Paper short abstract:

This contribution aims to discuss the pathways and working conditions of young radio professionals (presenters and DJs, technicians and journalists) in the Republic of Benin who are working at state-independent radio stations.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution aims to discuss the pathways and working conditions of popular young radio professionals (presenters and DJs, technicians and journalists) in the Republic of Benin (West Africa), especially those working at state-independent radio stations that were established after 1997, facilitated by more liberal laws introduced in the course of the democratization process of the country.

I will explore the potential agency they stand to gain from their daily engagement with media, and argue that their careers are contingent on a multiplicity of individual and structural factors. It is often a parallel process of enhancing one's capacities while coping and growing with the daily challenges of radio broadcasting and institutional constrains (unstable contracts, state control & censorship etc.). The success of some of these new radio professionals is primarily based on their cultural creativity, that is permanently re-enacted in close interactions with listeners. This text connects with recent studies on new young media producers in Africa and changing media fields in West Africa marked by various new possibilities as well as constraints in times of neo-liberal economic policies.