Growing internet use in Africa could force radio stations to adopt more ‘crowdsourced’ models in which the continent’s listeners choose what they want to hear and when, say experts.

The internet has forced television networks to adapt to offerings such as video on demand, where online viewers can manage their own viewing.

US video streaming service Hulu, for example, has agreements with networks to show television series content up to a day after it airs.

But radio, which was invented before television, has not rapidly adapted to a similar model - as of yet anyway.

Talk in the radio industry therefore is veering towards ‘crowdsourced radio’, which gives listeners the option to chose what goes on air when: whether it’s music, discussion topics, drama or any other relevant content.

And the adoption of this model could ripple throughout Africa, where radio is a highly popular medium and where internet usage is growing.

According to the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), there are 102 licensed FM radio stations in the East African country. In South Africa, Zulu language station Ukhozi FM claims to be one of the biggest radio stations in the world and the largest in Africa with its listenership at “7.4 million over the past decade.”

Meanwhile, Internet World Stats says that online adoption in Africa soared from just over 4 million users in the year 2000 to over 160 million in 2012.

Ray Mutai, a radio producer at Royal Media Services, one of the largest radio and television networks in Kenya, sees the option of crowdsourced radio as key to sustaining the life of the medium.

“The reasoning behind this is if the radio station exists to give listeners what they want: why not let them decide what that really is. In a nutshell, crowdsourced radio is the listener’s active participation in a radio station’s programming,” Mutai told ITWeb Africa.

Mutai says the success of South African Afrikaans digital music radio station Ja.fm is an example to follow.

Ja.fm is described as South Africa’s first digital radio station that drives its playlists through its listeners' votes.

The station, which is owned by Kagiso Media, says it has grown its audience from about 4 500 unique browsers in January 2012 to nearly 100,000 in January 2013.

Ja.fm was launched to complement Kagiso Media’s Gauteng music broadcast station Jacaranda FM, in a bid to play a wider range of Afrikaans music online.

“If South Africa’s Ja.fm’s success is anything to go by, the next few years could see a considerable expansion of crowdsourced radio riding on the continued penetration of mobile web inland,” added Mutai.

Stephanie Boy, the sound editor of Kenyan not for profit non-governmental East African broadcasting training organisation Medeva, also thinks that the revolution of radio is set to be guided by technology.

“In order to stay relevant with global trends, more and more radio stations and radio producers have to embrace online streaming and the use of platforms such as Soundcloud to share content with the world,” Boy told ITWeb Africa.

Mutai adds, “To survive over the years of constant technological onslaught, radio content has also managed to morph into other formats such as DVD, podcasts, iTunes or iHeart streams and self selection applications such as Pandora, Spotify and Slacker, CD, mobile apps and mp3 downloads.”

But for radio to embrace a crowdsourcing model, the technology has to be readily available.

One technology service that seeks to help with boosting the take up of especially digital radio in Africa is Kenya’s Waabeh app, which delivers audio content such as music and book readings.

Its power, though, lies in specifically delivering content through the mobile phone.

Handsets number over 700 million in Africa according to the GSMA and this points to how these devices could become the radios of the future on the continent.

But apart from targeting the right medium another big challenge to crowdsourcing radio adoption could be stations and even listeners’ refusal to adapt in Africa.

“In other parts of the world, there is stiff competition between the two. Radio has however ‘learnt’ to adapt by adopting and making use of the competing elements. One of the ways is online radio,” Mutai said.

“The point is, digital radio is a powerful platform for advertisers because it is targetable and offers intelligence about the tastes and responses of users, especially when combined with crowdsourcing technologies,” he added.

While the opportunities for digital radio and crowdsourcing radio exist in Africa, Medeva’s Stephanie Boy says radio in its traditional format is not going anywhere, anytime soon.

“More and more people (who have access to the internet) watch and listen to content online.

“That is the global trend. However, in Kenya people still listen to radio. Some of these people are those in rural areas where the internet has not really caught on. Others are those who have mobile phones that have inbuilt FM Radios. These phones are very popular and are all over the market. In light of this, I think radio in Kenya, will still remain relevant and will still have an audience even in future.”