UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
College of Human Sciences | Department of Communication Science
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
COM3706: Development Communication
Assignment 1 | Semester 2, 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
COM3706
Module Code:
Development Communication
Module Name:
An Analysis of Audience Engagement by
Essay Topic: Radio 2000 on Facebook
Assignment 1
Assignment Number:
Semester 2, 2026
Semester:
August
Due:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for COM3706, UNISA 2026
,UNISA | COM3706 Radio 2000 Facebook Audience Engagement
1 Introduction
Social media has reorganised the relationship between radio broadcasters and their audi-
ences. Traditional radio operated largely as a one-to-many system in which trained broadcast-
ers produced content for a listening public that had few immediate channels through which to
respond. Platforms such as Facebook have unsettled this arrangement by giving audiences
the means to comment, react, share, question and, at times, openly contest what a broad-
caster puts to air. Radio can therefore no longer be understood only as sound transmitted
over a terrestrial frequency; it now operates inside a wider digital ecology of websites, mobile
applications, livestreams, podcasts and social networks (Jenkins, Ford and Green, 2013).
Acting on a brief from Karibu Media Strategies, an international media-research firm based
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this study investigates how Radio 2000, a South African public
broadcasting radio station operated by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC),
engages its audiences on Facebook. Radio 2000 is a nationwide English-language public
broadcasting station based at the SABC’s Auckland Park headquarters in Johannesburg. It
describes itself as a facility-service radio station that seeks to reflect and unite South Africa’s
diverse cultures while contributing to democracy and nation-building through sport, music,
events of national importance and lifestyle programming (Radio 2000, 2026a).
Radio 2000 is a productive case for this brief precisely because its stated mission goes be-
yond entertainment. The station identifies its content as informative, educational and en-
tertaining, and states that it seeks to engage audiences in healthy discussions and debates
across a wide range of subjects (Radio 2000, 2026a). These stated objectives make the sta-
tion’s Facebook page an instructive site for testing whether a public broadcaster uses social
media chiefly to distribute content, or also to open space for genuine audience participation.
Facebook was selected as the platform of analysis because it is freely accessible, carries a
long publication history for Radio 2000, and exposes three observable engagement signals,
reactions, comments and shares, that support both a quantitative count of themes and a
qualitative reading of audience voice. In line with the brief, the analysis is designed around
the most recent 50 posts accessible on the official Radio 2000 Facebook page at the point of
data collection.
The report examines the dominant themes of these posts, the communication style Radio
2000 adopts, the forms of audience response the posts generate, and the extent to which the
page reflects the participatory ideals of public service broadcasting.
Page 2 of 25
, UNISA | COM3706 Radio 2000 Facebook Audience Engagement
2 Background to Radio 2000
Radio 2000 sits within the SABC’s Public Broadcasting Services portfolio. The SABC operates
South Africa’s largest national radio network, spanning public broadcasting, public commer-
cial and regional services, and it states that radio remains central to its public mandate even
as its stations integrate digital and social platforms into daily operations (SABC, 2024).
Radio 2000 broadcasts nationally in English on an adult-contemporary format. Its program-
ming spans sport, music, national events and lifestyle content, and its stated mission is to
provide current, credible, informative, educational and entertaining programming while en-
couraging healthy discussion and debate (Radio 2000, 2026a).
The station’s public broadcasting status matters for this analysis because the SABC carries a
statutory obligation to inform, educate and entertain while remaining responsive to the needs
of its audiences (SABC, 2026a). Its Facebook activity should therefore not be judged only by
commercial yardsticks such as follower counts; it should also be read against public-value
criteria such as inclusion, information provision, cultural representation and opportunities for
participation.
The SABC’s own reporting situates Radio 2000 as a station with a substantial national reach
and a programming mix of adult crossover music, magazine formats, live sport commentary
and talk content. The 2023/2024 SABC Annual Report recorded an average weekly audience
of approximately 2.087 million adults aged 15 and above for the station (SABC, 2024). Radio
2000 has also extended its digital footprint through a live-streaming website and an official
mobile application, updated in April 2026, that lets listeners stream live radio and access pod-
casts on demand (SABC, 2026b). This is a station, in other words, that is already committed
to a multiplatform identity, which makes the quality of its social media engagement, rather
than its mere presence on social media, the more interesting question.
