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R 211242Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0217
INFO RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 0013
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0014
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RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0003

UNCLAS NAIROBI 002646 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR AF/PPD WHARTON, KEMP, STRASSBERGER 
IIP MURPHY, DOMOWITZ 
AF/E DRIANO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KPAO KMDR KE
SUBJECT: Kenya's Media: Part II - FM Radio Stations 
 
REF: NAIROBI 2640 
 
¶1.  (U)Summary.  This is the second part of a four-part report on 
the state of the Kenyan Media.  The parts are:  1) Overview and the 
new media law; 2) Radio Stations; 3) Media Houses and Cross 
Ownership; and 4) Role of the media and New Trends.  The 90s 
liberalization of the broadcast industry combined with radio's 
innate advantage over other media have caused the number of FM 
stations in Kenya to multiply.  The major contributing factor was 
the explosive growth of vernacular, tribe-concentrated stations. 
The vernacular stations played a questionable role in the 2007 
post-election violence.  Many fear that small but popular radio 
stations will be gradually absorbed by a handful of powerful media 
houses or rich politicians.  The new media law is making an attempt 
to streamline licensing and clarify the distribution of 
frequencies.   End summary. 
 
--------------- 
 
Had to be Radio 
 
--------------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) Radio remains the most pervasive and affordable medium in 
Kenya, especially in its rural areas.  Although the media sector 
has exploded in the last fifteen years, television sets are 
generally owned only by the country's relatively small urban middle 
class.  More than any other medium, radio speaks Kenya's local 
languages, and showcases local culture and way of life.  Low 
production and distribution costs make it possible for radio to 
flexibly interpret the world from local perspectives, and to 
respond to local needs for information.  A 2008 Gallup survey 
indicated that 94 percent of Kenyan households owned a radio while 
only 30 percent owned a television set.  The same survey showed 
that only eleven percent of Kenyans read newspapers on a daily 
basis, while 81 percent reported that they received information 
daily via radio. 
 
 
 
------------------------------ 
 
Multiplying at Breakneck Speed 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) The first private FM station, Capital FM, began 
broadcasting in 1996.  Soon, many stations sprang up in both rural 
and urban areas.  The Royal Media, one of the most powerful media 
houses in Kenya, perfected the art of rural outreach, with more 
than 20 stations throughout the country focusing on local news. 
Later, stations such as Kameme and KASS mushroomed after it was 
noticed that Kenyans, especially in the slums and rural areas, 
preferred broadcasts in their tribal languages.  Initially, they 
were available only via the state-run Kenya Broadcasting Company 
(KBC), which broadcast for two hours a week in 17 different 
languages.  Following the lead of Nairobi's "Kameme," the number of 
vernacular stations exploded.  Now, virtually, all tribes in Kenya 
have FM stations broadcasting in their own language. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U) There are five different types of FM radio stations in 
Kenya: mainstream, vernacular, religious, community and foreign. 
Radio listenership tends to be regional, and those mainstream 
stations which broadcast in more than one region and in either 
English or Kiswahili account for 40 percent of the existing 
stations.  Vernacular stations account for almost 25 percent. 
Community stations operate on community sponsorship and are barred 
from commercial advertising.  Currently there are seven community 
stations in Nairobi.  Pamoja FM, which operates in the Kibera slum 
is representative:  it is underfunded, its journalists are unpaid, 
and it reaches about one million listeners.  Religious stations 
attempt to propagate certain religions as Hope and Baraka 
(Protestant), Waumini (Catholic); Iqra, Rahma, Salaam, and Star 
(Muslim).  Foreign stations include BBC, VOA, Radio France 
International and a Chinese station.  The BBC started a 24-hour 
 
