Citizen TV Editors Jostle For Top Positions At New TV Station

The planned launch of Ramogi TV has touched off jostling for positions at Royal Media Services, with senior editors hoping to clinch management positions in the new station. Ramogi TV is expected to go live on 29^th November 2021, the latest addition to Royal Media Services emerging niche of vernacular TV stations.

Ramogi will broadcast in the Luo ethnic language, largely targeting the Nyanza region and pockets of Luo speakers in various towns in Kenya. Ramogi TV will become a sister company to Ramogi FM. RMS already runs Inooro TV targeting Kikuyu speakers mainly in Nairobi and Central Kenya. Royal Media Services will now have three TV stations, 14 radio stations and 12 of which are vernacular.

Senior editors from the Luo community working at Citizen TV news and business desks and Radio have recently been angling – and lobbying – for top management jobs at Ramogi TV with the managing director’s position as the top prize. The fact that journalists have risen into media management has emboldened journalists in their quest into the C-suite.

Media houses headed by journalists include Wachira Waruru at Royal Media Services, Naim Bilal at KBC , while in the past Tom Mshindi headed Standard Group and Nation Newspaper Division and Waithaka Waihenya ran Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.

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Meanwhile, top Citizen TV news anchor Trevor Ombija will be one of the bigshots at Ramogi TV. “In the Luo nation and Kenya as a whole, we mark a new dawn. From the Royal Media Services, we bring you the latest news through reporting from our journalists,” Royal Media Services said in a promotion video.

In the video that has been released by Royal Media Services, the presenters for the new station will include Sharon Ong’ao, Cleophas Oluoch, Joyce Oduor, George Bati, Lydia Okeo, Ochieng Emmanuel, Syprose Okinda and Jael Lieta.

This will not be the first time that Royal Media is using its top Citizen Tv anchors and journalists to promote their local dialect stations. Former top new anchor Michael Njenga was moved to Inooro Tv where he anchors prime time news. Francis Gachuri also alternates between Citizen TV and Inooro, where he hosts a political show every Sunday evening. Ombija is expected to alternate between Ramogi and Citizen TV.

Royal Media is executing its expansion strategy anchored on niche audiences. “RMS will systematically embark on the first phase of product diversification and business consolidation by unveiling four vernacular TV services,” says Mr Wachira Waruru, the managing director of Royal Media Services. “Having pioneered vernacular radio broadcasting, we are keen to continue providing unrivaled and quality broadcast content to Kenyans in their first languages.”

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