Early Morning Show

For all three stations, there are similarities in the early morning show in terms of length and content. At each station, the early morning show begins between 5 and 6 am, and consists of news of the day and a selected discussion topic. The timing of the shows keeps in mind the typical Kenyan listeners’ schedule, which involves being awake and getting ready to leave the house at these hours of the morning, in order to be at work by 8am, whether formal employment or contract work that is assigned every morning. For farmers, milking takes place before dawn and cultivation starts early. At this time of the day, as the average adult is busy doing things around the home, the radio acts as a companion that keeps them informed and entertained, without requiring any extra attention. Indeed, as presented in the quantitative findings chapter, for the audiences of all three stations, the most popular radio listening times were first thing in

111 There is no clearly outlined policy which the stations adhere to on the issue of copyright infringement, but the Kenya Music Society is over time enforcing payment of royalties to artistes whose music is played regularly at Kenyan radio stations. It remains to be seen how these stations will tread the line between copyright issues and the affordability of original music for their shows.

the morning and last thing in the evening. The listeners gave these times as the most convenient for them to listen to radio, and indicated that they usually listen to radio at home. As a member of the Koch FM audience pointed out, the early morning show “….works with my timing for leaving the house. So when the show ends I know it is time for me to head out.” (Koch Women’s group interview, Koch FM, 07.11.14)

She uses the show as a timing device to keep her on track with her morning schedule, even without checking her clock or watch. In this case, the radio functions not as an entertainment or education medium, but as an aid in organizing her day. She no longer needs to look at the clock to organize her morning. Rather, by listening to radio, she adapts her activities based on what is airing, thereby using radio as a kind of auditory clock that guides her activities through airing specific content rather than through actually stating the time. The time keeping function of radio was especially emphasized in the Korogocho community during group interviews. A recurring recommendation by audience members was that the station tell the time at the top of the hour, each hour, so that the community members would be able to time themselves better.

This underlines the reliance of the community members on the radio as a time-keeping device, beyond the actual content that it airs. In this case, the impact of the radio on the community is not only based on the content that it airs, but on the self-organizing function that it offers through the fact that it has a regular programme schedule.

Nevertheless, the content aired still matters; indeed, the most frequent reason provided by community members at all three stations for listening to radio at all was ‘to be informed’. As a listener at Mugambo FM put it, “When you wake up and tune in to Mugambo you are informed about recent happenings. You can also know more about how the children are going to school or about exams” (Mugambo Women’s group interview, Urru, 10.12.14).

This is an example of the monitorial function of the media, which consists of providing information that serves to alert one about their environment. When one puts on the radio first thing in the morning, they are keen to hear what is going on, both near and far, that might affect them. The stations seem aware of and responsive to this, as they schedule news as part of the early morning show. At the three stations, national and international news are discussed during the morning show, mainly through newspaper reviews, and in Koch FM, additionally through social media reviews. Despite being community radio stations, the news focus is on national news, rather than on community-specific news. The newspaper reviews include further

explanations by the presenters, summarising the contents of the stories and urging listeners to buy the newspapers for more details. At all three stations, there is a strong strand of community engagement through the opportunity to call in and text. However, each station’s morning show has its unique features as described in the following section.

At Kangema FM, the early morning show goes by the name ‘Mucamo wa Ruciini’, loosely translated as ‘Taste of the Morning’. Indeed the producer aims to set the tone for the day in this show, as he explains below:

I go through the newspapers, I highlight issues affecting the country. I look at both national and international news. [The Morning] show consists of local, regional, national, international news, current affairs, social life, issues affecting the community, since this is a community radio. Maybe also the region, the province, and then the national, on the African content and then international….[…]…then at 8.10 I take them through sports news. We start with the local, maybe the location, go to the national then international. Coz people around love football especially the English Premier League and other leagues in the world. So I try to cover all the sports. (MD 2014)

In the case of this show, there is no specific slot set aside for listeners to contribute to the news agenda, such as informing on local happenings or commenting on the national news. Calls and SMS take the form of greetings and song requests. These are interspersed with music in the course of the three hours of the show, with apparently regular callers and texters whom the presenter mentions by name. Some are members of fan clubs, and they take the opportunity to greet other club members and ‘wake each other up’. The communication from the audience is however not limited to greetings and song requests. For instance, in one call, a fan club leader, after sending greetings to members of the fan club, asks the producer to announce a fan club meeting scheduled for the following day ‘at our usual venue in xy café’. Instead of individually calling or texting each group member, the group leader makes use of the locally available mass communication channel. The radio station is in this instance used to convey interpersonal messages among community members. Through greetings and such announcements, the radio station acts as an additional interpersonal communication channel which enhances the available communication options for community members.

