Audience Research

How successful is Change Radio?

After almost 3 years of production, it was important to do an evaluation of Change Radio (CR) to assess its’ impact and determine from the target audience if CR was successfully meeting information needs in the region. 

The project mandated Research & Marketing Services (RMS), Nigeria’s only internationally recognized research company (associated with Gallup Poll), to carry out a quantitative and qualitative evaluation.  A total of 5 in-depth interviews were held with seasoned radio producers around the country, and 146 questionnaires were completed. The findings were very satisfactory.

The evaluation revealed that respondents were satisfied with CR’s depth of coverage and the content was judged informative, educational, thorough, credible, interesting and relevant to its’ audience -- 97% of the respondents expressed satisfaction with the script and 11% complained that the script was too short.  The language was liked, as it was simple and devoid of technical jargon. 

The respondents complained that the circulation was not wide enough, the production should be increased to twice rather than once monthly, the mail system was too slow, the script was too short, and that the glossary was repetitive (68% of respondents requested for the script to be produced every fortnight). 

There was also a request for more local content news, and that more articles should deal with issues such as women empowerment, desertification, pollution and sewage handling, health and African fashion trends.

Lastly the respondents confirmed that they used the scripts in news bulletins, magazine programs, quizzes, and sometimes in documentaries and dramas, as well as for program fillers.  All four-language versions were applauded and favourably perceived.  Three television stations expressed their continued interest in the script and requested for an audiovisual version.  Lastly, an encouraging share pattern was unveiled by the research as respondents admitted to sharing the scripts with colleagues, friends, visitors, children and their family members.

As a result of the research findings, the script is being produced with slightly longer articles, and more focus is being placed on gender and health issues.  The glossary was dropped, and technical concepts are described in the body of the text.