PART A: TECHNOLOGY & INFRASTRUCTURE
Radio development is propelled by a technology framework which is appropriate: efficient, effective and cost-beneficial.
To get the optimal benefit of technology, radio management must ensure a maintenance culture and an industrial alertness which guarantees appreciation of developments in technology and acquisition of those best suited to the environment.
Experience of technology development across Africa has taught that importation of radio broadcasting equipment leads to maintenance difficulties and keeps the African CR sector in a state of dependency on developed countries. Fortunately, local initiatives exist in the manufacture of radio equipment, but they have not been encouraged nor appreciably patronized by local broadcasting managers.
Convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting and the computer with the accompanying skills and services which emerged with it have given a broader definition to technology and led to new ways of doing business and interacting with society. All these come to the eternal benefit of radio broadcasting, particularly the CR sector.
Optimal development of CR in Nigeria will certainly require key infrastructure, among which are electric power supply and telecommunication services.
CONTENT/PROGRAMMING
The programming in Nigerian radio broadcasting has its roots in a philosophy (of the Empire Service of the BBC in the 1930s) which was decidedly paternalistic and tightly controlled by the state. Its end was to mobilize support for Britain’s war effort, Counter Nazi propaganda and assist the continued colonial hegemony of Britain in the colonies.
Under the control of post-colonial authorities after independence in 1960, radio was projected as a tool for national development. Radio programming began to emphasize the development process of the newly independent country: teaching basic literacy; assisting in health campaigns; innovative agricultural practices, stressing national unity, etc.
However, the general philosophical ambience of programming in the colonial period continued. The flow was still top - down and the context almost always elitist.
The ambience had a limiting influence on the ability of programmes to be adventurous or move beyond a boundary determined largely by policy, accepted practices over a long period and the traditions of self-censorship in the context of an ill-defined professionalism.
In fairness, the radio broadcasting practitioners demonstrated enthusiasm to make the best use of the medium, to make major contribution to the development of radio programming. But the long years of military rule characterized by unusual attention to and tighter control on broadcasting ensured that no dividends emerged on this front.
The re-organization of broadcasting by government in 1978 and the further proliferation of states broadcasting corporations, led to the evolution of a new programming philosophy called Grassroots Broadcasting (GRB). The new stations in the different states endeavored to programme for the different communities in their state, using local language and often bringing into the studios the local talents of the areas.
This new format was a major advancement in the several development of programming in Nigerian broadcasting. But the wreakers remained in the authoritarian hold of the Nigerian state on the medium of radio, especially in the context of military dictatorship that held the country literally ransom for a long time.
The result is today a plethora of painful developments: airing of rural/community development issues on radio (state and private) attracts high financial charges; in most cases, they are usually 30-minute per week programmes and only in rare cases do radio stations produce or originate programmes aired by them.
Other problems are presentation in formats which many rural listeners have described as “not entertaining”, poor signal reception in remote locations; unsuitable language of presentation, especially for minority language groups, and inappropriate scheduling of programmes, among others. |