At Koch FM, the morning show starts at 6am, and goes by a more context-specific name: ‘Koch Asubuhi’, which translates to ‘Koch¹¹² in the morning’. It consists of newspaper and social

112 ‘Koch’ is the shortened version of the area’s name, Korogocho

media reviews, a debate topic, song requests, features, social announcements, sports, and a slot for listeners to give their opinions on news items of the day. Unique in this show are the social media review, the topical features and the morning debate. In the last two, there is a focus on community-specific issues; not so much giving news, as presenting information. For instance, one of the debates features the topic “what development have you been expecting in your ward which to date has not taken place?” In response, the audience calls in with issues about their specific residential areas: local roads that are not yet tarmacked, a lack of involvement of youth in various local projects, insufficient security lights on the streets, and the continued occurrence of mugging incidents. Several callers mention that in general, security should be improved in Korogocho as some sections are impassable at some hours.

In this slot, the community gets an opportunity to air their voices on issues of concern to them.

Through speaking out about these shared issues, they validate their experiences and therefore their voice as a community. They, through this discourse, constitute themselves as a community public sphere. At this point, one’s individual identity does not count; all that matters is that the person has something to say that concerns the community. In the Habermasian conception of the public sphere, individuals set aside their personal characteristics and engage in rational discussion. They bracket inequalities in order to achieve participatory parity. In this slot, the community takes on these characteristics. Everyone in the community is free to text in and give their opinions, thus making their voices heard in the mediated public sphere created in this show. Coleman and Ross (2010) argue that one of the characteristics of the public sphere as a social space is universality, that is, dealing with collective priorities that are agreed upon in the minds of the public. The contributions to this show have this characteristic, and situate the morning show audience as a public in which members make their social presence felt through their participation in the discussion.

The Korogocho community is also constituted as a public concerned with civic issues in the feature insert, found in the last hour of the ‘Koch in the morning’ show. In one instance, the insert is about Kenya’s constitution, in a slot titled ‘Know your constitution’. It tackles Chapter 5 of the national constitution, which concerns land and environment. In the insert, a legal representative from an NGO extrapolates on the constitution’s provisions about land, and the devolution of land services. The producer then asks listeners to tune in on Tuesday morning the following week for further discussions on the constitution with the expert. Technically speaking, this insert does not sound professional – it features considerable background noise

and some skipping/repetition. However, it tackles an issue of importance to the community, addressing its audience by virtue of the fact that they are not only Korogocho residents but also Kenyan citizens and therefore subject to the constitution. The insert demonstrates the station’s conception of its audience not only as residents in the local insulated from external influences, but rather, as members in the larger national scene who need to be aware of national policy that impacts on them.

At both Koch FM and Kangema FM, sports is an important part of the early morning show offer. For Kangema FM, from 8am, there is a focus on sports news, and the producer is openly a fan of a certain English Premier League Club. A lot of banter with listeners revolves around team standings, with texts either celebrating or complaining about the performance of their teams. At Koch FM, in the sports news slot, the producer gives updates about both Kenyan and international football, such as FIFA rankings for Kenya, match fixtures for the English Premier League, politics of the sport in Kenya, local match fixtures, and where to get tickets and their prices. Koch FM tailors its information based on its physical location: given the location of the station in Nairobi, the producer assumes that listeners would be interested in attending the matches held there. He therefore provides logistical information on the same. At both stations, the detailed sports information springs from listeners’ interest in the game, which cuts across their location as rural or urban audiences. Attending to sports through the media is a shared ritual, which creates and affirms common identities that cut across geographical location.

Similar to the other two stations, at Mugambo FM, the early morning show also features newspaper reviews of the national news. At this station however, there is a specific slot for community members to call in and contribute to the news agenda. This is reflected in the show’s name: ‘Ciairaro’, translated into ‘Overnight Happenings’. In this slot, community members call in with updates on things that happened in their villages the previous evening that are newsworthy. Community members are placed in the position of judging what they term as news and what not. Details of this show and its participation possibilities are covered more extensively later in this chapter.

