Popular television host Jeff Mwaura Koinange is set to launch his first ever radio show on Nation FM. Mr Koinange, a veteran journalist who has worked for both local and international television stations, has been triggering his loyal fans with a ‘coming soon’ message.
This comes after Nation FM fired most of its radio journalists and presenters in September as the radio station’s ranking continued to plummet. Mr Koinange’s show, which will play country music, is expected to commence this Sunday, 6th December from 5 to 7pm on Nation FM. It will be coming immediately after Larry Madowo’s, which airs same day 2-4pm.
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This is Mr Koinange’s maiden entry into Kenyan radio and his appearance is hoped to boost listenership for Nation FM especially in its target urban market. He says that he is yet to retire and that he has been warming up for this. Mr Koinange also hosts JK Live talkshow on KTN every Wednesday and Thursday and is expected to use it and his social media popularity to drive audience to his radio programme.
Nation FM has been struggling to seduce the urban audience and advertising for years. Last year, it had to revert to its original Nation FM name after a rebrand to EasyFM failed to deliver commercial value. It even brought in Jimmy Gathu to shore up its ratings after Angela Angwenyi exited, but that hasn’t swayed the numbers. Nation FM and QFM are not among the top three in any region.
See also: Why Nation Media fired the entire radio newsroom
The radio market is crowded, with over 200 radio channels in Kenya. Regional radio stations are shaping the radio landscape, with 46% of all radio listeners tuning in to vernacular and 20-25% of them exclusively, according to figures from the Government Advertising Agency (GAA).
This leaves a small audience and advertising pie for the urban radio stations to fight over, with Royal Media’s Radio Citizen and Radio Africa Group’s Radio Jambo and Classic taking the top three slots of national popularity. Citizen also tops in Rift Valley and Western followed by Kass FM and West FM respectively. In Central, Kenya Inooro tops followed by Kememe while Nyanza is dominated by Ramogi then Lake Victoria.
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