CELEBRATING WORLD RADIO DAY 2019
Ruben FM is becoming more popular in Kenya every day. This popularity has come as a result of having good and relevant content to the community as well as strong networks with local organizations in the
country .We are now with no doubt the most famous and fast growing community radio in the country, thanks to the professional journalists and great Mukuru supporters who tune in every day. Hosting this year’s world radio day celebrations among community radio stations in Kenya was one of our very greatest achievements since our inception in 2016. German Co-operation and Kenya community media network appointed Ruben FM to host this year’s World Radio Day celebration whose theme was Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace.
ABOUT WORLD RADIO DAY
Following a request from the Spanish Radio Academy on 20 September 2010, Spain proposed that the UNESCO Executive Board include an agenda item on the proclamation of a World Radio Day. UNESCO's Executive Board approved the agenda item in its provisional agenda for the proclamation of a "World Radio Day" on 29 September 2011. UNESCO carried out a wide consultation in 2011 with diverse stakeholders, such as broadcasting associations, UN agencies, funds and programs, relevant NGOs, foundations and bilateral development
agencies, as well as UNESCO Permanent Delegations and National Commissions for UNESCO. The Board recommended to the UNESCO 36th session of the General Conference that it proclaim a World Radio Day at its 36th session, and that this day be celebrated by UNESCO on 13 February, the anniversary of the day that the United Nations established the United Nations Radio in 1946. World Radio Day was thus unanimously proclaimed by all Member States of UNESCO in November 2011.
WORLD RADIO DAY 2019
It was indeed a privilege for Ruben FM to host this year’s world radio day celebrations commemorated on 13th February 2019 at Ruben Centre. This great event came a few months just after being given a chance to produce twenty radio drama episodes for all the community radios in the country and also winning X-treem Awards as the best gospel show of the year 2018. Twenty seven community radio stations were represented in this noble event by their station managers who attended the community radio station managers’ meeting that was held at Ruben Centre on 12th February 2019, a day before world radio day celebrations. This was 70% representation of all community radios in Kenya.
This meeting also served as a benchmarking platform for all the station managers who interacted with each other as well as learning from Ruben FM’s management team and presenters.
ISSUES DISCUSSED AT THE STATIONS MANAGER MEETING.
Kenya community media network officials opened the meeting by mentioning the radio stations that performed well in 2018 with our very own Ruben FM topping the list .The performance was based on relevance of the content ,popularity of the radio station ,professionalism of community radio stations as well as 2018 revenue generation report.
Ruben FM performed well in all the above mentioned areas with the greatest achievement being able to generate more than sh.3million in 2018. Pamoja FM was second in income generation having generated sh.2.3million. Other issues were discussed and agreed as follows
a. Need of community radios to come up with similar rate card for advertisements thus strengthening
the joint marketing team led by Kenya community media network.
b. All community radio stations management to have clear achievable objectives of the radio, work
plans and program schedule.
c. Formulation of community radios national newscast segment to share the happenings in different
communities through all community radio stations at the same time.
d. Need of community radio stations with financial capability to purchase outside broadcast equipment
so as to boost income generation through advertisements and outside event coverage.
The Main Event
We had various activities during this day that helped mark the celebrations. All the 27 community station managers attended this event. The activities were;
a. Panel discussion
b. Real talk season 2 launching
c. Local artists’ performance
d. Murals and graffiti drawings
PANEL DISCUSSION
This was the first activity during world radio day commemorations. It was held in Ruben Centre hall and aired live by Ruben FM. The panellists were from different organizations and groups namely; German co-operation, Kenya Community Media Network, Station Managers, SIF team, KENATCOM, religious leaders, youth leaders and local administration. The 2 hours session was moderated by two Ruben FM journalists .The essence of the panel discussion was to elaborate more about this year’s theme and how the above mentioned organizations are contributing towards achievement of the theme. The following are the questions that were tackled during the panel discussion;
Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace, what comes to mind when you think of these three words?
In the Kenyan society, do you think the media i.e. radio has contributed much in advocating for Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace? If yes or no explain further...............
How can the media i.e. radio improve their engagement with the communities on these topics?
In Kenya right now, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening and continues to widen,
how Can tolerance be achieved in a society full of inequalities?
Peace and tolerance is importance for any society to thrive, how can different agents of
change use media i.e. radio to advocate for this and actually influence attitude and behavior change?
The youth, our future leaders, what more can be done to motivate them to uphold these three vice, ’Dialogue, tolerance and peace’?
Any further comments from the panelists on “Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace topic”
Open the floor for audience reactions
REAL TALK SEASON 2 RADIO DRAMA LAUNCHING
Ruben FM in conjunction with four theatre groups from Mukuru produced twenty episodes of Real Talk Season 2 radio drama. Real talk is a production that highlights the challenges facing refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Kenya. Ruben FM production team produced the episodes which are being aired by all the community radio stations in Kenya. We officially launched the programs by hosting a live stage performance in Ruben Centre hall and got various reactions from the audience. Most of the people congratulated the team for having produced quality productions.
LOCAL ARTISTS PERFOMANCE
Mukuru is one of the informal settlements in Nairobi with a big number of talented artists. Most of these artists produce quality music, which rarely gets airplay in main stream media. In bid to recognize and award the local artists in Mukuru, we invited them to be part of this great celebration and gave them a platform to compete live on stage. Fifteen artists registered to take part after being selected in a meeting that was attended by the artists and Ruben FM’s management. The artists composed songs, which resonated with this year’s theme. We had three categories i.e. Spoken word, Rap and Singing.
Three artists from each group got cash awards after having been voted for by the large crowd that attended this session in the afternoon. Approximately one thousand five hundred residents attended this session to commemorate World Radio Day. The total number of people who followed up this event live on radio was three hundred and fifty thousand people.
MURALS AND GRAFITTI UNVEILING
Our own local murals and graffiti expert drew creative world radio day messages on a visible wall. Ruben Primary School kids also drew messages on this year’s theme and shared with our partners. The mural drawings had the famous ‘HANDSHAKE’ message which has been in most cases used to preach the importance of peaceful co-existence in the community.
IMPACTS OF WORLD RADIO DAY CELEBRATIONS
This great event had various positive impacts to both Ruben FM and Mukuru Community as highlighted below:
a) Increasing the popularity of Ruben FM in Kenya
b) The event strengthened the relationship of Ruben FM and other community radio stations through benchmarking and interactions with other community radio station managers.
c) It enabled us make networks with new partners such as KENATCOM and KITUO CHA SHERIA
d) Working with the local artists and theatre groups also strengthened our relationship with the community.
CONCLUSION
We would like to thank Ruben Centre’s management for supporting the radio team throughout
the planning of this event. The radio team is determined to use the strong networks that we
have to improve the lives of Mukuru residents through our programs and also work hard
towards achieving self-sustainability.