Radio Listening Practices of the Bihug of Tuaca, Basud, Camarines Norte, Philippines

The Bihug’s radio listening practices were described in this study by determining the programs and stations they most listened to. Specifically, it investigated the Bihug’s radio practices and station and program preferences. Fifteen Bihug were the informants of this study, seven male informants and eight female informants whose ages ranged from ten to 73. As a family and community, they have been listening either for entertainment or information to radio stations Energy FM-NAGA DWBQ 106.3 mHz, For Life or My Only Radio (MOR) Naga DWAC FM 93.5, Bombo Radyo Naga DZNG-AM 1044 kHz and DWLB-FM 89.7 Mhz. Their radio set, which they hung on an upper corner of their dwelling, was oftentimes turned on from as early as 3am up to 10pm. Saturday and Sunday were the days looked forward to particularly by the adults for the program Harana on DWLB-FM. The young Bihug listened anytime of the day but those who were at school tuned in during weekends. Each family had a transistor radio which was given by the staff of National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and other lowlanders who had conducted and had been conducting extension services to the Bihug community. Since the community had no electricity, the transistor radios were battery operated. Their radio listening extended until batteries ran out, after which the Bihug waited for the time when they had extra money to buy batteries. In some cases, lowlanders provided them with batteries.

Keywords: radio, listening practices, Bihug