am a man on the run. each morning, i struggle to get a reasonable entertainment on the jam due to a non working transport system as i go to work for the working nation. before, it was pretty easy for me. my stereo was permanently on kiss fm. but two things made me change my mind. one was that i thought the nyambane gig was past its sell by date. having been copied by virtually all fm stations and all pretenders to the business.(too many copy cats in this country) secondly, i was told by a friend that listening to kiss is a sign of immaturity since the station targets young people and those who have not grown past their youth attachments (ouch!) so i ran away.
first to easy fm, but even though the music was great and the presenters sounding professional initially, they seem to be hopelessly into sex and sex scandal issues. their prank in the morning when they call unsuspecting people on air and splash their dirt all over to me is rather cruel and uninspired. but sex sells and soon other stations copied the gig. so i run to classic and they are discussing a man who has called in to complain that his wife is insatiable, with 'strong' men calling in to give the gory details of how they do it on their women till the women scream and run away (is it supposed to hurt?) anyway they are asking the man to hand over his wife so that they can show him
embarrassed as i have kids in the car, i run to another fm station and a woman has called in to ask what to do now that her rich husband does not have time for her ...?
come to think of it, Kenyans are surely getting lonely. if people can discus such personal things to details about their life on radio as early as 7AM i think its a pointer to a deep sorry situation. and they give their names and cell phone numbers!
but again i ask, Kenyans have been complaining that tv stations air bad shows when kids are still up, yet the topics discussed in the fm stations when kids are going to school and totally alert are worse. now lucky those who have their cars and can quickly shift to different stations or switch off, if you are in a matatu, the conductor wont listen to you. and all those kids who use public transport are subjected to this kind of abuse every day. no one is watching no one is listening...
i totally agree with you (and am only 20!). Methinks there shud be a stronger censorships mechanism to deal with such silly and immature issues.
ReplyDeleteIf people are in relationships but can't handle their problems in any other way, may be they shouldnt be in them in the first place.
tip: i only listen to BBC radio or my mp3 collection.
Censorship could open an era of harassment by the state. I prefer listening to CDs in such occasions, but I end up missing morning news bits.
ReplyDeleteDamn ya'll are making me miss Kenyan radio big time!
ReplyDeletehmm, call it what you may but we definitely need some sort of regulation. but i do miss home radio.oh, Odegle, ive tagged you, hope you dont mind. 7 things about you that the bloggin community dont know.
ReplyDelete@squth, good advice, though i hate foreign media.
ReplyDelete@kenyanomics , you are so right, once we start censorship, we kill some great talent too. we are between a rock and a hard place
@acolyte, it makes me to realize people out there can miss home. it means home is great
@nyar shady, i will try my level best!
I was talking about this just the other day - we do need some kind of regulation. Radio, just like the movies should be controlled. I too gave up on the mainstream stations and would you believe it, I now listen to Family FM. The music's just as enjoyable but better yet you get off with something positive to start of your day.
ReplyDeleteRegulation? no. I am a big boy I don't need someone else to tell me what I can and cannot listen to. If I don't want to listen I will change the station. If there are enough people looking for a different type of station, then let the market decide if it to offer that.
ReplyDeleteSelf regulation within the media house will do. They should set standards below which the cannot go because it is really tiring in the morning getting your ears assaulted from all quarters while all you wanted was some music to ease your commute.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Join the "Stop talking Matope on Radio" group on facebook.
ReplyDeleteThe blame lies squarely with the managers of the radio stations. They seem to have no control over their presenters. There's no self regulations by the stations themselves (like you would find in some European countries)
ReplyDeleteOne day the government will start to regulate and it will be their own faults.
And what has happened to Capital? It used to be fun, intelligent fun! Now it just sounds a mess.