service in Nairobi in 1998 and has since expanded to Kisumu and 
Mombasa.  The VOA began transmission with a 24-hour relayed signal 
in June 2001. 
 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
Vernacular Stations: Mixed Blessing 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶5.  (U) The explosion of FM radio stations can largely be 
attributed to the proliferation of vernacular stations.  According 
to the Media Council of Kenya, Kenyans tend to tune into English or 
Kiswahili stations for entertainment but to vernacular stations for 
issue-based information.  Particularly in rural areas, information 
on agriculture --planting, seed selection, rainfall, fertilizer and 
the produce markets is passed by vernacular stations.  One of 
Kenya's most dominant tribes, the Kikuyu, is served by five 
stations - three nationwide and two regional.  To list only a few 
from the kaleidoscope of ethnic stations, there are stations such 
as Inooro (Kikuyu), KASS (Kalenjin), Geza (Kisii), Karamugi (Luo), 
Mushi (Kamba) and Mlenbe (Luya). 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Proponents of vernacular stations, such as Rose Kimotho 
of Kameme and C.K. Joshua of KASS, argue that it is not the medium, 
the language, but the content that is crucial and stations use 
vernacular languages only because many feel much more comfortable 
with their own mother tongue.  They maintain that any language 
could incite violence and that language alone cannot be blamed for 
tribal violence.  Many Kenyans enjoy their identity as a member of 
a certain tribe and prefer the ease of receiving information in 
their own language rather than having to digest the same 
information in English or Kiswahili.  Vernacular radio is an 
efficient way to bring a broad cross section of the population into 
the decision making process.  It also plays an important role in 
educating the mass in the rural area where the government failed to 
do so.   Wachira Waruru, Managing Director of Citizen Group, which 
runs several vernacular stations, said that denying Kenya such a 
tool would mean depriving the majority of Kenyans of information. 
Some even insist that terming vernacular stations "bad," stems from 
a colonial mentality where all languages other than English were 
discouraged. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Opponents of vernacular stations, such as Michael Mumo of 
Capital FM and Peter Kimani of the Standard Daily, think that they, 
by nature, exclude members of other tribes and create a sense of 
division among Kenyans.  The majority of Kenyan journalists agree 
that the media, particularly vernacular FM stations, played a 
questionable role during the 2007 post-election violence. 
Vernacular stations became the tool for certain political forces 
and provided a platform in pushing their agenda.  Empowered with 
metaphors that only their tribes could understand, the vernacular 
stations pitted one tribe against another in many instances.  Some 
presenters of vernacular FM stations could mobilize their tribesmen 
effectively along a political agenda.  Joshua Sang of KASS FM, 
enormously popular in the Kalenjin region, is a good example.  In 
November 2009, two Kenyan journalists filed complaints against Sang 
and KASS FM to the Media Council for exposing them to public debate 
"in a manner that was likely to cause them harm from listeners." 
Sang allegedly castigated two journalists on air for writing 
unfavorable stories about the recently formed Kalenjin Council of 
Elders and threatened them that he would burn their fingers if the 
story was covered in a negative light.  Cases like this will 
continue to feed suspicions about vernacular station for "fanning 
ethnic animosity" and creating a dangerous environment in the 
run-up to the 2012 presidential elections. 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) A few media experts maintain that vernacular stations are 
a temporary fad, which will phase out as Kenya undergoes more 
urbanization.  Sheila Amdany, former owner of Simba FM and current 
Secretary of the Media Owners' Association thinks that vernacular 
 
stations are a "fashionable thing for the time being to be faded 
out in time." 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) According to the Media Council of Kenya, the problem lies 
in the lack of capacity in the Kenyan government to monitor what is 
being broadcast.  According to Wachira Waruru, Chairman of the 
Media Council, although vernacular stations have been accused of 
inciting post-election violence, there is no well-documented 
evidence.  Even the Waki and Kriegler reports - comprehensive 
reports on the post-election violence -- do not include any 
concrete examples of radio broadcasts linked to specific 
violations. 
 
 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
For Some, Vernacular Speaks Money 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Radio Africa owns 44 frequencies with six FM stations in 
operation currently while Royal Media is running 22 FM stations in 
Kenya, most of which are vernacular stations.  Popular Classic FM, 
KISS FM, East FM, Jambo FM, X FM, and Smooth FM all belong to Radio 
Africa.  The Chairman of Royal Media, S.K. Macharia, of the Kikuyu 
tribe, was the first media owner to rapidly expand into vernacular 
stations.  As noted in reftel, recent changes to the Kenya media 
law and regulations try to curb the unchecked appetite for more 
frequencies by a few owners by stipulating one frequency per 
broadcaster in the same area.  Powerful media houses such as Royal 
Media have vowed not to surrender the frequencies already in their 
possession, even those frequencies that are not being utilized and 
kept idle.  In fact, Royal Media says it plans to open more 
vernacular stations in the near future. 
 
 
 
¶11. (U) The Ambassador regularly does live call-in interviews on 
the radio, including vernacular stations. 
RANNEBERGER