Does African oral tradition lend itself well to radio?
Africa is the continent of oral tradition. Radio relies heavily on oral tradition because it is the medium of the spoken word. Also, we often work with storytellers, village heads and “griots” who know how to speak to the people. So are we talking about two-minute or two-hour broadcasts? There are rarely two-hour broadcasts. For the most part, there are short programs and all radio styles are used. This includes advertising, public service announcements and press releases, reporting, round table discussions, public affairs shows and even radio plays. The rural stations are somewhat specialized in these types of broadcasts and if you want to deal with a major theme in depth, then you will produce a round table discussion or debate, which will be broadcast on the radio and then re-broadcast in several languages. If we want to repeatedly drive home a message over the course of a year, we’ll use “spots” over the course of a month. In your opinion, what is the future of rural radio and tele
