The development of a community radio station for a national game park

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to substantiate the hypothetical development of a community radio station for a South African National Park, such as the Kruger National Park and to design the programming. As such the thesis has two phases namely a theoretical phase, where the variables and dynamics of the process of community unification, tourism’s ability to alleviate poverty and the central role played by radio are considered, and a creative phase, where the findings of the theoretical phase are applied in the design of the programme. The research leads to a model, and its methodology can be described as applied creative research. In order to arrive at the model, the research investigates a number of dynamics. In the first instance the research investigates a potential audience for such a community radio station. The notion of this potential audience or imagined community is interrogated. The thesis argues that there needs to be a conceptually synthesised audience, consisting of the local ethnic community, and a tourist community and that these two communities have interwoven functions around the provision and exploitation of tourism. Secondly, the thesis argues the demands of the audience synthesis, by investigating the nature of the South African tourism industry, with specific reference to the National Parks. In this section, the interrelatedness of the function and demands of the two communities are posited and developed, so that the groundwork for potential content of the Community Radio Station can be foregrounded. The thesis then interrogates the concept of communication by radio and draws on Marshall McLuhan’s concepts of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ receivers and Walter Ong’s work around primary and secondary orality, amongst others. Here the thesis argues for the way that radio may be used to exploit and develop the synergy of the ethnic and the tourist community. The thesis then moves into the phase, where, through the recognised research process oftriangulation, which includes the synergised two communities (now a ‘Parks Emergent Radio Community’/ PERC), the shared content around the demands of tourism in National Parks, and the communal form of radio are creatively interwoven into a potential or hypothetical programme layout. The study concludes with a consideration of what might be the stumbling blocks in the way of implementing such a triangulated process and notes finances and budgets, training, and most specifically, bureaucratic intervention by licensing authorities as primary obstacles. The thesis argues for the advantages of the development of such a Community Radio Station for National Parks, given the projected steep increment in the tourist trade in South Africa.