There is hardly any society, community or state that can function properly today without the mass media because they keep people informed with what is going on around the world. There is no gainsaying that the mass media have played critical and important roles in the developmental process of the society through programmes on health, politics, agriculture, gender, environmental issues among others. However, community radio is a radio licensed solely for the purpose of bringing people at the grassroots to limelight, so that their voices can be heard, their plights addressed, their interests preserved and other issues affecting them from time to time. This research paper thus, seeks to examine the overview of community radio in Nigeria, its history and role, nature of programming and how it has contributed to development in the society vis-à-vis two selected community radio in Kwara State. The research was anchored on the development media and democratic-participant theories of the media. It further employed a survey research method to sample 320 respondents that are residents of the two communities that housed the selected community radio. However, findings showed that some of the programmes are not adequately contributing to societal development, and they do not give access to community members to contribute to programme contents. Thus, the study concluded that community radio station is central to the developmental process of the society, as such, the need for the operators of these stations to stick to its mandate of establishment in terms of programme contents (programming), while recommending the need for NBC and other regulators to adequately monitor community radio stations so that they can strictly comply with developmental mandate.
Vol. 4, No 2, pp. 115-121.