Abstract:
The didactic role of radio can not be overemphasized. However, vernacular FM radio stations in Kenya have variously been accused of employing untrained personnel including comedians, disc jockeys and beauty queens who compromise professionalism. Meanwhile, Inooro FM, a vernacular station airs “Hutia Mundu” programme which is inclined towards family life education. The objectives of this study were to find out whether Inooro FM serves as a medium of family life education, identify the training needs of the station‟s staff, establish whether the programme sets a family life agenda and identify its uses and gratifications. This study‟s literature review covered the history and role of media, technological changes, language and media campaigns. This was a descriptive study that used an interpretive approach. Methods used were the programme content study, face-to-face interviews with two key Inooro FM staff, focus group discussions (FGDs) and questionnaires administered to the programme listeners. The study‟s total target population was Central Province‟s population of 4,383,743 out of which 47.3% or 2,081,200 listen to Inooro FM. Purposive sampling was used to select four FGDs participants comprising 6 married men, 6 married women, 6 unmarried men and 6 unmarried women, choosing the programme content aired in April, 2011 and selecting the station‟s staff, and convenience sampling to select 150 individual listeners from three counties, Kiambu, Murang‟a and Nyeri. Content was analysed using a family life thematic coding sheet. Individual listeners‟ responses were analysed using Indicative Solutions. The study‟s findings were that the programme covered all the ten family life themes with greatest emphasis on communication, abuse and finances, that the programme set an agenda for two themes, sex and communication which were most remembered by the FGDs and the programme was educative according to more than 90% respondents. It was also described as entertaining, counseling, advisory and therapeutic. The programme was however, critiqued for occasionally offering „questionable advice,‟ being gender biased, causing embarrassment and demonstrating shortcomings in Kikuyu language expertise. The study concludes that „‟Hutia Mundu‟‟ plays an important role in sensitizing the target audience on different family life themes. The study recommends that the station could do even better by understanding, respecting and utilizing the target audience‟s cultural traditions, norms and values, invest in improving Kikuyu language expertise and journalism skills with an emphasis on ethics through training, and apply culturally appreciated communicative formats such as storytelling, riddles, proverbs, songs and drama in its educative campaigns.
