Vol. 11, Special Issue 10 (2022)

The present study was conducted to study listening behaviour of community radio listeners Baramati and Indapur tahsils of Pune District of Maharashtra. From each tahsil six villages were selected. From each village 10 pomegranate growers were selected by random sampling method. Among the various mass media communication, radio is one, which possesses a quality of conveying the information in advance, quickly and promptly. It can be used effectively to reach large number of people inexpensively in a short time, to reach unreached by any other means; to build enthusiasm and maintain interest. Broadcasting, in its significance, reaches wide range of masses and its impact constitutes the most powerful medium of communication in India. Its importance as a medium of information and education is particularly great in vast and developing country like India where the reach of the print word is not wide or deep as the problem of illiteracy cannot affect its use. Community radio is a type of radio service that caters to the interests of a certain area, broadcasting material that is popular to local audience. Modern day community radio stations serve their listeners by offering a variety of location specific content that is not provided by the larger commercial radio stations. Community radio outlets may carry news and information geared towards the local area, particularly immigrant or minority groups that are poorly served by other major media outlets. Community stations can be valuable assets for a region. Community radios were launched in the country by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India and implemented by NGOs and educational institutions. It can be observed that majority of the community radio listeners were having medium listening behaviour. It was observed that, a majority of the community radio listeners used to listen CRS programme at home. It was observed that, a one half of community radio listeners listen to the programmes up to one hour. Majority of the community radio listeners had partial attention to the programmes. It is revealed that, a majority of the respondents listened to programme daily at morning or afternoon or evening. It can be observed that of listeners had medium level of awareness about the programmes. It can be observed that, maximum number of listeners had given preference to Krishisandesh and Gane manatle and programme. It can be showed that among the extent of effectiveness of information broadcast through community radio programmes during various stages of Innovation Decision Process, knowledge stage received first rank, followed by persuasion stage, decision stage, confirmation stage and implementation stage.