Radio plays significant role in supporting social development issues in developing nations. In most Third world nations Radio is still the dominant mass-medium. When compared with Television and other mass media, radio has the widest geographical reach and the highest number of audiences in developing countries.
Most of the development issues of the developing nations such as infrastructure development, housing, health, agriculture, education etc… are mainly run by government, and hence, mass media especially radio has a power to disseminate development information, mobilize the society to the realization of development plan, identify problems and recommend solutions to the concerned bodies. Likewise, “Radio becomes a tool, a forum, a dialogue and a process of reinforcing the capabilities of local development institutions enables them to achieve a notion of development as freedom” (Freirean 1972 & 1996 as cited in Simiyu, 2015, …show more content…
Thus, this process enables the citizens to develop legitimate policies by using radio to establish rationally motivated consensus (Ibid)
Characteristics of Radio
Radio is almost a universal medium of communication. It connects the world on short waves in a fraction of a second and jumps to high satellites to put its footprint across a quarter of the globe. It brings that world to those who cannot read and helps maintain a contact for those who cannot see. Radio can reach everywhere as its signals have a power to touch every nook and cranny. This nature made radio to become most popular medium elsewhere (Pradeep, No date). The unique characteristics which make the medium different from other forms of mass media are presented as follows:
Radio makes