Audience Survey on Use of Radio in Post-War Peacemaking

These survey results are some of the first ever to report the Rapid Survey Method, a surveying method intended to be suitable for use in war-disrupted circumstances. The purpose of the survey itself was, among other things, to understand the demographics, proportions, and habits of listeners to Common Ground Production’s Talking Drum Studio (TDS). At the time when the survey was conducted, in February of 1998, TDS had been active in Liberia for approximately eight months, and the studio’s output had leveled out at around 15 new program hours per week. The rationale for undertaking an audience survey during February 1998 was two-fold. First, the longer-term goal was to build indigenous survey capacity that could provide audience information at all stages, from the time of up-front situation mapping and program planning to follow-up evaluation. Secondly, the immediate purpose of the Liberia survey was to gather information on the general patterns of radio listening, plus specific data on listener reactions to TDS programs. The survey results highlighted the strong and positive audience perceptions of the TDS programs, which is evident by both the levels of listenership but also audience awareness of the issues addressed in TDS radio programming.
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