By Bihongoye Erica (42535)

A Brief History of Radio and TV Broadcasting in Africa

Radio is by far the dominant and most important mass medium in

Africa. Its flexibility, low cost, and oral character meet Africa's situation very

Well. Yet radio is less developed in Africa than it is anywhere else.

 There are relatively few radio stations in each of Africa's 53 nations and fewer radio sets per head of population than anywhere else in the world.

Radio remains the top medium in terms of the number of people that it reaches.

Even though television has shown considerable growth (especially in the 1990s) and despite a widespread liberalization of the press over the same period, radio still outstrips both television and the press in reaching most people on the continent. The main exceptions to this ate in the far

South, in South Africa, where television and the press are both very strong, and in the Arab north, where television is now the dominant medium. South of the Sahara and north of the Limpopo River, radio remains dominant at the start of the 21St century.

There is much variation between African countries in access to and use of radio.

The weekly reach of radio ranges from about 50 percent of adults in the poorer countries to virtually everyone in the more developed ones. But even in some poor countries the reach of radio can be very high. In Tanzania, for example, nearly nine out of ten adults listen to radio in an average week. High figures for radio use contrast sharply with those for India or Pakistan, for example, where less than half the population is reached by Radio.

There have been three distinct phases in the development of radio since the first

South African broadcasts in 1924. The first phase was the colonial or settler period,

When radio was primarily a medium brought in to serve the settlers and the interests of the colonial powers. Later (and in many cases not until toward the end of colonial rule) the authorities gradually introduced radio services by and for indigenous people.

The earliest broadcasts on the continent were in South Africa. In Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, three organizations - a private dub, an advertising group, and a local authority - were granted licenses to 3 broadcasts. Taken over by an entrepreneur who, after some difficulty, moved the stations toward Commercial viability. They sought and invited John Reith, the BBC's first director-general, to come to South Africa. 1934 and help them devise a national public service form of broadcasting.