The Global Media Research Center presents

Listening to Local Language

Radio in Rural Kenya:

An Ethnographic Overview

Mr. Hezron Mogambi

Visiting Scholar, Doctoral Candidate

University of Nairobi, Kenya

Friday, November 12^th

3:00 p.m.

Communications 1032

In the 1990s, the liberalization of the media industry in Kenya was faced with the challenge of continuing to provide much-needed information to the rural population. One segment of particular interest in Kenya was the rural audience that makes up 80% of the country’s population. This is a research on the role of radio in rural listeners’ everyday lives within a liberalized media environment. Using the media ethnography method, Mr. Mogambi examines the radio consumption habits of rural people in Kenya's Central and Rift Valley Provinces. How do they choose content from the stations that are available? What type of content do they seek and how does this relate to their daily lives?

Mr. Mogambi has found out that radio is the most important and accessible medium in rural Kenya and that local language radio stations are the most preferred ones. Rural Kenya local language radio listeners use radio to obtain information about what is happening locally and beyond.

Hezron Mogambi is a journalist and writer in Kenya. He has worked for the People, The Standard and The Nation Media Group's publications for a period spanning 12 years, during which time he penned articles on education, culture and the Arts. His weekly column in East Africa's only Kiswahili newspaper, Taifa Leo, has been running for 15 years.  He is the current Managing Editor of East Africa's children's Magazine, The Sunshine, published in Nairobi, Kenya and has hosted various local language radio talk shows in Kenya. He is a doctoral candidate in Communication and Information Studies, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Nairobi, Kenya, where he teaches Linguistics and Communication.

~Free Event • Open to the Public~

For more information, contact Laura Germann at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 618-453-6876.