From On Air - Winter 2000
Four New Soaps Premiere in India
Working with our partner
All India Radio (AIR), PCI successfully launched adaptations
of our 1996-97 popular radio soap opera, Tinka
Tinka Sukh (Little Steps to a Better Life), in four
South Indian states. The new series began airing on October
23 in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, each
in the language of the region.
Like Tinka Tinka Sukh, all
of the soap operas address issues of dowry, gender equality,
and family planning. Important changes include the introduction
of a Muslim family to promote religious tolerance (Kerala);
the addition of a factory setting in order to address pollution
(Karnataka); and increasing the focus on AIDS education and
HIV prevention messages, including compassion for HIV-positive
individuals (all four series). As a result, audiences in each
region will be engaged not only by the entertainment value,
but also by the local issues reflected in the story lines.
Before broadcasting the serials, AIR’s Audience Research
Wing pre-tested the four programs with focus groups in urban
and rural locations. In addition, panels of experts evaluated
the programs. The focus groups and experts alike praised the
characters, scripts, dialogues, and music. This was not too
surprising, considering that many celebrated actors, musicians,
and playwrights are participating, including renowned film
composer O.N.V. Kurup, and recording artists S.P. Balasubrahmanyan
and Chitra.
As the pre-tests indicated, audiences are responding strongly
to the serials. In Tamil Nadu, the local AIR station reports
that after only four episodes it received 236 letters from
listeners—marking a very positive start.
As a recently published study on Tinka
Tinka Sukh reports, listener letters are an important
source of information when evaluating the overall effects
of entertainment-education programs on people’s behavior.
(See Letters from Listeners, below.)
PCI is very pleased that these new soap operas are up and
running. We are now developing radio dramas for two additional
Indian states, Orissa and Punjab, which are scheduled to air
in the fall.
Letters from Listeners
We are pleased to report that a scientific study of Tinka
Tinka Sukh, called “Efficacy in Letter-Writing
to an Entertainment-Education Radio Serial,” by Sweety
Law, Assistant Professor at Texas A&M International University,
and Dr. Arvind Singhal, Associate Professor at the School
of Interpersonal Communication, Ohio University, was published
in the October 1999 issue of the Gazette, an international
journal for communication studies. The study finds that listener
letters sent to All India Radio (AIR) during the series’
broadcast (1996-1997) provide a valid method of measuring
whether the program positively influenced self-efficacy among
audience members.
Self-efficacy is a sociological term used to define positive
changes in people’s beliefs and behavior. It reflects
the belief system that individuals hold concerning their capability
to conceive, organize, and carry out a course of action. Efficacy
differs from empowerment in that it is first and foremost
a mental process: a person must believe it is possible to
accomplish something be-fore acting on this belief. Empowerment
is equated with opportunity, which is either provided by outside
sources or created by an individual. For example, family planning
empowers women; waiting to have children allows women to pursue
education and career options. However, if women do not see
how they can stay in school and then find a job, they may
not act on the opportunity family planning provides. Thus,
efficacy is the basis of personal empowerment.
The study contends that a sampling of the 150,000 letters
AIR received in response to Tinka
Tinka Sukh shows that the story line positively influenced
the audience members’ sense of efficacy at an individual
as well as a collective level.
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