As seen from the excerpts above, the early morning show for all three stations is a news show, especially national news, but allows for different kinds of community participation. In the case of Kangema FM, the participation is in the form of sending in greetings to each other and

making community announcements. The emphasis is on social connections. In Koch FM, there is an opportunity to comment on national news, and the topical debate allows for discussion of local issues of concern. At Mugambo FM, listeners call in with local news updates. Thus, the three stations play a strong information-provision role for their listeners through the morning show, and so maintain listenership among their audiences. However, with the exception of Mugambo FM, the news aired on the morning show is national and international rather than local/community-focused. Community news only comes later in the day in the rest of the news bulletins. The Koch FM and Kangema FM early morning shows therefore play less of a monitorial role as far as happenings in the immediate vicinity are concerned. Nevertheless, all three stations use the early morning show as a time to air news updates to start off the day.

The choice at all three stations, despite their different contexts, to air national news as the first item of the day, suggests an underlying school of thought about the role of the media, which imagines listeners first as national citizens and then as local community members. It may draw from the ‘nation-building project’ (Ogola 2011) which has over the years strived to constitute Kenyan identity first as a national one, which takes precedence over belonging to a certain ethnic group. It also illustrates Nyamnjoh’s (2005) argument that media practice in Africa deals with both national and ethnic loyalties. Community stations are located at the local level but conceptualise their listeners as both local- and national-level citizens. Although mandated to deal with community-specific issues, community broadcasters seemingly operate on an implicit logic that defines part of community interests as information on national happenings.

However, unlike bigger stations, community media concurrently provide their listeners with the opportunity to participate in local-level discourses about community issues. As an example of community participation in content production and the nuanced nature of participation, I examine the Mugambo FM morning show more closely below.

In the Mugambo FM ‘Overnight Happenings’ show, which includes a news roundup of events in the locality, the content is moulded both by the community members and by the show host.

People call in with information about happenings overnight from their villages. The show host gives guidelines on the kind of content expected: nothing currently in court or being investigated by the police, and nothing of purely personal interest (i.e. it has to be relevant to the community). In addition, anonymous calls are not entertained – anyone who calls in should be ready to give their name – “even a fake name, but a name” (TD, Producer, Mugambo FM

2014). The host then selects an issue for discussion, and asks community members to call in with their opinions about the same. At times this may be a local issue, at other times it may be an issue on the national news. As evidence that the whole community participates in this discussion, he mentions that “even old mamas, they call me, just to debate, to discuss the issue we are debating…I have some 3 fans, who are old mamas over 70, and they are calling…”

(TD, Producer, Mugambo FM 2014) Another producer who alternates on the same show mentions that the target audience is “Everyone in the community. We try to have something for everyone” (MN 2014). However, interviews with different groups in the community regarding their participation in the show reveal a different picture. Whether intentionally or not, it is exclusively the adults in the community who contribute to this show. The youth state that they do not feel that they have the right to call in, and explain it in this way:

… If there is a show contributed to largely by the adults you will take it as belonging to them, so even if it is something interesting to you as a youth, you will not have the confidence to contribute to the discussion. If you are with your parent you tell them your opinion and then they can call into the station on your behalf, because you don’t want to be heard commenting on that issue…we are afraid to be heard “oh, so-and-so is a gossip” especially when we meet in the afternoons as youth in the market...

(Mugambo Youth 2014)

This thought is echoed by the adults, who state that the morning show is their special show, and the youth should focus on ‘their’ show, that is, the reggae show in the afternoon. As a respondent during group discussions explained, “The youth don’t call in the morning. They know the morning is for the adults….those are issues for adults, the youth should let us be…..

Even my son at reggae time tells me ‘now let me have the radio’ and I let him have it to listen to the reggae show” (Mugambo Women 2014).

Thus, much as the show’s producers assume that the show is open to participation by the whole community, participation in the show follows the already existent social norms - in this case, that young people should not engage in conversations where adults are speaking. As such, participatory parity in the Habermasian sense is mediated along age lines. Fiske (1992) sees audiencing – the practices of audiences - as a way of understanding culture. In the case of this show at Mugambo FM, the delineated participation in audiencing the show demonstrates community values. It brings to mind Moemeka’s description of communication norms in what he characterizes as communalistic societies, of which African societies are a part. He points out that verbal and non-verbal communication are delineated along age lines:

Whereas elders have the right to communicate mostly verbally, young children and youths are, by tradition, expected to communicate mostly nonverbally. Because younger generations are presumed to have limited experience in life, they are expected to watch and listen, and act according to what is judged to be the best for them in the context of the overall welfare of the community (Moemeka 1998, 133)

In such societies, should the young people have something to say about an issue being discussed by their elders, then they would be expected to communicate these views through

In such societies, should the young people have something to say about an issue being discussed by their elders, then they would be expected to communicate these views through