By Patience Kipkemoi

Today marks World Radio Day and the theme for 2023 is Radio and Peace. UNESCO has highlighted how radio stations can shape narratives that can influence domestic and international situations and decision-making processes. On this World Radio Day, we choose to look back and appreciate the impact the USIU-Africa radio community has been able to make on the USIU-Africa community from the inside out.

Dinah Mwangi, a co-host of The Connect shared one of her most memorable experiences at USIU-Africa Radio being when she went for her auditions. She shares how the warmth and patience of the radio management was enough to calm her anxiety at the time and get her through the audition.

“Once I joined the USIU-Africa Radio community, working on The Connect with my fellow co-hosts Saleef and Peace was confidence boosting and allowed me to explore my voice as a presenter,” she says.

“I also credit my growth as a news writer and a news presenter to Nick from the news team who offered me guidance and constructive feedback. The USIU-Africa Radio community has been a safe space to see just how much I can challenge herself in order to grow,” she adds.

For some, their love for USIU-Africa Radio community started even before they joined USIU-Africa. Saleef, one of the show hosts on The Connect shares meeting amazing creatives from USIU-Africa Radio and having amazing conversations on and off air. These experiences inspired him to join the USIU-Africa Radio community where he has been able to meet with some of the biggest personalities in the Kenyan music, film and business industry and host them for interviews. Saleef also fondly recalls the USIU-Africa Radio events from the past year as a highlight of his school year.

Just like Saleef, Lisa, one of the hosts on The Unspoken, also recalls one of her most memorable experience at USIU-Africa Radio being The Joyride Podcast campus workshop, where she was able to interact with different people within the podcasting community.

Aside from that, Lisa has been able to form lifelong friendships with intentional friends as a result of the USIU-Africa Radio community. One of Lisa’s favorite moments while at the USIU-Africa radio last year was when her co-hosts Maureen and Flod did a radio special on their show celebrating her birthday that morning and later in the afternoon celebrating her birthday with a cake baked by her friend and co-host Flod with all the other USIU-Africa radio members during the weekly radio meeting.

For our Head of Radio, Kate, radio is very special because it is all about the power of a voice and the impact a message can have. It creates opportunities for different people to communicate meaningful message and share a sense of community with your listener. Her love for radio is mainly due to the way the USIU-Africa radio team is always ready to make things happen. She also adores the sense of community shared within the club. Whether it is through fellow members coming together to create magic or the light banter that seems to follow every radio meeting. That sense of togetherness is something very special that Kate confesses is often very hard to come by.

The USIU-Africa Radio community has been able to build itself back through the COVID-19 pandemic and contribute to the larger USIU-Africa community as a result of hard working and passionate team members who value each other and all want the same thing; a community that supports their passion for radio and media. And isn’t community all we really need at the end of the day?