Radio Management for Development: The Case of Orisun FM

The power of the mass media to influence public opinion enables them to facilitate positive change and development in the society. However, there has been an extensive intellectual criticism of the discriminatory disposition of broadcasting authorities in Nigeria towards majority of the population resident in the rural areas. For communication scholars, one viable way Nigeria can achieve meaningful national development is through the integration of its peoples by the establishment of mass media at the grassroots. Of all the channels of mass communication, radio is widely acknowledged as the most suitable for community development. This study therefore used Orisun FM, a local community radio station located in Ile-Ife, Osun state as case study. The aim was to find out the contributions of the radio station to the development of Ile Ife. Questionnaire was designed for data collection. The data gathered showed that the radio station, which is owned by the state government is contributing significantly to the development of the community. The station does this by helping to meet the development needs of the community residents in such areas as health, the economy, education and agriculture. Nevertheless, as long as the radio station is seen as the property of the state government, members of the community do freely access the radio station. This situation hampers audience participation in the station’s programmes. The study recommends therefore that there is a need to for government to amend the management style of radio broadcasting in order to encourage communities to establish and run their own radio stations.