Technology wonder boy to go live on the radio the State once rejected
With only a makeshift studio and a not-so-flashy DJ behind the microphone, 104.5 Unjiru FM may not strike you as a typical radio station in modern Kenya. Nearly everything in the small room they call a studio is a contraption – from the record player to the video player, transmitter on a wobbly table, to music albums in a polythene bag.
David Mwangi Macharia, the DJ and proprietor of 104.5 Unjiru FM and Unjiru Television Network, estimates his broadcasting equipment to be worth Sh30,000.
But after getting an official licence to join the battle for the country's saturated airwaves recently, Macharia has gained enough confidence to shout for attention from the rooftops.
"This is 104.5 Unjiru FM, the newest station in town. You are listening to Lingala music by Franco. Don't forget that at 2 pm Madam Mary will bring you country music. Stay tuned,'' he announces on a simple microphone.
It is the dawn of a dream realised for this 34-year-old who, as a primary school pupil, saw his hopes of giving Kenya its first FM radio station dashed by a cynical bureaucracy.
"My dream has almost come true. Twenty years ago, the government only succeeded in frustrating my efforts to run an FM radio. But it could not kill my creativity,'' he says from his makeshift studio in Nairobi's Muthaiga North area.
At 13, Macharia aired light entertainment programmes and "news" bulletins on the Voice of Unjiru from his mud-walled hut at their Unjiru village home in Karatina, Nyeri.
He would rush home from the nearby Icuga Primary in time to read the 1 pm "news" bulletins, close the station and go back to school. He would be back on air between 8 pm and 10 pm.
TheVoice of Unjiru had become so popular many people within the station's 5-km transmission radius opted to tune to the nondescript village radio instead of listening to dull programmes on the government-run VoK (Voice of Kenya). That was in 1985 and Macharia was in Standard Six.
Barely a year later, top VoK officials visited his studios and were stunned by the boy's creativity. However, their mission was not to tap the boy's talents but to order him to shut down the station. They said it was interfering with the VoK signals in the area.
The no-nonsense officials warned the boy against reviving his so-called nuisance radio. Macharia complied until 2003 when he began broadcasting over a one-kilometre radius in Nairobi's Buru Buru estate.
"They interrupted my broadcast and asked me to explain how my radio worked. They were very friendly. After I explained, they just asked me to stop broadcasting and never do it again. They left without carrying anything. Instead of the government recognising my talent, it stopped me from tapping it,'' he says.
Today, Macharia, 34, has not only revived the station, but has made improvements on it. The government has now given him a licence to transmit signals within a radius of around 200 km. He has also been licensed to operate Unjiru Television Network within the same range.
Macharia uses the radio set as the mixer to switch from radio to TV. Both can also be on air at the same time. On the video player is a makeshift camera that doubles as a microphone that is held in place by a pair of pliers.
The anchor has to turn the pair of pliers now and then to capture the images. He switches to the TV set that is tuned to NTV. Using a screw driver, he fiddles with the transmitter until he locates Channel 52 on the TV set, and fine-tunes until the screen is clear.
He sits and tilts the camera with the left hand while holding the microphone with the other. He then announces in Kiswahili: "This is Unjiru TV. Coming up is a movie that will keep you glued to your set for the next two hours."
The pictures are blurred as he makes the announcement and he explains that the problem is caused by intensity of natural light in the studio. He inserts a video cassette and the action movie starts rolling on the set.
Both radio and TV signals are transmitted by yet another simple aerial that is slightly raised above the roof of his house.
Macharia's "media" house was granted the licences five months ago and is expected to go on air officially within 12 months.
Information and Communications permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo said in part: "Liaise with the Communications Commission of Kenya with regard to allocation of frequencies.'' And he warned that the radio licence issued on February 6, 2006 "is not transferrable'' without government authority.
On May 4, the CCK granted Macharia's UTV a broadcasting frequency assigned in Machakos. He had preferred Nairobi frequencies so he could put up his transmission mast at, say, Limuru. But Nairobi is said to be saturated with frequencies. Though UTV and 104.5 FM studios may be in Nairobi, the transmission mast must be in Machakos.
