A Reception Analysis of the Feminist Radio Program "Aksyon Kababaihan"

ABSTRACT

Barcena, Jean Francis A. (2013). A Reception Analysis of the Feminist Radio Program “Aksyon Kababaihan,” Unpublished Graduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

The study identifies the audiences of Aksyon Kababaihan, a feminist radio program produced by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific which centers on trafficking and prostitution. The study also describes the audiences’ processes of use or consumption, and reception of Aksyon Kababaihan.

Two general audience groups emerged – the loyal listeners, or those who had been listening to the program for six months or more, and the random listeners, or those who sent their feedback to the program through text messages in response to Aksyon Kababaihan episodes aired between 2003 and 2008.

Through focus interviews of 15 loyal listeners between 2010 and 2011, textual analyses of 17 Aksyon Kababaihan episodes, and content analyses of audience responses (from interviews and text messages) using Stuart Hall’s three basic reading positions, the study found that Aksyon Kababaihan listeners generally agreed with the program in challenging the government and its programs. They also engaged with it when gender-related issues were discussed. However, the loyal listeners were more open and sympathetic towards trafficked and prostituted women compared to the random listeners. Nonetheless, the audiences actively generated and appropriated meanings out of what they heard in Aksyon Kababaihan.

Keywords: Audience reception analysis, Radio audience studies, Stuart Hall, Encoding and decoding