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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

The potency of radio has given credence to its use as a tool for grassroot development. Nwuneli (1986), explains that after a decade of research on the relationship between various media of mass communication and socio-economic variables, it is now a generally held belief among development communication scholars that broadcasting particularly radio- could be the most effective media for transferring information on various social change programmes from government and other institutions to the masses living in the developing nations of the world of which Nigeria is a part.

Radio seems to have an edge over the other media of communication, Nwuneli (1986) vividly paints a picture with these comparisons; the print media has to contend with the problem of high illiteracy and as such is considered limited to educated people in urban areas as opposed to radio’s flexibility in language use and wide coverage.

The cost of purchasing a television automatically excludes many Nigerian’s from the use of the medium as opposed to radio which is affordable, available and portable. Thus, exposure to radio is far greater and effective than any other mass medium due to the fact that radio lends itself to the predominant oral culture of the people. He further asserts that this is true especially if programmes are produced in the predominant local language of the target audience.

Moemeka (1998, P133) revealed that “the UNESCO declared in 1957 that there was convincing  evidence from projects in many parts of the world , that the mass media can be effectively applied to the development of resources to meet basic economic, social, political, educational, and cultural needs of the nations. These efforts were of course centred on the use of radio”

Nsi (1993) reinforces the above when he articulates that there is something about radio that makes it appropriate for integrated rural development. He reviewed rural development in the light if self help efforts through radio programmes on; farming, education, flow of information, and health care, including the much needed family planning programmes and not as the need to focus only on the government efforts at providing rural areas with necessary infrastructure.

Moemeka (1981, P42), adds that  “ in the performance of its task, radio feeds the people with information about what is likely to be, thus making it possible for individuals and communities to re-adjust themselves in ways best suited to their situations.  The role of radio and its programming in development has been evident over the years even at present.

Enugu state broadcasting service (ESBS) was established for effective information dissemination in all parts of the state. It was to bridge the information gap between the ruralites and urban areas and to stimulate interest between government and rural folks. This is the reason for dedicated rural economic programmes like ESBS/IMT UNIAIR etc. These programmes exist in electronic media but nothing has been done to ascertain the effect that would justify the relevance of these programmes. It is in the light of the above that this study is designed to measure the effectiveness of ESBS economic programmes among dwellers of Agbani community of Enugu state.

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