Traditional Media and New Technologies: Facebook Radio Programming in Uganda

Abstract

Digital technologies have transformed the media sector at the global level and influenced trends in Africa, particularly the broadcasting media sector in Uganda. The liberalisation of the broadcasting sector in Uganda and the rise in digital technologies, including mobile phones and the Internet, facilitates a convergence of the traditional radio medium and new media including social media. Traditional media including radio stations have adopted both digital and analogue broadcasting to remain accessible and relevant to their audience. To encourage this bond with their listeners, radio stations rely on traditional radio broadcasts, and many add-ons from other new media, including websites and Facebook live streams, as well as inviting listeners to call-in and answer quiz questions. Using the affordance perspective as the analytical framework, this chapter assesses how Facebook has been used in programming and how it has influenced programming. Through direct observation and in-depth interviews, this chapter explores the use of Facebook in radio programming in Uganda. The focus is on a commercial radio station––94.8XFM—where it was established that Facebook is critical to traditional radio programming in connecting with the audience, interact/engage with audience, identifying niche audiences, and interacting with the audience through multi-media content production. The audience now has a new user experience of producing and consuming radio content through a networked social media fan base; localised publishing of news and information on the radio station’s page. The Facebook platform is contributing to the station’s revenue base through advertising and promotion of products and services online.