and Planet FM radio news presentation could influence listeners choice of stations in Uyo.
  2. To examine the effect of radio news presentation pattern on listeners understanding of the messages.
  3. To determine if radio news listeners are gratified by the messages they listen to.
  4. To examine the reason for the listener’s choice of a particular radio station’s news content.
    • RESEARCH QUESTIONS
  5. To what extent does the pattern of radio news presentation on AKBC, Uniuyo FM, Atlantic FM and Planet FM radio news presentation could influence listener’s choice of stations in Uyo?
  6. What are the effects of radio news presentation pattern on listeners understanding of the messages?
  7. In what ways are radio news listeners gratified by the messages they listen to?
  8. What reasons do radio listeners put forward for their choice of a particular station’s news presentation?
    • SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of the study is based on the following:

The study will help editors of radio news to know the demographic issues of their listeners especially the adult. This study will unearth the various problems the Nigeria adult grapple with in the process of listening to news on radio.

The study is also significant because it will sensitize radio news editors to comprehend the psychological dispositions of adults for effective information dissemination. The research will entirely inform media organization and government in the formulation of policies relating to the information and intellectual development of adult news listeners.

Though research has been conducted in similar areas in the academia, no substantial research has been carried on radio news presentation pattern and its influence on the listeners’ choice on radio stations in Uyo Urban. This study is therefore significant because it will obviously add to the existing stock of knowledge in the administrative service of media organizations, policy formulation and government at large.

  • DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study focuses on radio news presentation on AKBC, Uniuyo FM, Atlantic FM and Planet FM Uyo as these are the only radio stations in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The study is restricted to the adult population of Uyo urban between the ages of 18 and above.

The study incorporates mature adult residents in Uyo urban. However, much as it would have been good to expand the scope to increase disparity for comparison, consistency and accuracy, it was not expedient to go beyond this scope.

  • LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The uncooperative and discriminatory attitudes of radio listeners brought on by the fear of being misquoted constituted a major constraint to the study. The work was also limited by paucity of information and documented reports on the subject. The lack of interest prevalent in media persons who wrongly interpret the topic because of its expository nature puts a limitation on the study against its furthering. Much as these limitations were present, they did not exert an undue influence nor invalidate the outcome of the study.

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