ABSTRACT
Radio is one of the viable media of mass communication. Just as communication is the transfer of information from the source to a destination. Presently, for anything to be called communication it must efficiently reach to the source, passing through the specified channel. Undoutfully, there is no way communication could be completed without feedback. It is on this background, that the research deemed it necessary to have a look at the listening habit of students in higher institution of learning particularly the students of Bowen University. The researcher went further to find out what could entice students to listening to the radio programme. In the world today, different radio stations exist, but ability to attract audience listening is what matters, and when this is lacken people turn off their radio. Any time a radio station encounters this, the audience interest wear away as the station’s image is put at stake. It is therefore revealed that for a media house to be successful it needs to work on having the audience in place before planning its programmes.
Due to the heterogeneous nature of the student’s population in the Bowen University which formed my case study, convenient sampling technique was used. In this method, 200 final year students was selected cutting across various faculties of the university from the entire population and this was able to reveal whether students listen more or less to radio programmes.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Radio is an essential mass medium that virtually every member of the society benefits from. Kuewumi (2009) asserts that Radio has radicalized the face of human communication and ultimately become a fixed pointin the daily lives of humans whereby people are informed, taught, nurtured and reformed by way of relaxation,reinvigoration and resuscitation. This he argued, makes radio as a medium of mass communication being constantly sought after by its ardent listeners. Radio is the wireless transmission of signals through free space by electromagnetic radiation of a frequency significantly below that of visible light, in the radio frequency range, from about 30 kHz to 300GHz.
Egbuchulam (2002) defined radio as: a mobilizer anda formidable factor in the new world order in economy, technology and politics. Radio is best described asthe cheapest, safest and the most effective mediumof communication available to man.
According to Onabajo (1999), in the developing world as in Asia and Africa, radio is cheap; it does not cost much compared to television which is expensive. It is also portable i.e. it can be easily transported from one place to another. It is credible as it transmits messages that its listeners hold important. Radio canalso present news as it happens, brings the voices of news makers and artists into the homes of listeners. It also provides dramatic shows and other entertainment, which listeners can visualize even in the absence of visuals. For that reason, radio enjoys the advantage of simultaneity.It requires little effort of its consumers to comprehend its message. It is a good companion that entertains andinforms its listeners.
