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RURAL RADIO IN EGYPT: ITS PROMISE AND PERFORMANCE (COMMUNICATION, NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT)

This study assesses the achievements of Egyptian rural radio broadcasting in light of the promises held for it and explores the forces that contribute to the low popularity of its programs. The factors which have hindered the performance of rural radio include societal infrastructure, media system operations, characteristics of rural communicators, and the content of messages. / Multiple data resources were relied upon in the conduct of the study. To identify how rural radio's performance was assessed in the past, available literature on the topic was reviewed. To evaluate current performance, the researcher visited People's Program Station at Cairo, Middle Delta Radio at Tanta, and Northern Upper Egypt Radio at El-Menia. The 3 general directors and all 33 communicators who worked in rural programs at the three stations were interviewed during the fall of 1983. Finally, programs of a typical day during November, 1984, at Cairo and Tanta stations were analyzed. / The study concludes that Egypt's difficult societal circumstances and constraints imposed by current operation processes have limited the performance of rural radio. Furthermore, dissimilarities between rural communicators' social backgrounds and their audiences, as well as the former's modest qualifications, moderate levels of job satisfaction and somewhat condescending attitudes toward rural people, all appear to have weakened rural programming services. Specific programs designed for rural audiences tend to be highly fragmented and overly urban in terms of content and choice of guest presenters. The relevance of such broadcasts to rural listeners is further undermined by monotonous program formats emphasizing interviews of experts and a reliance on classical rather than colloquial Arabic. / The study offers some recommendations for enhancing rural radio's performance in the future. Suggestions include heightened attention and political commitment to rural radio on the part of Egypt's development planners, the involvement of different social sectors in more unified strategies to meet villagers' needs, and various internal reforms within the radio stations themselves, including the initiation of more opportunities for staff training and promotion, and a thorough revision of current programming patterns to maximize their appeal and service to rural listeners. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-03, Section: A, page: 0700. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75785
ContributorsELGINDI, IBTESSAM A., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format322 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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