The Network of Catholic radio under KCCB –Waumini Communications will soon increase to 13 stations after having received more frequencies to establish New Catholic Radio Stations in various dioceses of Kenya.
The Managing Director of Waumini Communications Limited Mr. David Omwoyo told AMECEA Online news that Radio Waumini that the conference has managed to get radio frequencies for the following towns, Isiolo, Kisumu, Eldoret, Maralal, Marsabit, Lamu, Tana River, Molo and Kabarnet while Kitui has had a transmitter for quite some time.
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| David Omwoyo Center with Bishop David Kamau and Maurice Otsieno, Waumini Radio Presenter |
According to Mr. Omwoyo, the way forward for the Radio Apostolate in the country is to have a networking of all these catholic radio station, a plan that will be fully implemented when all the new radio stations are in operation. “If all go well the Catholic Church will be able to reach over 85% of all the Catholic and non-Catholic Christians in Kenya through radio,” he said.
“We are currently working on getting studios and transmitters ready in Kitale, Mombasa, Meru, Kisii, Homabay and Kisumu Dioceses so that they can start by relaying the Radio Waumini signals after which they can begin to increase the local content once they are in a position to do so,” he said adding that “By the end of December this year, the transmitters will be available in these areas.”
So far the Catholic Church in Kenya has radio stations operating from Nairobi (Radio Waumini),Nakuru (Radio Amani), Lodwar (Radio Akicha), Murang’a (Radio Maria)Kitui (Radio Thome) and Isiolo (Radio Shahidi).
Mr. Omwoyo explained that the idea is to have a hybrid of programs consisting of both local content and the national content. “Once the diocesan radio stations are up and running they will be required to fade out their local content at some point and connect to Radio Waumini. Radio Waumini therefore has a challenge to become a real National Catholic Radio Station that broadcasts matters relevant to everybody across the country,” he said.
Hefurther explained that Radio Maria, which operates in Murang’a Diocese, has agreed to support the radio projects in Nyeri, Lamu, Marsabit and Maralal. “What Radio Maria will ideally do is to set up the equipment and give out a percentage of money for running of the station for some time before they can sustain themselves,” he said.
As a sign of progress in the digitization of the Catholic Radio Stations Mr. Omwoyo said currently Radio Waumini can be accessed on-line. “The Zuku satellite facilitates this; anybody with Zuku decoder can now listen to Radio Waumini,” he said.
Waumini Communications Limited is the Social Communications arm of the KCCB. The company was set up in 2012 by the Bishops to coordinate and facilitate Catholic Media in Kenya.
Source: AMECEA Social Communication and Waumini Communications Ltd.
