A General Assessment of the Independent Ethnic Radio Broadcasting Stations in Kenya
Eunice Kijana

Abstract
Radio has become a very important tool for disseminating information to a mass audience in the African society. In fact, most governments actually run through the use of mass media, radio being one of the most important. The liberalization of the media sector has brought with it ethnic radio broadcasting stations, which have slowly acquired a special place in our society as one form of independent media capable of evolving a community managed and interactive communication and programming of issues of public awareness and human activity. One of the major problems that faced African countries immediately after independence was that of welding the various ethnic groups into a national unity and creating a sense of belonging and national identity. Therefore the implication of this new development may be far reaching especially in a multi- ethnic society like Kenya. In view of the above the study was conducted as a general assessment of the independent radio broadcasting stations in terms of ownership, management and structure, policies governing them and the extent to which they enhance various national issues. Data was collected through audience questionnaires and guiding question to the management. To strengthen this, content analysis on the content and programming of the stations was also carried out. These were then analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in form of tables. The analysis showed that, as much as the ethnic stations are a very important source of information to their audiences, they actually do very little to enhance national issues, especially the aspect of unifying the society, which to a large extent contributes to the tribalism factor in Kenya.

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