“I can’t do without it,” said the 25-year old, taking a break from selling fertilizer in Mbare market in the capital, Harare, to listen to a radio weather report warning of possible floods.
Radio also provides him with information on disease outbreaks, political news and entertainment, he said.
Radio is “overwhelmingly” the most common source of news in Africa, according to the survey by Afrobarometer, a leading research institute. About 68% of respondents said they tuned in at least a few times a week, compared to about 40% who use social media and the internet.
“I don’t trust these new technologies," Nyabanda said, referring to social media. "They are full of falsehoods. We saw it during the coronavirus outbreak.”
John Masuku, a veteran radio broadcaster of five decades, says radio has more trust than social media.
“There is a lot of disinformation and misinformation so people still want to check … if it is not said on radio then it is not fact. That is why radio is popular and celebrated in Africa,” he said.
In many Western countries, conventional radio has been overtaken by streaming, podcasts and on-demand content accessed via smartphones and computers.
But in many of Africa's 54 countries, with a combined population of 1.3 billion people, radio radio “remains king,” according to another Afrobarometer survey last year, highlighting the digital divide between rich countries and those still struggling to have reliable internet.
Radios are everywhere in Zimbabwe. Rural livestock herders dangle them from their necks while tending animals while those in the cities listen to their radio sets for news.
When schools closed during the coronavirus pandemic, sub-Saharan African had the highest proportion of schoolchildren who lacked internet connectivity to participate in remote learning online lessons, according to the United Nations children’s agency. Many students relied on lessons beamed via tiny solar-powered radio sets at home.
More than 80% of people in Africa own a mobile phone, according to Afrobarometer. But “fewer than half” have mobile phones with internet access.
The number of those who have access to computers at home is even lower at 28% of people polled in 34 African countries in a survey on the digital divide published in December last year.
Despite the shortfall, the number of people getting news at least “a few times a week” from either social media or the internet or both has almost doubled from 24% to 43% over the past decade, according to Afrobarometer.
“Closing the digital divide remains a critical issue for most African countries, and for the continent as a whole,” said Afrobarometer.
FILE - Ngwiza Khumbulani Moyo, a vintage collector, shows young boys some of his old radio sets outside his home in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Feb. 15, 2023.
Many small radios now come with inbuilt solar panels that allow people to listen to broadcasts even when they don’t have electricity. Especially popular are radios that also now come with a cell phone charger and a flashlight — all huge conveniences in a continent where electricity outages are rampant and internet connection spots are often distant.
Traditional radios are easy and inexpensive to use versus the higher cost and logistical problems of getting access to the internet.
“People don’t have to worry about network or data expenses. And one can’t be switched off for not paying license fees,” said Stanley Tsarwe, coordinator of journalism studies at the University of Zimbabwe. “The radio...has become very powerful and multi-functional and that becomes critical in Africa where access to power and access to the internet are very limited,” he said.
Broadcasts in local languages are also attract radio listeners. Zimbabwe's state radio and a host of community stations offer broadcasts in Shona, Ndebele and 12 other local languages, he said.
The falling prices of mobile phones that can access FM radio stations is also shifting how people listen to radio in Africa, said Tsarwe of the University of Zimbabwe.
“There is an ongoing convergence between radio and digital mobile technologies, especially the mobile phone," he said. "Radio is integrating more rapidly with the mobile phone because it is much more accessible in Africa. The mobile phone is the future of radio in Africa.”