Media Campaigns - Radio (WU)

As the media are part of the lives of many people (BURKE 1999), they can give a basis for public discussion and the reconsidering of norms. Case studies show that the media can have an immense educating impact on the public opinion and behaviour (BURKE 1999). Also, the media can influence the decision makers indirectly, when the public gets aware of a topic and applies pressure (WATERAID 2007). The media play also an important role in advocacy work.

Summarised the media are useful for the following reasons (WATERAID 2007):

• Change public attitudes and behaviour
• Inform the public about your issue and proposed solutions
• Recruit allies among the public and decision-makers
• Raise money for your cause
• Get your issue onto the political public agenda
• Make your issue visible and credible in policy debate
• Influence decision-makers and opinion leaders

As the central aim is to spread information and raise awareness (see PPT) of SSWM and so change people’s attitudes, your target group are people in rural and urban areas who have no or few information about the topic. Radio reaches a very wide audience.

The main actors of a radio campaign can come from the local level: You can just call the local radio station and ask if they are interested in your topic. The station might help you, as well as local NGOs, to get a recorder and make up an interesting broadcast.

It is also possible to reach nationwide radio stations: you can try to involve local decision makers to support the application and then ask directly at the stations if they want to broadcast your campaign. Search for media lists of NGOs to get the contacts.

Radio campaigns are an efficient tool to influence the public opinion because radio reaches a wider audience than any other medium, and is accessible to people who are otherwise isolated by geography, conflict, illiteracy or poverty (WATERAID & WSSCC 2003). The involvement of the public will increase the decision makers’ attention to the water and sanitation topic and it will also influence social norms directly. According to this, radio campaigns can have a direct effect on the public attitude and behaviour (WATERAID 2007).

Radio also has the power to motivate people by building on oral traditions like songs, which help to get to the peoples heart (WATERAID & WSSCC 2003). In addition, radio listening can be a group activity, which encourages the discussion of educational issues after the broadcast (BURKE 1999).

Community radio stations can play a significant role in increasing participation and opinion sharing, improving and diversifying knowledge and skills and in catering to health and cultural needs (WATERAID 2007). To learn more about other media campaigns, see also internet and email, video, or posters and flyers.

The following six steps are the main ones for developing a media campaign. The questions posed will guide you through your planning (adapted from FOCUS 2006):

Step 1: Define your audience: Whom do you want to reach with your message? Can you reach this audience within available resources? Do you know enough about your audience to select effective messages and channels of communication?

Step 2: Set clear objectives: What is your overall goal? Do your plans fit with other activities and plans in the community? Have you identified your objectives?

Step 3: Define channels and vehicles for communication: Which channel is the best to use for your targets?

• Raise awareness (see PPT)/spread information: accessible media with broad reach (radio)
• Change attitudes: channels with emotional impact (television, radio)
• Model specific skills: television works best because of sound, sight, and motion
• Change public opinion: look for news coverage via editorials, news interviews
• Complex message: print presentations

Step 4: Identify effective messages: Have you chosen a message for your audience that has the right message content (or theme)? Does the message have the right tone (light or heavy) and the right appeal (rational or emotional)? Would using humour or fear be appropriate and effective?
Any message you choose should pass the ‘’What? So What? Now What?’ Test:

• ‘What?’ refers to the basic information being conveyed
• ‘So What?’ addresses the reasons or benefits for action
• ‘Now What?’ clearly defines some desirable and productive action

Step 5: Implement your campaign: What work needs to be done? Have you made a timeline? When and how long will you run your campaign, and with what intensity? When will you contact the media channels you have selected, obtain the messages you selected in the format required? Have you set out a work plan that defines required tasks, the people responsible and the timing?

Step 6: Evaluate your campaign: Does your campaign track coverage (process indicators)? Does it generate additional media coverage? Can you see changes in knowledge or attitudes (outcome indicators)? Are there any letters or phone calls with questions on the topic?

