THE ROLE OF RADIO BROADCAST IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT OF IKEDURU LGA

1.1 Introduction

Radio is one of the electronic media used for creating awareness and mobilizing people to support government’s programme and policies, thereby contributing a quota in rural area development. Rural development as a socio-economic phenomenon, is not as new as the current emphasis it appears to portray, it is as old as the rural communities itself. The rate of rural development has been so slow that it has been unnoticed or neglected for many decades of studies in rural development have shown that Radio has been looked upon as the sole agent for change and development in the rural areas. Therefore Radio has played a positive role in the rural area development situations.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of the Study

This study, the role of radio broadcasting in rural development is however concerned with an attempt to examine how, rural development programmes can be effectively organized and implemented at the local government or grassroots level in any, communities in Imo state and Nigerian using Imo state media as a case study.

However, an in – depth research reveal that within Imo state media, there is an intensive use of amplitude modulation and frequency modulation, station, of Imo state broadcasting service to create awareness for the rural development programme under broadcasting media.

This project is a study on Radio as an effective tool for social development in Nigerian rural areas. In tracing the history of electronic media in Nigeria, radio was introduced in 1933 as the first medium by then post and telegraphic department of Britain. In December 1935, wired broadcasting was commissioned in Lagos known as Radio Distribution Services (RDS). By the end of 1949, stations were created in many parts of the country. In 1952, Nigeria Radio Broadcasting Service (NBS) was commissioned by Sir John Stuart Macpherson. In order to enjoy Radio services by the people, the country was divided into three regions and each of them did promote the culture and customs of the people in the area. This served to promote the role or impact of radio in effective communication.

Radio serves as a social control measure to the society especially in the rural areas in Nigeria. It creates awareness as well as enlightens those in the rural areas on government’s programmes and projects. The Radio is a source of valuable information to all members of the society and of course to those inhabiting the rural areas. The electronic media especially the radio are a source of valuable information on the development efforts of the government to the people in the rural setting. Radio is a means of socialization to all and it is particularly beneficial to those in the grassroots level who may solely depend on it.

Rural development of any kind in any places can only be meaning activated through a well – planned and executed complex interaction of many economic and non – economic variable. The major role of press (Imo state media) is usually to highlight and examine problem and issued that need to be understood and tackled to achieve rural development or improve the quality of life for the rural dwellers. The Imo state media should also help maintain the much needed regular two way communications between the poor or marginalized rural dwellers and thru urban cities especially the government or those who hold political power.

Imo state media's news, feature and soon have so long be recognized as efficacious packaged for rural development especially when they are well prepared and the press writers should know how to prepare them. The press should focus more specially on how we can better develop and use rural (RADIO) for development and for the mobilization of the much neglected and discard rural dwellers in the primitive and interior part of Imo state.

Therefore, in Imo State where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Role of Radio Broadcast in Community Development of Ikeduru Local Government Area.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Radio has forever time stood out as a major dialogue initiator, temperament respondent and untiring arbitrator. The link therefore between radio, the rural community, agriculture and development cannot be over emphasized. The nature of life in most rural communities need basic life necessities like food, shelter, clothing, all mainly got from agriculture. It is therefore important that the agricultural sector is developed, in order to develop the rural areas. The pivotal role of rural broadcasting therefore becomes handy.

However, rural Radio signifies a two way process, which entails the exchange of views from various sources and the adaptation of media for use by the communities. It allows members of a community to gain access to information, education and entertainment and offers an opportunity for the community to participate actively in the media as planners, producers and performers. It is the means of expression of the community rather than for the community. It is different from urban radio in that it is directed specifically to rural people and to their information needs.

Community participation is a fundamental characteristic of rural radio live public shows, villages debates and participation in the actual management of the radio station are just a few examples. This approach empowers rural people to participate in the dialogue and decision – making processes essential for them to control their own economic, social and cultural environment and play an active part in development activities.

Besides, the problem is ignorance, but most of the time the problem is either lack of or insufficient orientation or sensitization of those officers to the special philosophies, needs, techniques and approaches for preparing news, article and features towards achieving rural development objectives.

Furthermore, the other problem of the role of press in achieving its aim in rural development at Amoli is because of the high illiterates factor among the rural dwellers and the problems of overcoming geographical and language barriers.

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1.4 Aim and Objective of the Study

The aim of the study is to scrutinize the Role of Radio Broadcast in Community Development of Ikeduru LGA using My FM in Imo State as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To identify major problems that slow down community development in the rural areas and how radio broadcasting contributes to the increase in the pace of development.
2. To identify what other future measures could be adopted in order to stimulate increasing impact of radio communication on community development.
3. To identify the role of radio for social development in Community Development of Ikeduru Local Government Area.
4. To determine how radio has educate and enlighten the dwellers of Ikeduru.
5. To determine the effectiveness of radio in creating awareness and educating the rural dwellers on Community Development of Ikeduru Local Government Area.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does the use of radio programme broadcast hasten the passage of message from government to the people of Ikeduru?
• Does Imo State broadcast officers have direct contact with rural people when they chart and interview the dwellers of Ikeduru?
• Is rural broadcast media aware of the difference between the local traditional process of disseminating information through town criers and the radio information broadcasting?
• Has the rural broadcaster bring government thinking and policies nearer to the rural people on hourly bases?
• What are the broadcast media activities transformed the lives of the dwellers of Ikeduru by their changes of life style?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

• H₀1: Broadcast media do not activities transformed the lives of the dwellers of Ikeduru by their changes of life style.
• H₀2: The use of radio programme broadcast do not hastens the passage of message from government to the people of Ikeduru.
• H₀3: Rural broadcast officers do not have direct contact with rural people when they chart and interview the dwellers of Ikeduru.
• H₀4: Rural broadcast media are not aware of the difference between the local traditional process of disseminating information through town criers and the radio information broadcasting.

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1.7 Signification of the Study

The significance of this project is to provide a reliable panacea through which press, Imo state media should ensure in alleviating about 80% rural dwellers that have been seriously neglected in the government affairs.

The project will also be very important to the researcher academics and also Imo state broadcasting service and rural dwellers. It will be either helpful guiding the press in netting and connecting such issues as health, agriculture, education, culture, family planning, government, and religion.

This research topic is very timely and of great importance because the main them in national development is to mobilize our diverse human and material resources in order to transform our physical environment for the good of our people and one significant way to achieve this is through rural development.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Role of Radio Broadcast in Community Development of Ikeduru LGA using My FM Radio Station in Imo State as a case study.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

• Press: It includes the prints and electric media tools such as the radio, newspaper, television, magazine and periodical usually done by the journalist.
• Development: It means developing or being developed. The process of encouraging new mentions and industries to create jobs for the people.
• Case: It means the instance or example of occurrence of something the action state of occurrence of situation.
• Study: Process of gaining knowledge of a subject that needs investigation.
• Media: The means of communication such as television, newspaper, magazine and radio.