On February 13, the world will be celebrating World Radio Day under this year's theme "Radio and Peace"
This is a special day that was proclaimed early in 2011 by Unesco members states and later adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 to celebrate radio broadcast, improve the international cooperation among radio broadcasters and most importantly check on its impact on the society as a powerful tool.
Radio has always been recording high rates of content consumption from the public compared to other media channels. From researches drawn from different international reports, UNESCO puts it's clear that Radio is one of the most trusted and consumed media in the world.
Here in our country, the Media Council of Kenya annual state of the media report in 2021 showed that radio content consumption was at 74 per cent. In 2019, the reach was 84 per cent, pointing to the power of radio as the most trusted one.
Radio is a vital media channel to promote unity because of its content consumption.
It's, however,so unfortunate that for years now, the radio has been giving too much space for the airship of foreign content that ranges from advertisements to interviews.
Community radios are nowadays are abandoning their core function and are now broadcasting foreign programmes, leaving our communities ones vulnerable.
People feel part of the society when they hear their drama shows being broadcasted in their own local tribes or language. This creates bond and unity among the people by listening to one programme aired in language best known to them. The late freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela once said, " If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart".
There are some people in our communities who don’t understand Kiswahili and English. But they must feel part of the community and that is where the issue of local content aired in local language comes in. They must be aware of what's going on.
Programs aired in local languages also offer platforms for others, especially the youths to showcase their abilities and talents. Through entertainment programmes conducted in their own language, many feel proud of their language.
Most importantly, local radio stations play a vital role in conflict resolutions, especially during election times, when conflict is speculated. Community radios come in handy to settle them by balancing the story.
Time is ripe for our local content to be respected and seen as special and thus more time on radio. Hiring vibrant community broadcasters and news anchors makes many proud of the radio as they feel well represented. With such, peace prevails.This now calls for each and every radio station to feel proud of its community culture and air local content as it will help in promoting peace.
Wafula Meshack is a storyteller and media and communication student
at Rongo University