Since the advent of private vernacular radio broadcasting in the country two decades ago, this sub-sector continues to witness a vibrant growth that is of unprecedented magnitude.
Leading the fray unsurprisingly, are Kikuyu language radio stations which pioneered vernacular broadcasting in the early 2000s when Kikuyu mother radio Kameme FM hit the Nairobi airwaves on 101.1 FM.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation's Coro FM would shortly go on air in 2001 while Royal Media Services' Inooro FM would launch two years later. Several other Kikuyu radio stations continue to pop up by the day.
Along with these stations have come various on-air personalities that have become household names and part of our day-to-day lives.
Notably among them are news presenters whom many especially the illiterate, semi-illiterate and elderly rural folks heavily rely on to inform them the happenings around their localities, country and beyond.
While many have come and gone, there are a number of these Kikuyu news presenters who have withstood the test of time to become synonymous to news.
Below we sample some of the longest-serving Kikuyu news presenters that we have around.
1. Mungai JM
He has been presenting news since Coro FM officially launched in 2001.
Mungai, for close to 20 years now, has managed to maintain the stature of a typical news presenter going by his strict newsroom activities. Little is known about him outside his lengthy news presentation career.
2. Benjamin Wangari
When Inooro FM launched in 2003, Wangari who prides in being identified by his mother's name, started as the station's breakfast news presenter before later shifting to the midmorning/afternoon time frame.
He is currently Inooro FM's deputy head of radio alongside his newsroom roles that also involve a weekly political satire program dubbed 'Atiriri'.
3. Moses Kanyira
In early 2018, he was fired from Kameme FM after he reportedly criticised Murang'a County leadership unfairly something that didn't augur well with his bosses.
However, Kanyira's sacking wouldn't last for long following a sustained uproar on social media by his army of fans who demanded that he be returned immediately. Kanyira's news presentation career on radio spurns for over a decade making him fit perfectly under this list.
4. Kihara Wa Gathua
Before decamping from Inooro FM to Iganjo FM ahead of its launch in 2018 where he would become the station head, Gathua had become synonymous with evening news on Kikuyu radio. His uninterrupted newsroom career spurns for over 16 years.
5. Fidelis Wang'ang'a
She is the only female news presenter to make it to the list having had first entered the Inooro FM newsroom close to 12 years ago.
The University of Nairobi graduate from Gatundu, Kiambu County, had, however, taken a short break from the newsroom when she used to host the weekdays hourly business program that aired from 7pm to 8pm, as well as Saturday's children, show 'Wakariru'.