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Africans still love their radios (SciDev.net)

The 7th World Conference of Science Journalists was held recently in Qatar. During the conference, Joseph Warungu, editor of African News and Current Affairs at the BBC World Service, spoke about the continued importance of radio to Africans. While many people are now obsessed with social media, radio still plays a key role in Africa. 

In a workshop held at the conference, Mr. Warungu said, “In Africa, radio is still much alive. As the African urban elite are held in traffic jams — to and from work, every morning and every evening – it’s the radio that keeps them company and feeds them with news, information and entertainment.”

‘Even my old grandmother in deep rural Kenya knows where to get the knob and tune the radio for her latest news and information needs.”

He added, “Radio will remain a big force to reckon with in Africa, as it’s the most widely-used, it’s handy, reaches the widest audiences, and is cheaper to use. It’s not threatened by the other new internet-based media growth.”

For more blogs on the conference, visit, http://scidevnet.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/africans-still-love-their-radios/ [1]

The conference website: http://www.wcsj2011.org/ [2]