"In order to maximise use of resources and reduce the impact on the environment, the Commission encourages you to consider entering into commercial arrangements with other broadcasters who may already have constructed infrastructure at the designated transmitter site, for accommodation of your proposed transmission equipment,'' said CCK in a letter addressed to Macharia, as Unjiru TV managing director.
The CCK seems to have given the young investor more than he asked for. Though his trial station at Muthaiga has 50 watts and radio signals are clear within a 10 km radius, the CCK awarded him transmitter power of between 1KW and 10KW.
"I am now very comfortable. Clear radio signals can cover 200 km and TV signals 100 km," he says.
Macharia is now sharing the mast on Mua Hills, Machakos, with Eldoret-based Sayare FM.
With the vital documents in his hands, Macharia, a Form Four leaver who used to own a hardware shop at Buru Buru estate before the business went under, is also expected to pay around Sh500,000 in both radio and TV licences. The money has to be paid before his outfit officially goes on air.
"Five people have now approached me offering to buy my licence. But I won't sell it to anybody. It's like selling my birthright. This has been my own initiative and I can only partner with serious investors,'' he says.
The Unjiru TV managing director lives in a maisonette "a friend left under my care when he relocated abroad''.
And how did he come to develop the idea of an FM radio at a time when it was such a distant dream to many?
"My father had a small transistor radio. It went out of order. He and mother would always struggle to revive it. There was no one to repair it. My mother damped it in a box and we forgot about it.
But one day I retrieved it and dismantled it to find out what was wrong. There were some loose wires. I welded them back in place using a hot panga blade. The radio was on again and my parents were happy when they returned home and found it working,'' he recalls.
Neighbour's radio
He was then in Standard Three. Soon he repaired a neighbour's radio and, from then, he became a famous village technician.
"My interest then was why announcers would say 'Voice of Kenya, Nairobi' and not Unjiru, Karatina or Nyeri. That is why I came out with the idea of my own Voice of Unjiru," he says.
After the 1986 State ban, Macharia did not give up his technology adventure altogether. While at Kagumo High School in Nyeri, he made a four-in-one communication system, consisting of a radio transmission station, a radio receiver, a cassette and a record player. He also assembled a door bell and a remote-controlled toy car.
During the indigenous innovation and traditional technology exhibition to mark Kenya's 25th independence anniversary celebrations, Macharia's stand at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, was the centre of attraction. Then President Moi was so impressed by the four-in-one system he asked the student to meet him later.
"I am still waiting to meet him. I think the President had something in store for me. Though he is now retired, I still long to meet him,'' says Macharia.
The bug of invention would still continue to bite this sixth-born son of peasant farmers Stephen Macharia and Joyce Njoki.
In 1994, while still running a hardware shop at Buru Buru, he upgraded his communication system by adding a film projector, remote-control device and a public address system. Besides, he had a two-foot robot and an automatic home security alarm system.
His robot was inspired by the difficulties bed-ridden or physically handicapped people face trying to fetch household items by themselves.
"Ideas just come to my mind and the next thing I do is to try and implement them. Some take long to implement because of lack of funds,'' says Macharia.
Macharia, who has no formal training in electronics, did not perform well in his Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination in 1990. He scored a D+ grade.
"I performed poorly because I used to spend most of my time doing research on electronics," he says.
He moved to the city to earn a living from repairing radios and other electronic goods in Dandora estate. During an exhibition for gifted children at the Kenya Institute of Special Education, his items won the heart of Emily Yego, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
The lecturer informed her husband, Dr J.K. Yego, then a deputy principal at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, who offered the innovative young man facilities for research in 1992.
"Dr Yego provided me with a private office and workshop at the Department of Food Technology to enable me carry out further research. I was a junior technician on contract and students would always consult me for advice. I owe Mama Yego a lot,'' he says.
From Dandora he moved to Buru Buru, where he ran a hardware shop and repaired electronic gadgets.
"I never tried to revive my radio station and transmit news or music for fear of being arrested. I revived the project in 2003 and started looking for a licence. My ambition is to build a big media house that will create many jobs for Kenyans,'' says Macharia, who is the co-host with his wife Mary Wambui.
The couple have two sons aged between four and six years.
As we leave his studios, I select Thank You Mr DJ by Yvonne Chaka Chaka. We tune our car radio to 104.5 FM and enjoy the vibe all the way.
