Just a week after massive sacking that pushed out a number of prominent journalists from Mediamax’s print and electronic divisions, it has emerged that the lay-off was informed by poor performance of the radio stations and TV channel.
The worst hit by the financial woes is K24 which guzzles Ksh64 million per month but brings in an average of only Ksh20 million in a good month, according to figures seen by BusinessToday, meaning it records an operating loss of Ksh40 million every month. Per year, the stations guzzles Ksh480 million without a return on the investment. This despite an expensive relaunch in 2013 which involved poaching of presenters and reporters from rival TV stations with huge salaries.
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That investment certainly didn’t pay off and the management has had to bite the bullet and sack some of them and get replacement at a lower cost, as its operations were being run by Kameme FM and the People Daily. K24 has already recruited new anchors including Swahili anchor Mwanaisha Chidzuga, formerly KTN, and Zawadi Mudibo from WTV among others who have formed a ‘dream team’ that will relaunch the TV station on November 23rd and hopefully grow its audience and attract elusive advertising. Otherwise, history will repeat itself.
Related: K24 and Milele FM presenters who were pushed out
The People Daily, initially the black sheep, now rivals Kameme FM at the top. In a good month, PD and Kameme rake in Ksh50 million each. On the other hand, Milele FM earns Ksh20 million a month, while the other radio stations – Meru, Pilipili and Mayian – struggle to hit Ksh10 million.
Meanwhile, the company’s plan to launch a Kikuyu TV station has been shelved due to what could be cashflow issues. Kameme TV was mooted 18 months ago with the studio already prepared, but the management has been dragging its feet and was recently overtaken by Royal Media Services which launched Inooro TV on 26th October. “Citizen ran away with the idea and actualised it. Mediamax managers were left with an egg on their face,” says a source.
Meanwhile, some editorial changes have been made which have seen Kipkoech Kormurgor, Mercy Njoroge and Anne Mbotela join the Subs Desk after the weekend paper folded. The fate of weekend Managing Editor Patrick Wachira is, however, yet to be known.
Next Read: See members of K24’s dream team here
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