Social Marketing Techniques in Community Radio Practices

The first Community Radio Station was set up in India in the year 2006, and presently there are over 251 such operational radios in the country. The paper sets out to locate Community Radio in Indian context, and its practices based on the conceptual definition and framework of social marketing as proposed by Philip Kotler, Alan Andreasen and others. Historically Community Radio has evolved as an alternative to the mainstream media which failed to focus and give due attention to issues and concerns of rural people in general and marginalised sections of the society. The paper maps the practice of Namma Dhwani Community radio which has been broadcasting for over a decade in the state of Karnataka to the Social Marketing techniques, in promoting social ideas to bring out a change in the attitudes and behaviour. The specific objectives of the paper are to explore how Namma Dhwani draws from the theory of Social Marketing, in its implementation of commercial marketing techniques and to understand the role of Community Radio in empowering the community and bringing about a change in behaviour. A case study method approach has been adopted and the paper is conceptual and descriptive in nature.