"This report offers an overview of results of an assessment that sought to investigate the audience impact of Internews’ network of five FM radio stations in southern Sudan and two transitional areas that were established to provide their communities with critical information about the peace agree
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ment, the referendum and the resettlement of returning refugees. The five stations are the first community radio stations to be established in these remote parts of Sudan. The results show communities identify strongly with their local station and listen in preference to any other available radio service. This is because they believe the information they will receive is credible, accurate and relevant to their specific community, in their local language. A high percentage of listeners also attribute their knowledge about political processes including the CPA, referendum, popular consultation and elections directly to their local FM station." (Abstract)
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"In Kibera, the biggest slum area in Nairobi and in whole East Africa, the urban slum community radio station Pamoja FM only works for the citizens living within Kibera. We aimed to find out how the youth in Kibera perceive the efficacy of the radio station as a viable source of news and information
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. We wanted to establish how important this radio station is to them as a tool of empowerment and knowledge to the youth. Through semi-structured interviews with the youth in Kibera we carried out a qualitative research study during ten weeks, from October until December in 2011. We walked the field in Kibera to gather as much data as possible, and our findings were very interesting. Key theories used in this study included the participatory communication model, the media dependency model and the uses and gratifications model. The findings indicated that Pamoja FM has a great influence in the community as it is considered the most important source for news and information for the youth in this slum, and provides a platform that meets their needs as active participating audiences to the content supplied by the radio station. The radio is accredited to have changed the citizens´ way of thinking about tribalism since the post-election violence in 2007; the young women have assertively declared their space by playing a more proactive role in the community and audiences are empowered with home-grown problem solving skills that have bettered their lives and in pursuit for peace." (Abstract)
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"Audience research should be an essential part of every broadcasting venture. However, many non-Commercial radio stations hardly do audience research. Often this is due to a lack of human resources and to a large extent also a lack of understanding and awareness of the nature, benefit, and role of a
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udience research. By taking into consideration the special nature of non-Commercial Christian local radio stations in Norway, this research shows how these radio stations can simplify and adapt some of the available research methods to their needs and budget. After discussing, evaluating, and adapting surveys, panel studies, focus groups, and in-depth interviews, two of the methods are tested in two different radio stations. At the end of the discussion, a research toolbox is presented, which provides the stations with a plan for audience research over a three-year period." (Back cover)
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"This report aims to 'assist radio stations to understand formative target audience research and enable them to conduct such research'. The report is primarily based on the experiences with Focus Group Discussions (FGD's) of five South African community radio stations. The publication contains an in
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troduction to the history and situation of community radio stations in South Africa, followed by five detailed case studies. Besides general information about these community radio stations, the case studies picture and quote the opinions of the FGD participants on language use, programme content, listeners' participation, and other topics related to the programme and management of the radio stations they listened to. The publication is not a research guide, but gives concrete examples of the benefits which community radio stations can derive from audience research." (commbox)
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"In 2002 the UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communication ( represented by Sudan Radio & TV Corporation –SRTC) launched a pilot project of Community Radio Listening Groups (CRLGs), designed to reach population in hard to reach areas in the country with messages and de
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velopment information. Gradually the project expanded to cover more sites in northern states of Sudan. This Evaluation was commissioned to assess the extent to which the project delivered promised benefits and involved local participation; and to test the social impacts on the local communities where the project operated." (Page 4)
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"This report presents the results of the first national qualitative research study into Australian community broadcasting audiences. It explores why a significant and increasing number of Australians listen to community radio and/or watch community television, what they value about it, and how it me
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ets their needs. Community broadcasting in Australia began in the early 1970s with the establishment of the first metropolitan community radio stations. Community television is a comparatively recent development dating from the early 1990s. Today, Australian community radio is a mature industry catering to a wide variety of interests. Our study deals with audiences for ‘generalist’ stations in metropolitan and regional Australia and explores responses from two major interest groups — Indigenous and ethnic communities. Audiences for the nascent community television industry provide a further focus." (Executive summary, page 1)
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"Griffith University researchers in 2002 presented the final results of a national survey of community radio stations. The final report ‘Culture Commitment Community – The Australian Community Radio Sector’ contained a wealth of information on the sector and covered many ‘station–based’
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perspectives on issues such as localism, funding and sponsorship, Indigenous and ethnic programming and training. A key criticism of this report was the lack of data on community radio audiences. Two years later, an expanded research team received funding from the Australian Research Council along with financial and in-kind support from Department of Communication, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA), the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF) and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) to investigate community radio and television audiences. This project is the first comprehensive qualitative audience study of the community media sector in Australia and responds to a need within the sector, from policy bodies and the broader Australian community, to better understand community broadcasters and their diverse audiences. Internationally, this project, in both scale and approach, is unprecedented. Thus, it heralds an exciting and pioneering stage in community broadcasting research. This paper outlines the aims and objectives of the project and our methodology for accessing Australian community media audiences. A qualitative engagement with the diversity of audiences characteristic of the community media sector has demanded new ways of doing audience research. This paper discusses some of the methodological hurdles we have crossed in our attempts to negotiate the research terrain and we raise some of the questions associated with the qualitative method and assert its validity and portability as a tool for better understanding and knowing the nature and composition of community media audiences in Australia." (Abstract)
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"The publication was released on the occasion of a community radio management and training course, conducted by the Radio Nederland Training Centre in 2001. The course aimed to "deepen participant's knowledge of research and provide new information, promote emotional work by reflecting on feelings a
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nd attitudes on research, build skills so participants are supposed to be confident in carrying out tasks and activities in audience research after the course." Hence, this is a well structured, concrete guideline for the implementation of three-day workshops, including suggestions for time lines, practice exercises and explanations of methods like in-depth interviews, focus groups and the corresponding, commonly used creative techniques, eg, role-playing games, collages and word association. The focus is on audience research for community radio stations. The guide is more useful for station managers and others who want to train their staff effectively in qualitative and quantitative research methods, but who themselves already have some knowledge about both, than for those who are looking for a research manual or extensive research introductions." (commbox)
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