Importance of broadcast communications in national development

Experience shows that there is a drastic increase in the number of communication media such as radio and television broadcasting stations in the city of Dar es Salaam while some other places up-country, which are remote and isolated have none. To solve the existing communication problems in rural areas, a study was conducted in Manda, Ludewa District to find out ways of extending the FM radio and TV broadcasting available in the City to those areas. This could be done by strengthening community points. By doing so, rural communities could equally benefit from different programmes aired by the transmitting stations, especially those, which are educative. The approach used in conducting this study was mainly through questionnaires and direct interview method. In addition, direct observation method was also deployed to get more precise data from the targeted area. From the study, it can be concluded that there is an urgent need of establishing broadcast communication in remote areas so that it can be supportive to the development activities. Furthermore, it is recommended that concrete plans should be made to enable the country to have good telecommunications infrastructure that can accommodate the current and future ICT needs.