PIP: India's national family welfare program has been broadcasting family planning messages on the radio and television for many years. The electronic mass media play a major role in teaching women about the benefits of small families and providing them with information on contraception. Radio and television are particularly important in India, a country in which 63% of currently married reproductive-age women are illiterate. An analysis of nationally representative data from India's 1992-93 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) on 84,558 currently married women aged 13-49 years indicates that general exposure to radio, television, and cinema has a strong positive effect upon current contraceptive use and the intended future use of contraception. Specific exposure to family planning messages has a significant positive effect upon current and intended future contraceptive behavior beyond the general effect of media exposure.