3 Problem Statement
The migration of radio listenership toward social media creates both an opportunity and a
risk for public broadcasters. A station can accumulate a large Facebook following while still
offering only a thin form of audience participation. The presence of reactions, comments
and shares on a page does not, by itself, prove that audiences are participating in the produc-
tion of public discourse; a station can publish dozens of posts without ever responding to a
Page 3 of 25
College of Human Sciences | Department of Communication Science
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
COM3706: Development Communication
Assignment 1 | Semester 2, 2026
⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄ ⋄⋄
COM3706
Module Code:
Development Communication
Module Name:
An Analysis of Audience Engagement by
Essay Topic: Radio 2000 on Facebook
Assignment 1
Assignment Number:
Semester 2, 2026
Semester:
August
Due:
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for COM3706, UNISA 2026
,UNISA | COM3706 Radio 2000 Facebook Audience Engagement
1 Introduction
Social media has reorganised the relationship between radio broadcasters and their audi-
ences. Traditional radio operated largely as a one-to-many system in which trained broadcast-
ers produced content for a listening public that had few immediate channels through which to
respond. Platforms such as Facebook have unsettled this arrangement by giving audiences
the means to comment, react, share, question and, at times, openly contest what a broad-
caster puts to air. Radio can therefore no longer be understood only as sound transmitted
over a terrestrial frequency; it now operates inside a wider digital ecology of websites, mobile
applications, livestreams, podcasts and social networks (Jenkins, Ford and Green, 2013).
Acting on a brief from Karibu Media Strategies, an international media-research firm based
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this study investigates how Radio 2000, a South African public
broadcasting radio station operated by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC),
engages its audiences on Facebook. Radio 2000 is a nationwide English-language public
broadcasting station based at the SABC’s Auckland Park headquarters in Johannesburg. It
describes itself as a facility-service radio station that seeks to reflect and unite South Africa’s
diverse cultures while contributing to democracy and nation-building through sport, music,
events of national importance and lifestyle programming (Radio 2000, 2026a).
Radio 2000 is a productive case for this brief precisely because its stated mission goes be-
yond entertainment. The station identifies its content as informative, educational and en-
tertaining, and states that it seeks to engage audiences in healthy discussions and debates
across a wide range of subjects (Radio 2000, 2026a). These stated objectives make the sta-
tion’s Facebook page an instructive site for testing whether a public broadcaster uses social
media chiefly to distribute content, or also to open space for genuine audience participation.
Facebook was selected as the platform of analysis because it is freely accessible, carries a
long publication history for Radio 2000, and exposes three observable engagement signals,
reactions, comments and shares, that support both a quantitative count of themes and a
qualitative reading of audience voice. In line with the brief, the analysis is designed around
the most recent 50 posts accessible on the official Radio 2000 Facebook page at the point of
data collection.
The report examines the dominant themes of these posts, the communication style Radio
2000 adopts, the forms of audience response the posts generate, and the extent to which the
page reflects the participatory ideals of public service broadcasting.
Page 2 of 25
, UNISA | COM3706 Radio 2000 Facebook Audience Engagement
2 Background to Radio 2000
Radio 2000 sits within the SABC’s Public Broadcasting Services portfolio. The SABC operates
South Africa’s largest national radio network, spanning public broadcasting, public commer-
cial and regional services, and it states that radio remains central to its public mandate even
as its stations integrate digital and social platforms into daily operations (SABC, 2024).
Radio 2000 broadcasts nationally in English on an adult-contemporary format. Its program-
ming spans sport, music, national events and lifestyle content, and its stated mission is to
provide current, credible, informative, educational and entertaining programming while en-
couraging healthy discussion and debate (Radio 2000, 2026a).
The station’s public broadcasting status matters for this analysis because the SABC carries a
statutory obligation to inform, educate and entertain while remaining responsive to the needs
of its audiences (SABC, 2026a). Its Facebook activity should therefore not be judged only by
commercial yardsticks such as follower counts; it should also be read against public-value
criteria such as inclusion, information provision, cultural representation and opportunities for
participation.
The SABC’s own reporting situates Radio 2000 as a station with a substantial national reach
and a programming mix of adult crossover music, magazine formats, live sport commentary
and talk content. The 2023/2024 SABC Annual Report recorded an average weekly audience
of approximately 2.087 million adults aged 15 and above for the station (SABC, 2024). Radio
2000 has also extended its digital footprint through a live-streaming website and an official
mobile application, updated in April 2026, that lets listeners stream live radio and access pod-
casts on demand (SABC, 2026b). This is a station, in other words, that is already committed
to a multiplatform identity, which makes the quality of its social media engagement, rather
than its mere presence on social media, the more interesting question.
3 Problem Statement
The migration of radio listenership toward social media creates both an opportunity and a
risk for public broadcasters. A station can accumulate a large Facebook following while still
offering only a thin form of audience participation. The presence of reactions, comments
and shares on a page does not, by itself, prove that audiences are participating in the produc-
tion of public discourse; a station can publish dozens of posts without ever responding to a
Page 3 of 25
