To complement this data, I conducted group interviews with community members, categorized by age and gender. The aim of the interviews was to draw out the perceptions regarding community radio content, and to discuss participation practices. In-depth interviews of audiences regarding their interaction with specific programmes offers an entry point to a better idea of “how particular genres and themes may be assimilated by specific audiences”, and “how audiences may contribute to social meaning production and cultural patterns generally through their membership of socially specific interpretive communities” (Jensen and Rosengren 2008, 338). As well, interviews exploring how audiences interpret content are important because audience interpretation cannot be predicted solely through a textual analysis (Livingstone, Wober, and Lunt 1994). The groups were derived from lists of callers to the stations and pre-existent fan groups where they were present. Although selecting group interviewees from callers and fan groups comes with the limitation of respondents who already tend to be enthusiastic listeners (Gordon 2012), it on the other hand gives insights into the characteristics of regular listeners, and motivations for listening to and participating in the station.
Three audience groups were interviewed per station, and an interview guide drafted in English and Kiswahili was used to guide the discussions. Each focus group session was attended with one research assistant. For all the group interviews I guided the discussion while the research assistant assisted with the audio recorder and taking supplementary notes in addition to the ones I was making. This is with the exception of the three Kangema FM fan groups where the research assistant was the facilitator for reasons of language fluency. The group interviews were all audio-recorded and transcribed, and the notes helped to discern which person spoke in the course of the discussions.
As stated above, the focus groups were constituted on the basis of age and gender, except at Kangema FM where fan groups made up of members with varied ages and genders were interviewed instead. These fan groups were of interest because they exist in the name of the station and were formed following the introduction of the station into the community. They therefore offered an opportunity to delve into evolving social formations in the community that may occur when a community radio station is launched in a community, as well as to observe a microcosm of social interactions in the community. In Koch FM and Mugambo FM the three focus groups consisted of one mixed-gender group of youth (16-25 years old), women (over 25 years old) and men (over 25 years old). These groups were delineated along age and gender lines keeping in mind the impact of demographics on social interactions. I strove for some homogeneity in the composition of the groups to ensure that the participants would be
“comfortable speaking with each other” (Williams and Katz 2001, 6), and given that
“individuals will tend to censor their ideas in the presence of people who differ greatly from them in power, status, job, income, education, or personal characteristics”(Grudens-Schuck, Allen, and Larson 2004, 2). While focus groups elicit diverse perspectives through discussions, the group dynamics also provide insight into social norms and relationships, and insight into how meaning is constructed through everyday talk (Kitzinger 1995; Grudens-Schuck, Allen, and Larson 2004; Lunt and Livingstone 1996; Williams and Katz 2001). The following are the details of the audience group interviews per station.
3.5.1 Kangema FM
For the audience group interviews, several fan clubs were called by the station contact person and alerted that the researcher would be visiting. They were visited in their local areas, where they had organized themselves to gather in the business premises of one of them (for two of the groups this was in a café at off-peak hours, for the third group it was in a bag-selling shop) to participate in the research. These are spaces they usually meet in, and they all knew each other, which lent a relaxed atmosphere to the gathering.
For this station, the envisioned division of focus groups by age and gender was not possible as the fan groups are composed of a mix of ages and genders. Therefore the interviews were conducted with heterogeneous groups of people, as opposed to the ideal group interviews that consist of homogeneous groups. While challenging, the heterogeneity of the groups was not entirely a disadvantage – apart from offering a diversity of views, it also presented an opportunity to observe group dynamics among the various ages and genders present.
Each group consisted of at least five people. However, for one of the groups, the number of fan club members that showed up was 12, which is larger than the recommended 6 - 10 people per focus group (Lunt and Livingstone 1996). Consequently, some members tended to speak out less often. Nevertheless, effort was made to involve every person present in the conversation, and to elicit their views on various questions when they had been quiet for long.
The deliberations were carried out primarily in the area’s language, Kikuyu, with some Kiswahili and English.
3.5.2 Koch FM
For Koch FM, each group consisted of 5 to 10 people, and these individuals were selected from a list of the phone numbers of callers to the station. While some respondents knew each other already, for others, the group interview was the first time they were meeting. Yet, there was a notable sense of familiarity observed, because they knew of each other from having previously heard each other contributing to on-air discussions.
The group interviews were all held at a small meeting hall adjacent to the station building. The groups were organised according to age and gender, with one mixed group of youth (under 25 years old, both male and female), one group of women (over 25 years old) and one group of men (over 25 years old). The discussions were carried out in a mix of Kiswahili and Sheng.
3.5.3 Mugambo FM
For the audience group interviews, several frequent callers, including one fan club, were called by two producers and requested to gather in selected venues for the interviews. They consisted of a mixed-gender group of youth, a group of women and a group of men. The men’s group, which is also a fan club, was visited in their township, while the women and youth came from various locations to premises near the station.
Each group consisted of a minimum of five people, with the largest group being that of the men, who were 10 in number. These small numbers facilitated in-depth discussion of the questions raised by the researcher. The group interviews were conducted with the assistance of a research assistant from the area who is fluent in the local language, but the bulk of the proceedings were conducted in Kiswahili, with the consent of the respondents.