Radio Kikuyu

A whole lot about Lotto

Betting has become that thing in Kenya and it’s led me to a question based on my experience listening actively to Kikuyu programming: is sports betting of a kind with Lotto?

As I mentioned in a previous post, the format of morning shows is based on a character or two going back and forth on various topics during the course of the show. Early in the exercise, I used to live-tweet every single word. Then I cottoned on to the fact that most of the talk was selling something. Significantly, it was selling various Lotto platforms.

The draw of Lotto is how easy it is to loop it into any conversation. The only thing that has rivaled Lotto is voter registration period but that was a small window of time; Lotto is a daily event. A classic way in which Lotto is included is that it’s paired with land sale (I’ll dig into the place of land in a future entry) and suggested as a way to make the money one needs to purchase land.

Lotto seems to be one of the way in which radio stations make money. Stations ask their listeners to send the station name to Lotto numbers as they pay for their entries. I imagine it’s also a way to track listenership in the same way your favourite podcast gives you a discount code. It would be intriguing to see the numbers and know: a) how influential radio presenters are and b) what sort of numbers are being generated by Lotto companies off of these promotions.

Lotto is presented as a viable investment option for people from all classes. The fact that entries are only KES 50 is always highlighted: it’s affordable and you stand a chance to make huge returns on your investment. It makes sense, then, that there I am yet to hear critical commentary on betting yet: one does not bite the hand that feeds them.

There is an interesting exception to the Lotto gravy train: Radio Africa’s Gukena FM. Over the last 2 or so months, it has been pushing an insert in The Star that provides odds for sports bettors. To highlight Lotto at the expense of the group’s business would not be wise. They are still operating in the same context: a game of chances makes sense for them.

As you can imagine, I’m curious to know how listeners feel about the Lotto messages. These messages are not limited to the conversational parts of programming (what I have taken to calling ‘ad banter’) as there are also adverts and it can sometimes feel like a deluge of Lotto messages. Are listeners responding? Does Lotto & sports betting figure largely in people’s daily lives? Does interest spike when there are special draws (most recently the Madaraka Day draw)?

Wandia Njoya has written about betting and what it says about a society. It would be interesting to apply that lens to the relentless messaging that accompanies Lotto on Kikuyu stations especially in relation to the Kikuyu identity. It would also be of interest who owns Lotto companies, how they relate to stations, and exactly what is in it for radio stations. Lots of questions, as always.

If you know of people who are doing something similar to Radio Kikuyu, please let me know – it would be great to know how betting is dealt with on other stations.

 

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Radio Kikuyu

Introducing @RadioKikuyu

Since January 24th, I have been listening to, translating, transcribing (on Twitter, as live tweets) and recording several hours of radio in Kikuyu every week.

It began on a lark – my mother had asked me to play Kameme FM (101.1 FM in Nairobi and its environs) and I thought to live-tweet what I was listening to. I started doing it and thought to myself: this can be my service to Kenya this year. I resolved to do it till the end of the year and see where it would go.

I decided to listen to 4 radio stations before the week was out: Kameme, Coro (99.5 FM in Nairobi and its environs), Inooro (98.9 FM in Nairobi and its environs), and Gukena (92.8 FM in Nairobi and its environs). Originally, I listened for 5 hours a day: 6-8am, 1-2pm, and 7-9pm. Over time, this proved to be too much for this one-person operation so I took it down to a maximum 3 hours a day (7-8am, 1-2pm, 7-8pm) if/ when I can.

In February, a friend recommended I divorce my personal Twitter account from the threads I was creating as I live-tweeted. That led to @RadioKikuyu being started on February 16th and exclusively live-tweeting a cross-section of Kikuyu radio. Before then, I had set up a Soundcloud account to make the audio I was recording every time I live-tweeted publicly available. I maxed out on the available time but $135/ year will help make it open.

I have learnt a lot during the last 3 – almost 4 – months and this introduction is to provide some context as I go into various themes in the weeks ahead. I intend to do a post a week and I hope that – in thinking in the open – I will learn alongside those who have thoughts and insights on the project.

Let’s see where this experience leads, and come along for the ride!