ABSTRACT
The chapter explores how community radio stations actually enable citizen’s participation in broadcasting in Ghana using the empowerment theory and presents data that point to deviation from some core principles of community radio before a conclusion on the need to fix the paradox of the shift in radio broadcasting is drawn. From the introduction of radio in the Gold Coast in 1935 till the airwaves were liberalised in 1996, radio had been controlled by colonial and post-colonial State. State centralisation destroys local autonomy and people’s right to communication, which is an alienable human right. However, with the coming to force of the fourth republican constitution in 1992, State monopoly over the airwaves was unsustainable. Private radio and community radio stations (CRSs) in Ghana have introduced a window of opportunity for ordinary people to somewhat participate in public discourses, which hitherto was controlled and managed by elites and persons wielding power in society. Yet in this decentralising situation, in which ordinary people are being empowered through community radio to have a voice on diverse issues of development that affects their lives, there are some gaps in attempts at encouraging greater community participation to facilitate development in communities. The general contention of the chapter is that even though the shift from State-controlled and top-down approach of radio communication to the establishment of community radio stations is a positive move, it requires vibrant participatory communities.
