T here is no mi sgiving that any promotion pro gram will succeed in ac hieving its objectives wheneverrnthe target audie nces react in acco rdance w ith the planned reaction. Otherwise, the meaning ofrnmessages delivered via that specific program might be decoded in other way than intended whichrnresults in failure to meet planned objectives of the program. Despite the fact that, audience reactionrnstud y is invaluable, it is difficult to get ample research of sa me kind in Ethiopia. Bei ng considerate ofrnthi s ga p, thi s thes is aims mainl y at examining a udi ence reaction to Biiftuu Jireellyaa i.e . a radiornprogram that rev olve s around maternal and child health care. It trie s to assess audiences' awarenessrnlevel rega rdin g ch ild and maternal health care, challenges and motivating factors behind li stenin g andrnunderstandin g the program and correspondence between planned and actual audi ence reaction . Tornthi s end , the study has employed encoding and decoding theory, theory of reasoned action, soc ialrncognitive theory, theory of planned behavior and health belief model as its theoret ical frameworks.rnTriangulations of qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches have been used so as torngather appropriate data. Hence, 85 questionnaires were distributed to listening group memberrnaudiences found in ra nd oml y se lected nine (9) li stening groups out of eighteen (18) . Three (3) focu srngroup di scussions were held with non-li stening group audiences so as to make the study a ll inclusive.rnEach group contains eight (8) total s of twenty four (24) di sc ussa nt s. Inte rv iew was und ertaken withrnnine (9) randoml y selected out of eighteen (18) moderators of the li stening group. Usi ng the datarngathered this way, an attempt was made to examine audiences' reaction .rnThe resu lt of the study revea ls that listening group member audiences are reacting to the program inrnaccordance with planned audience reaction by producers of the program . But when it comes to nonlirnstening group audiences, there is no such tremendous awareness level enhancement unlike listeningrngroup member audiences. This is so due to var ied reas ons such as low access to the program and lackrnof support from hea lth extension workers whenever they are unable to understand message of thernprogram. Nature of the program , way of de livery , topics raise d in the program , real life experience ofrnothers shared in the program and di sc uss ion after the program are posed as major motivating factorsrnbehind listening and understanding the program by listening group member audiences. Non- listening group audiences also share all motivating factors except discussion after the program . Background ofrnaudiences and language barrier are major challenges of understanding the program according to thernfindings of the inquiry .