RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue
individual countries the increase was even more remarKable . In 1960 there were an estimated 72,000 sets in TanganyiKa (TBC , 1960). In 1974 a nationwide survey establisheđ a figure of very nearly 2,000,000 sets in this very роог country (RTD, 1974). Table 2 shows the growth in set ownership in the three decades 1955 to 1905. This growth happened at a very fortunate time for the already established international broadcasters . As the radio audience grew so also did the demanđ for something to listen to . A glance through the annual editions of the World Radio and TV HandbooK of the period 1960 to 1970 shows that while the number of radio stations and their transmitters was growing and that their time on the air was also increasing substantially , there was not a great deal of choice for the new listeners in large parts of the world . Broadcasting hours were also limited before the new stations grew in size and power . Most đomestic broadcasting in Africa and Asia and a goođ deal of it in Latin America , also had to be ол short-wave to reach national populations. The BBC, VOA, Radio Moscow and others at that time gained new listeners who were tuning along the,, short-wave bands searching for something to listen to . Major broadcasters liKe these , who hađ chosen a suitable range of languages, benef ited from the circumstances and picKed up many listeners, especially where local đomestic radio services were inadeguate . Access to and the use of short-wave receivers has declined in western Europe anđ Latin America . In Venezuelan cities , for example , ownership of short-wave sets has declined from half to less than one third of households over the past ten years . But elsewhere , ownership of sets with short-wave has mostly increased along with the increase in general radio set ownership . In most parts of Africa more than nine in ten radio sets can receive short-wave signals . At both extremes of the continent however , in South Africa and in' Egypt , the dominance of VHF and mediumwave respectively means that short-wave access and use is considerably lower . Where domestic broadcasting use of short-wave sets is in decline it is liKely that availability of short-wave sets will also f all. For this and other reasons , audiences will fall too . At present we estimate that just under half of the world's radio sets has the capability to receive short-wave . Another factor to consiaer is the impact of the development of television on radio listening . Although it is difficult, on the basis of ’research findings , to establish a direct causal effect, there is certainly evidence of a đecrease in rađio listening over the last few years in some parts of the worlđ , particularly in the Far East . In Japan for instance , 40Х of the population
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