‘Arajo efemu’ local FM radio and the socio-technical system of communications in Koutiala, Mali

Abstract

Only a handful of the estimated 150 FM radio stations in Mali could properly be called ‘community’ stations, with administrative structures to ensure representative listener participation in decision-making. However, due to regulations and scarce funding sources, virtually all stations depend on their audiences for direct financial support in return for mediated listener-to-listener communications. This article, based on over a year and a half of fieldwork in the southern Malian city of Koutiala, outlines the system of social and technical interdependence that links stations and their listeners in Mali. FM radio depends fundamentally on systems of transportation, and, to a lesser degree, other communication technologies like telephones. Social interdependence is emphasized in the speech of announcers, through an insistence on Islam as a common religion and fictive joking relationships. Referencing the operational structures of the stations in the city, including one community station, I show that a socio-technical system has developed in which local FM blurs standard understandings of ‘community’ media.