AUDIENCE ASSESSMENT OF “AVE YA KA EBIRA DERE”PROGRAMME ON TAO FM STATION IN PROMOTING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE IN EBIRA LAND

AUDIENCE ASSESSMENT OF “AVE YA KA EBIRA DERE”PROGRAMME ON TAO FM STATION IN PROMOTING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE IN EBIRA LAND

Abstract:

This study was undertaken to evaluate the success of theprogramme“Ave YaKaEbiraDere”on Tao FM station in promoting the indigenous Ebira Language Adavi, Ajaokuta, Okehi and Okene Local Government areas based on the assessment of the audience. The study was based on the following objectives: to identify the factors that attract the audience to the programme, to document the audience‟s assessment of the programme, to identify the kind of information received by the audience of the programme and toexamine the areas the audience expect improvement on the programme.In conducting the study, survey was conducted with a sample of 384 respondents, focus group discussions were also used to gather data from the audience of the programme.The Uses and Gratification theory was used as a framework for the study being an audience based theory which suggests media users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use. Findings reveal that theaudience are drawn to theprogrammeby its mode of presentation. Also, majority of the respondents (65.5%) believe that the programme is successful in its objectives of promoting the Ebira Language and encouraging the youth to speak it in the traditional way. The findings also showed that the audience learn various things such as new words, expressions and proverbs among others from the programme and most importantly they are learning how to speak the Ebira language correctly. However the audience expect that the programme will bring in more avenues for audience participation and have a repeat broadcast.The study concludes that the programmeAve YaKaEbiraDere to a large extent has been successful in its objectives as well as meeting the needs of the target audience as regards the EbiraLangauge. Among the recommendations made in the study is that the radio station embarks on constant programme evaluation and audience research to ensure its relevance and sustainability. Also, a repeat broadcast of the programme would be an added advantage for it. It was also recommended that more audience participation is required to ensure effectiveness

AUDIENCE ASSESSMENT OF “AVE YA KA EBIRA DERE”PROGRAMME ON TAO FM STATION IN PROMOTING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE IN EBIRA LAND