The new kid on the block is Swahilipot FM, the station is owned by Swahilipot Foundation under the Art, Technology and Heritage Centre, Swahilipot Hub.
Swahilipot Hub is a known International icon, nurturing youth talents. It was initiated by a renowned youth Mentor Mahmoud Noor about a decade ago.
The new radio station will be broadcasting in a state of the art Swahili, however some programs will be fused with English language just to ensure the target audience who is the youth is glued all through the live broadcast and entertainment programs.
Swahilipot FM broadcasts on 91.7 Frequency Modulation (FM). According to our source, the program line-up will shake every corner of the Coast region and vast audience through the stations’ digital and audio-visual platforms.
Already, the station plays different genres of music, with bigger percentage targeting the youthful generation, the specific line of the Swahilipot FM target audience.
This programming style calls for informative, educative knowledge, talk, education bonded with entertainment (Edutainment) and mobilisation aspect of the stations’ programming.
The station when officially launched, no doubt, will give its competitors a run for their money.
What it takes
In radio broadcasting, anything new and fresh will shoot up since the audience is looking for fresh, new and different content, however, maintaining the graph will highly depend on the fresh content, programming, program transitions, delivery, news line-up and presentation and monitoring feedback from the audience.
Vibrancy of the presenters, well-researched program content and multi-sourcing of news voices and content can as well stabilise the station to shoot and sustain its top position. It may calmly exasperate its competitors depending on professional position.
With the current financial crisis facing the media industry, those behind the station should have a clear revenue strategy so that the audience reads a different script or else the difference will be the same.
Other stations in the region are leading independent Mijikenda radio station, Radio Kaya, Msenangu FM, Pwani FM, Islamic based radio stations Radio Salaam and Radio Rahma, Sauti ya Pwani FM, Royal Media Services (RMS) owned Bahari FM, MO Radio owned by Nyali MP Mohammed Ali.
Other stations are Gospel radio station Sheki FM, Baraka FM and Kenya Coast National Polytechnic owned radio station Mvita FM.
With such stiff competition, no doubt the new kid on the block Swahilipot FM has an uphill task to make a breakthrough, this demands a well-planned calculated strategy.
