For ten years, David Bondo’s voice speared through the speakers as he read the news or ran the sports show on Kisumu-based Radio Namlolwe.
The 34-year old father of two boys joined the Luo station in 2009 from Nairobi’s Pamoja FM and resigned early this year to start his own Radio Station, Siaya County-based Ratego 98.1 FM.
In an interview with Hivisasa in Kisumu on Wednesday, Bondo who is popularly known as Captain due to his prowess in sports with a bias towards football said he decided to venture into media ownership after he failed to land a sports commentary platform at his previous work station.
“At Namlolwe, I was not serving the community well through sports commentary since that platform was never there. At Ratego FM I am able to bring my listeners live football commentary of Kenya Premier League (KPL), CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations cup matches involving Kenyan teams almost every weekend,” said Bondo.
Born and raised in Rangwe Constituency, Homabay County, Bondo said he always had passion for Radio, insisting that hard work, persistence and patience has seen him through the far he has come.
He said he used Sh1.5 million to put up Ratego Radio.
“The money came from my savings which arose from my side hustles such as the public address system I own, branding business and football commentary,” says the former Disii Secondary School and Nairobi Aviation College student.
The Station which broadcasts in Luo language started operations in April this year, with seven presenters under the C.E.A Media Africa Company.
Although the Station is yet to start making money the way he would have wished, he does not regret his move of trying a hand at media ownership.
“So far we have received overwhelming support in Siaya County. Going forward, it is my payer that the Communications Authority (CA) gives us frequencies for other Luo speaking Counties of Kisumu, Migori and Homabay,” said Ratego FM’s Director.
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