Why young Africans still listen to the radio

Kenya’s communication authority is facing what may seem like an odd problem in the digital age: Nairobi’s airwaves are clogged. Kenya has more than 250 FM radio stations and multiple aspiring stations. In big cities such as the capital, would-be radio stars complain that there is no room to license more.

在这个数字时代，肯尼亚通信管理局正面临一个看似有些离奇的烦恼：首都内罗毕的广播频段已经拥堵不堪。肯尼亚目前拥有超过250家调频（FM）广播电台，此外还有众多跃跃欲试、排队等候入场的新电台。在首都等大城市，那些怀揣明星梦的准电台主播们纷纷抱怨，如今根本腾不出空间来发放新的电台牌照了。

The problem reflects the surprising endurance of the radio in Africa. As social media and smartphones proliferate, you might expect them to have triumphed in the battle for attention. Yet, according to a survey published in April by Afrobarometer, a pollster, the hold of radio news on the continent remains strong.

这一烦恼折射出广播在非洲大陆令人惊叹的顽强生命力。随着社交媒体和智能手机的飞速普及，人们或许会理所当然地认为，它们早已在这场争夺公众注意力的拉锯战中大获全胜。然而，民调机构“非洲动向”（Afrobarometer）在今年4月发布的一项调查显示，广播新闻在这片大陆上的影响力依然不容小觑。

Broadcast towers first went up across Africa in the 1920s. Colonial regimes used the radio for propaganda. Liberation movements set up clandestine stations to organise resistance. In the 1960s postcolonial governments started subsidising transistor sets; state-controlled frequencies advertised the grand modernist dreams of nation-builders.

20世纪20年代，广播发射塔开始在非洲各地拔地而起。当时的殖民政权将其作为政治宣传的喉舌；而各地的民族解放运动组织则通过建立秘密的地下电台，来组织和号召反抗斗争。到了20世纪60年代，后殖民时代的各国政府开始对晶体管收音机发放补贴；那些由国家主导的广播频段，日夜宣扬着国家建设者们宏伟的现代化蓝图。

Sometimes they were used for more sinister purposes. In the run-up to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, a station associated with the Hutu-led regime stirred up hatred by calling Tutsis “cockroaches”. Yet around the same time, democratisation across the continent forced the liberalisation of state controls. Commercial stations proliferated.

然而，广播有时也会沦为别有用心者实现险恶图谋的工具。在1994年卢旺达大屠杀前夕，一家与胡图族政权关系密切的电台，就曾公然将图西族人污蔑为“蟑螂”，大肆煽动种族仇恨。不过，大约在同一时期，席卷非洲大陆的民主化浪潮迫使各国政府逐渐放松了对广播的严密管控，各类商业电台随即如雨后春笋般涌现。

In recent years, social media have galvanised angry young people protesting against governments from Kenya to Madagascar. Yet around 60% of people in cities and in the countryside still listen to news on the radio multiple times a week, according to Afrobarometer. Even young people do so. Some 55% of Africans aged between 18 and 35 say they regularly get their news from the radio, just a little less than the 58% who cite social media as their main source.

近年来，从肯尼亚到马达加斯加，社交媒体成功动员了大量愤怒的年轻人，掀起了一波又一波针对政府的抗议浪潮。然而，“非洲动向”的数据表明，无论是身处繁华都市还是偏远乡村，仍有约60%的民众每周会多次通过收音机收听新闻。甚至连年轻人也不例外。在18至35岁的非洲受访者中，约有55%的人表示他们经常通过广播获取新闻，这一比例仅略低于将社交媒体作为主要信息来源的人数比例（58%）。

What explains the enduring appeal? Radio is low-cost and easy to access. FM radios are embedded in even the cheapest phones and don’t require pricey mobile data to tune into. Many listeners call in to shows while stuck in traffic in Africa’s megacities.

这种经久不衰的魅力究竟源于何处？答案在于广播成本低廉且触手可及。即便是市面上最廉价的手机，也都内置了调频收音机功能，并且收听节目完全不需要消耗高昂的手机流量。在非洲那些拥堵不堪的特大城市里，许多听众在饱受堵车之苦时，都会选择拨打热线电话参与电台节目的互动。

Rather than hurt radio, the internet may be helping its stars. Big-name presenters have become social-media celebrities. One, in Kenya, brags that he now makes most of his money online from brand endorsements after becoming famous on the radio. Kenya is also harnessing the internet to solve its frequency shortage. Following Ghana and Senegal, it is trialling DAB radio, which compresses radio waves into digital data to make room for more stations.

互联网非但没有扼杀广播行业，反而成了捧红电台明星的“神助攻”。许多知名电台主播已经成功跨界，转型成为社交媒体上的网红。肯尼亚的一位主播就曾炫耀称，自打通过电台积攒了名气后，他现在绝大部分的收入都来自网络平台上的品牌代言。与此同时，肯尼亚也正积极借助数字技术来化解频段紧缺的燃眉之急。继加纳和塞内加尔之后，肯尼亚正着手试水数字音频广播（DAB）；该技术能将模拟无线电波压缩成数字信号数据，从而为接纳更多的新电台腾出宝贵的空间。