Exploring the Evolving Landscape of Radio Broadcasting in Malaysia: Trends and Innovations

Abstract

Radio broadcasting has faced significant challenges in today's technological environment. Despite this, Malaysians continue to rely on radio as a key source of information. The study aims to investigate the usage patterns of radio among Malaysian listeners, also to identify the most significant benefits that radio offers to Malaysian listeners in the present day and finally to analyse the opinions and perspectives of Malaysian radio listeners on radio. The study utilized a quantitative approach and self-administered questionnaire leveraging Facebook as a survey-publishing platform to collect 388 respondents who had the habits of listening to radio to part in this study voluntarily. The data then been analyse using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyse specific variables contained in the research framework, to look for correlations and relationships. The study's findings were examined using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA); which tested three hypotheses. The study confirmed the first hypothesis is the majority of Malaysians listen to the radio during drive time. (F=14.921, Sig<.001). However, the second hypothesis states that car radio is the most frequently used listening device among Malaysians to listen to the radio (F=3.025, Sig=.011).The third hypothesis states that the primary benefit that radio offers to listeners in Malaysia is the ability to obtain information (F=5.950, Sig<.001). The survey results indicate that radio broadcasting's greatest benefit to listeners is providing information. Additionally, the study revealed that most respondents believe that radio stations need to reduce advertising. This study provides researchers with a detailed understanding of radio usage among Malaysians of different ages and from various states.