Veteran radio presenter and administrator Caroline Mutoko is set to exit Radio Africa Group (RAG) after more than two decades at the company.
Sources told Business Today that Mutoko was leaving by mutual agreement, ahead of planned ma*s layoffs at Radio Africa Group slated for September 2023.
Mutoko, who is also an inf*uencer and content creator, s**t to fame as the long-time host of popular shows on Radio Africa-owned K**s FM including the morning show alongside comedian Walter ‘Nyambane’ Mong’are.
Most recently, she has been working as Group Marketing Manager and K**s 100 program controller at the company.
Like other major legacy media houses in the country, Radio Africa Group has been struggling to keep up with fast-shifting media consumption and advertising trends.
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Radio Africa operates brands including The Star – Kenya’s third most circulated newspaper – as well as several broadcast properties including K**s FM, Radio Jambo and Cla*sic 105.
The company is looking to lay of staff to cut costs and enable it to stay compet*tive.
At the end of 2022, the Group’s Head of Content Paul Ilado issued a memo seen by Business Today, in which staff members were informed of a shift to an ‘aud*ence-first’ approach. Radio Africa disclosed plans to allocate 60% of its staff to digital content, with print to remain with a smaller team representing 30%.
Ilado admitted that the digital-first approach they adopted in 2017 had failed to bring the desired results, revealing disappointing revenues and slowed advertising.
“Five years ago we switched to a digital-first strategy. This strategy was for us to feed our radio stations and websites first. We have tri*d but unfortunately it has not given us the desired results. We need to do something r*****l that wi*l see us generate revenue to pay our bi*ls now that advertising is diminishing daily,” Ilado noted.
