Title:
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Exploring language patterns, social motivations and discourse strategies : an investigation of contemporary FM broadcast in Ghana
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This study investigates the discourse domain of contemporary radio from
1992 in Ghana, and portrays it as an avalanche that has buried the stifling
and uninspiring radio broadcast of the past, firmly replacing it with the
euphoria and mass appeal of private radio.
Basing my data mainly on three socio political stories and popular
programmes, I observe that contemporary radio broadcast in Ghana, in
comparison to that of the past, is characterised by innovations in (a)
language, (b) programmes and (c) interaction
At the level of language, I make two observations: firstly that the language
used on contemporary radio is mostly an unfettered incidence of hybridity
along a continuum of English and Ghanaian languages and secondly, that
the personnel of these radio stations pioneer and encourage experimentation
in innovative and resourceful ways of using language. These two
circumstances have caused concern among the general public because the
practices seem to evidence the restructuring of the traditional broadcast
landscape.
In investigating programmes, I organise them into assemblages,
performances and episodes. And at the level of interaction, I observe that
contemporary radio shows a shift in the form of presentation and this
change hugely captivates listeners and completely revolutionarises the listening habits of the Ghanaian public into a new radio culture of immense
participation. I identify the instigators of this `revolution' as the talk drivers
or the radio hosts.
Finally I establish three configurations of talk interaction that show how
individual choices and motivations are central to the collaborative effort of
talk interaction on FM radio.
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