Children and radio

By

Sanett Gerber

Radio in SA

45 million people in SA 3.5 million TV sets, yet

only 12 million watch regularly 5 million internet users 12 million radios and 35 million tune in regularly

More South Africans listen to radio, than watch television and read print media combined.

Consider this…

More than 30% of our population is under 15 years of age

Our median age is 24 years

Average life expectancy is only 43 years

Overall…our population is “young”…

How does this affect our listenership, now and in the future?

What about AFRICA?

900 million people in Africa1 in 13 own a TV1 in 35 own a mobile phone1 in 40 own a fixed line1 in 130 own a PC1 in 160 use the internet1 in 400 have access to pay- TV

YET, 1 in 4 own a radio…

25% OF LISTENERS TO RADIO, LISTEN TO COMMUNITY RADIO!

Significantly…

84% of women listen to radio

57 % of women chose their own favourite station to listen to

What lessons can you learn from this?

Interesting research…

What defines the way you understand yourself?

What defines the way you understand the world you live in?

What influences the way you think and choose?

How does the media influence children?

1. Stereotypes people and races

Most children’s programming deals in absolutes – people are:

• good or bad• stupid or smart

Children are inexperienced and often latch on to

stereotypes…

How does the media influence children?

2. Market items as being cool

“Mommy, you must get a kitchen chopper…it can cut things up much faster than you can using a knife…”

How does the media influence children?

3. Glamorize potentially destructive behaviours (drinking / drugs / affairs/ sex)

BBC news (8 September 2009):“There should be a ban on alcohol advertising…”

The report noted a particular concern about the impact of marketing on young people…

How does the media influence children?

As children grow these media influences become even more powerful.

How does the media influence children?

There are also plenty of positives:

1.Activity – the child is not stuck to a screen2.Listening skills and language are developed3.More opportunity to imagine settings and characters4.Broader scope for programs

5. Costs far less than TV

Others are cashing in…

“We now see that developing our audience at a young age is important. These 6 to 11 year olds grow up…”

(Roy Laughlin – president and GM, KIIS, Los Angeles)

Children – a listener profile…

90% of children between the ages of 6 and 11 listen to radio 8-9 hours per week

Children are loyal listeners and usually stick to one or two stations

Boys and girls show different listening preferences

Kids and tweens show different listening preferences

Some diaries can capture children’s listening

Listenership strongest in afternoon/evenings, before school and on weekends

Teens versus adults…

Teenagers do not listen to radio in the same way adults do…

They listen less during the school week – especially between 6am and 3pm

Between 3pm and 5pm more teens listen than adults

During evening more adults listen (teens watch TV)

What does this mean?

Radio fits into children’s lifestyles and is a frequent companion from an early age.

Radio is an effective medium for reaching children.

How we communicate:The Jesus Method

“For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it”

(John 12:49)

The harvest is ripe…

“I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest”

(John 4:35)

Gen Z – a whole new audience…

Not besotted with fame and fortune

Carry a heavier burden when it comes to:• Career stability• Ecological responsibility• Social justice

Far less inclined to want to travel and work overseas

Surprising desire to embrace more conservative viewpoints ( e.g. loyalty and traditional values)

What does this mean?

There is a far more serious and conservative streak emerging among the estimated 600 million teenagers world wide…

They have new media preferences!

Jesus says they are ripe and waiting…

Jesus identified with His audience…

Four important points to help us understand why God sent His Son:

1.The incarnation2.The cross3.The resurrection4.The ascension

Without the incarnation the other 3 are meaningless…

Jesus had to become like us to get the job done…

Jesus could identify because He was tempted…

Do you ever catch yourself thinking, “How can a person do that?”

There is no temptation but what is common to us all. (1 Cor. 10:13)

We have a sympathetic high priest

Compassion versus intolerance

Jesus came alongside us, identifying with our humanity Our communication must

follow the same pattern

Jesus could identify because He was tempted…

So we all have temptation in common…but what about our differences?

Differences are superficial and temporal

We are all created in God’s image and we all live in a fallen state

Our attitude should be, “I know you. I can love you and help you, because Christ loved and helped me.”

Jesus came as a servant…

Jesus and Paul: same message, but different audiences

It is not about altering the truth, but altering the way it is communicated

To unlock hearts, we must use the right form of communication

2 important considerations:• Who is my audience?• How do they perceive

me?

Jesus met felt needs…

Felt needs are about hitting the “soft spot”

“…people will not change unless they feel a need to change” (Dr. James Engel)

Understand your audience’s needs…

How can you make the Gospel real to them?

Jesus was provocative…

Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)  9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a])  10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."  11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"  13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  15The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."  16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."   17"I have no husband," she replied.

Jesus was provocative…

Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."  19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."  21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."  25The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."  26Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

Jesus was provocative…

We have to engage the minds of our listeners!

Provoke their minds in order to reach their hearts

Do you emphasize what you think they need to hear instead of getting them to think and question?

We cannot make people listen – we need to win their ears

Jesus understood process

Sow seeds… Give the right amount of

information at the right time

Withhold information the audience is not ready for

Jesus was willing to work with people at their level

He was willing to walk the road with them

Let the audience set the pace

Jesus style communication

Identify with your audience

Indentify because you are also being tempted

Become a servant Meet felt needs Be provocative Understand process

Constructing a children’s radio program

It takes time, dedication, love and a bit of craziness

Learn the nuts and bolts of radio

The content is limited only by your imagination

Consider the final distribution point

Consider the reason Go for it!

Children and radio

You will touch their lives…

They will touch our lives…