By Nkatha Wainaina.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) on Tuesday night held its 5th edition of the KUZA Broadcasting Awards. KUZA Awards is an initiative of the CAK to recognize and fete broadcasters across Kenya, who demonstrate excellence in their broadcasts in line with the regulatory requirements. The annual event seeks to reward responsible and responsive broadcasting as well as broadcasters who have demonstrated patriotism.
This year’s theme was Celebrating Excellence in Broadcasting. Daystar University’s own Shine FM radio proudly represented the school by winning the Compliance Award in the community radio category. All community radios in the country qualified to be in the pool but Shine FM emerged the top based on the monitoring of the broadcaster’s compliance with the regulatory requirements during the 2021/2022 Financial Year. In case you missed the magnitude of the competition Shine FM faced, there are twenty-four community radios in the country.
After a one on one with the elated station’s manager, Chris Avram Waweru, he said that this national recognition has set a cornerstone of brilliance for Shine FM. He continued to say that this doesn’t provoke possible adjustments in running the station but it guides and sets the pace at which the station should always be run.
“I would like to say thank you to the CAK team for the award. I would also like to recognize the Shine FM team for their hard work & dedication. This wouldn’t have been possible without them. We are elated and motivated, to say the least. More is coming from Shine FM especially as we rebrand”, Chris Avram said.
The Awards that started in 2018, enable consumer participation and encourage the use of the broadcasting platform for socio-economic development. It has three categories; the Regulatory Compliance Awards, Collaborative Awards and People’s Choice Awards where the audience gets to vote for their favourite radio and television stations.
Amongst other winners were, Citizen TV for the favourite free-to-air TV in Kenya and Radio Maisha, for the favourite radio station in Kenya.