The need and the opportunities for sustainability – The case of local radio stations in Tanzania

Abstract

ABSTRACTLocal radio stations have mushroomed in Africa, including Tanzania, partly due to increased support from international donors. However, research results show that the lack of economic viability is a major constraint for local radio stations. They can hardly generate sufficient revenues from advertisers to sustain the station. This leads to high turnover of staff due to low pay, low quality of content, and lack of capacity in serious programming. Based on a market model, the goal of this paper is to identify these problems from both a business and a journalism perspective and to find possible solutions. The results of this analysis show that a viable economic model in Africa requires simultaneous support for three different fields, (a) development of good content (b) development of media management capacities, and (c) media research covering the extent and satisfaction of local audiences in order to develop local advertising markets that serve local media.