MADURAI: For the first time since Vigyan Prasar initiated science series through All India Radio (AIR) in 19 languages throughout the country, it has planned to assess the impact of the programme among the listeners. Madurai region, where broadcasting of the science serials started in association with Tamil Nadu Science Forum of Madurai a decade ago, has been selected as the study area. Once the study is successfully completed similar studies would be conducted in other regions. The output of the study would also be useful in finding the reach among the audience, exact target audience and their needs. The results would also be helpful in developing the programmes according to the listeners' preference.

The study has been entrusted to J Balasubramaniam, assistant professor, department of journalism and science communication, Madurai Kamaraj University to carry it out in a fair manner. Expertise and guidance for the survey would be provided by S Arulselvan, head, department of electronic media and mass communication, Pondicherry Central University.

T V Venkateshwaran, scientist, Vigyan Prasar, department of science and technology said that no survey has been done so far to find the impact among the audience. The proposed study would help to know who are listening and their needs. According to the study results, the contents in the programmes would be modified, he said. Kapil Tripadi, another scientist from the same department said the successful model would be followed in other regions to find the impact in all the languages.

It has been planned to conduct the survey using content analysis and audience survey. Systematic and scientific analysis of the produces content's text, voice, genre and back ground music. Audience sample survey with a structured questionnaire using random sampling method will be used for the data collection. One year has been set as the time frame to complete the survey which would be carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 2.70 lakh.

Talking about the programmes produced in Madurai and its impact, P Rajamanickam, Tamil Nadu Science Forum said that response from the audience in Madurai region has been good since 2003 compared to the other six stations in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. There are several loyal listeners in the region, however, the audience strength and target audience are not known, he said.
 

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