Understanding listener engagement with the community radio station of BAU, sabour

Introduction

The era of conventional communication methods is rapidly diminishing. With the growing dominance of television and the Internet, and the evolving influence of newspapers and magazines in terms of their style and format, radio has adopted multiple approaches to remain relevant (Turow, 2019) [6] . Over time, radio programmes have become more varied. In a country like India, where high levels of illiteracy limit the reach of print media, radio serves as a crucial tool for mass communication (Aditya et al., 2014; Kumar, 2020) [1,3] . Due to its wide accessibility and content diversity, it surpasses the press not only in spreading news and opinions but also in providing education, advertisements, and entertainment. Radio's ability to broadcast from even the most remote regions makes it a valuable medium for enriching the cultural awareness of the population (Myers, 2008) [5] . Knowledge and information are two important components of rural development. Farmers benefit more from their local knowledge. New ideas and farming methods, as well as the dissemination of knowledge, can present farmers with fresh prospects. Radio's geographic reach helps reach even the most remote locations in a country like India, where the rural population is 68.84% and the urban population is 31.16% (Anusha et al., 2017) [2] . A network of All India Radio (AIR) stations was established across the country to broadcast agricultural programmes in regional languages. All India Radio (AIR), with its diverse programming and cultural events, serves as a trustworthy information source. In order to develop effective programs for listeners, the audience research wing and other field surveys establish an appropriate environment for figuring out the audience's listening preferences and behaviours.

Materials and Methods

The study was conducted in the purposively selected districts of Bhagalpur and Patna in Bihar, as the two oldest Community Radio Stations (CRS) under BAU, Sabour, are located in these districts. One block from each district, Sabour from Bhagalpur and Barh from Patna were selected purposively, as these are the locations of the CRSs and the coverage range of the CRSs extends to almost every village in these blocks. Subsequently, three villages from each block were randomly selected for the study. From each village, 20 respondents were selected, resulting in a total of 120 respondents across six villages. The data in Table 2 illustrates the listening patterns of the respondents. It was found that the majority of respondents (37.5% each) listened to the radio while simultaneously engaged in work or personal/household tasks, whereas the remaining 25% listened exclusively without multitasking. Results from Table 3 reveal the listening styles of the respondents, showing that the majority (64.2%) prefer to listen alone, while 23.3% enjoy listening with fellow community members, and the remaining 12.5% listen with their family. Data from Table 5 clearly shows that the majority of community radio listeners (43.3%) prefer to listen in the afternoon, followed by 34.2% in the morning and 22.5% in the evening. According to the results in Table 6, 51.7% of listeners identified gaining knowledge as their primary motive for tuning in to community radio. Additionally, 23.3% listen for entertainment, 14.2% to pass the time, and the remaining 10.8% to relieve exhaustion or tension.

Results

Conclusion

The findings on radio listening behaviour revealed a diverse pattern among respondents in terms of frequency, style, timing, duration, and purpose of listening. A considerable www.extensionjournal.com proportion of listeners exhibited medium levels of listening behaviour, indicating that community radio has succeeded in creating a balanced engagement among its audience (Kumbhareet al., 2015) [4] . These results highlight the importance of designing context-specific, participatory, and informative content that resonates with the everyday lives and aspirations of the community, thereby ensuring effective utilization of community radio as a developmental tool.

References

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3. Kumar KJ. Mass communication in India. Mumbai: Jaico Publishing House; 2020.
4. Kumbhare NV, Padaria RN, Singh P, Kumar A, Sarkar S. Community radio: preferences, opinion and listening behaviour of farmers. Indian Journal of Extension Education. 2015;51(3):20-24.
5. Myers M. Radio and development in Africa: a concept paper prepared for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. Ottawa: IDRC; 2008.
6. Turow J. Media today: mass communication in a converging world. 7th ed. New York: Routledge; 2019.