• Find out if the radio is the right media to reach your targets. Many rural communities now have access to radio, and some read national newspapers on a daily basis. Urban, industrialised populations may be more easily influenced through television, while professional audiences may respond to articles in key publications and periodicals (WATERAID & WSSCC 2003).
• If the radio campaign is part of an overall media campaign, it could be beneficial to use a corporate slogan that is recognisable within all kinds of used media. Make sure you use identical information in all media.
• Radio campaigns are a cheap method to spread information, but they should be deliberate, in particular they need to be basic and memorable for anyone with any education.
• For making a broadcast you will need a recorder. It is also possible to borrow one at a radio station. Maybe you can also make the broadcast there.
• Radio campaigns should be a part of a wider communication process that encompasses other awareness raising instruments. Radio campaigns can achieve your objectives even better combined with other media, awareness raising and communication tools in the SSWM Toolbox.
• Radio is a one-way medium and most people cannot listen again to a show or ask for information to be repeated. To avoid this, telephone calls or letters with questions on the campaign should be enabled to make it a two-way medium.
• Many people lack access to radios, electricity or the batteries to power them (WATERAID 2007). Therefore, radio campaigns need to be appealing and burning themselves into one’s memory at the first listening. (See also radio lead-in for further information.)
• Check religious background of the specific area before planning the radio campaign. The campaign can lean on religious issues but should definitely not break with any religious rites.
• The title and opening line of a presentation are important, since they will determine whether you attract the attention of listeners (WHO 2008). See also sociocultural issues.

There are lots of ways to create a radio campaign: Short on-off programmes can be broadcast to highlight or explain particular issues, whereas series of programmes give a longer period for the introduction of a set of ideas (BURKE 1999). Below you can find seven different ideas how to make an appealing radio campaign for your issue.

Participation, local and community radio (BURKE 1999): Individual radio programmes can be made with the direct involvement of poorer people, through interviews, phone-in programmes, letters, or recordings of outside events. Involving members of the audience in broadcasting itself, building up local content, and enhancing the relevance of programmes is not just good developmental practice — it can make for better radio as well. Most people are able to speak on radio eloquently after only minimal instruction, so community radio provides a means to voice local concerns, as well as a way to reach people with messages.

Soap operas and serial dramas (BURKE 1999): Good serial dramas and soap operas can make a considerable impact. Soul City’s multimedia serial dramas in South Africa have been positively evaluated; a real difference in people’s attitudes and behaviour on the health issues being covered through the serial was identified. Similar results come out of the BBC Afghan programme. One of the key components in each case is high quality staff, with media experience and close working relationships with development specialists. The main benefit of soap operas is, that they allow the repetition of educational messages (SCHAAP et al. 2002).

Radio spots with traditional songs: Radio has the power to motivate people by building on oral traditions (WATERAID & WSSCC 2003). To carry a message a radio-spot can for example rely on traditional songs as well as a composition of sanitation messages, like in the UNICEF’s Saniya Project in Burkina Faso (SCHAAP & VAN STEENBERGEN 2001).

Infomercial (SCHAAP & VAN STEENBERGEN 2001): Infomercial are two-minute animations that dramatise an issue (e.g. germs) and show the audience a solution sequence.

Break-bumpers (SCHAAP & VAN STEENBERGEN 2001): Break bumpers are five-second messages that promote core-behavioural changes, for example, “Did you wash your hands today?”

Interviews (WHO 2008): Hosts and hostesses of talk shows are almost always looking for people to interview on radio. Just call up your local radio station and suggest someone for an interview. Some information about interviews is listed below (WATERAID & WSSCC 2003):

• Pre-recorded interview: Allows you to think about your replies and to begin again if you make a mistake. However, you cannot control how they edit the interview.
• Live interviews: What you say is used for sure, but you will need more confidence in your responses to get it right first time. Do not tell anything confidential.
• Decide beforehand what your key points are (keep it to a small number) and make sure that you make these points somewhere in the interview.
• Prepare a few ‘sound bites’ (next point) in advance, they will help to make your statements memorable. Humour is also a good way to make your case without appearing aggressive and is more likely to make the public remember you.

Sound bites (WHO 2008): When you have only a few seconds in front of a microphone, you need to use memorable phrases — sound bites — that will stay with your audience long after you have left. The sound bites should capture and communicate the one key message you want to leave with the audience, if they remember nothing else.

Some sound bite examples (WHO 2008):

• 2.6 billion people (41% of the global population) lack access to sanitation.
• 88% of all diarrhoeal deaths are attributed to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
• Hand washing with soap is estimated to reduce the risk of contracting diarrhoeal diseases by 42-47%.
• 11% increase in girls’ enrolment mainly due to the provision of sanitary latrines.