Preferences and Perceptions of Listeners on 101.5 FM ‘Radyo Agripinoy

Abstract

The study aimed to characterize the respondents; determine the history and profile of the station; determine the socio-demographic characteristics of the listeners; determine the respondents’ listenership profile; determine the respondents’ reasons for listening to the radio station; identify the preferred radio programs of the respondents; determine the respondents’ perceptions of the radio programs; identify the information needs of the respondents; and, identify the respondents’ suggestions for the improvement of the radio station. The study was conducted in Demang, Tadian, and Mountain Province. It is composed of six barangays namely; Cadad-anan, Dacudac, Lenga, Pandayan, Banaao and Cagubatan. Interview schedule was used to interview the respondents .The 65 respondents were chosen through purposive quota sampling. Interview schedule was also used to interview the three key informants. Majority of the respondents belonged to the 15-20 age bracket, most of them were female and single.

Many of the respondents were college students. Therefore they do not have any source of income. More than half of the respondents listened regularly from 12 noon until nine pm for at least one to two hours. The most preferred programs were Night out 101, Music hour and Jamming hour. More than half of the respondents preferred the use of the different language/dialect, such as Kankana-ey, Filipino, Ilocano and English as the medium of communication. All of the respondents claimed that the programs were beneficial because it entertains, informs and educates them. For the suggestions of the respondents, they suggested that more local news/ updates, agriculture topics, livelihood programs, laws, politics and more should be aired. Though some said the broadcasters/hosts were good, jolly, humorous others still suggested that they should practice their pronunciation, delivery before airing to avoid dead air and to lessen the use of fillers, avoid exaggerating the pronunciation, be professional, repeat important information and focus on their topic. Moreover, the respondents suggested that the radio station must have professional disc jockeys that will maintain the work on the radio station. It is concluded that the radio station was relatively young and is need of funds to maintain its operation. The station may have had problems in managing its volunteers. ‘Radyo Ayyoweng’ caters to a wide range of audiences. The main reason of the respondents for listening to ‘Radyo Ayyoweng’ was for entertainment. Entertainment programs were highly preferred by most of the younger respondents while news programs were preferred by the older respondents. Agriculture and current events and issues of the municipality were essential for the listeners. It is recommended that the radio station may consider opening the station to volunteers and may consider having a written station-volunteer agreement so that they can handle programming and help in the management of the radio station. The radio station may consider looking other sources of funds so that it may be able to continue airing. The radio station manager may consider looking for other technicians who can repair the damaged transmitter. The suggestions of the respondents may be considered by the station. More studies on the perceptions and preferences of community people may be conducted to cater more to their information needs.