98.4 Capital FM

Infobox Radio station


name = 98.4 Capital FM
frequency = 98.4 MHz
area = Nairobi
other frequencies = 93.0 Western Kenya | 98.5 = Nakuru | 98.5 = Nyeri | 103.9 = Meru | 98.4 = Mombasa
format = Contemporary
owner = Chris Kirubi
website = [http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/ www.capitalfm.co.ke]

Capital FM is a Kenyan urban music radio station which made its debut in September 1996. Its offices are currently situated on the 19th floor of Lonrho House, along Standard Street in Nairobi's Central Business District. It is owned by one of Kenya's leading entrepreneurs, Chris Kirubi.

Background

It was the second FM station to be opened after 101.9 Metro FM shortly after the liberalization of Kenyan airwaves. Since then, a number of other FM stations have been started catering to all tastes, but 98.4 Capital FM continues to be a popular station especially among the middle-class and upper-class markets. They play a mixture of hip hop, RnB, rock, neo soul, new jack swing, world music, jazz, techno and dance music as well music from the local artists. They have a show for local music called the "East African Chart show", playing the latest hits in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Profile

Capital FM aims to always provide “The Best Mix of Music”.Capital FM is a cosmopolitan station that aims to transcend all age, sex, and cultural boundaries.Capital FM caters to 2 types of consumers: - Listeners AdvertisersListener Demographics: A, B, C 1 socio economic group, aged 12- 55yrs.Capital FM is heard in Nairobi and its environs, Mombasa, Western Kenya, and worldwide on its website, www.capitalfm.co.ke.

Due to its longevity in the market, Capital FM due market has the highest advertising revenue among FM radio stations in the country.

Capital FM Revenue Sources

Apart from regular broadcasting, Capital FM's other revenue sources include promotions, events/outside broadcasts, sponsorship opportunities, and commercials/creative services.

Promotions- Capital FM offers promotional services to various companies that wish to promote their services or products on air so as to expand their market share. These promotions range from on air competitions, frequent mentions during broadcasting and outdoor roadshows in different towns throughout the country.

Events/Outside Broadcasts- Capital FM organizes tailor made shows that are specifically designed to capture the ambience of the particular event, thus including those listeners who are not at the event. These events are designed to work within client’s promotion objectives, as a source of immediate feedback from the public and add value to the activations.

Sponsorship Opportunities- Through Capital FM’s many shows and features, the station aims to create positive brand associations for a client’s brand/product. Listeners are constantly exposed to the product through repetition and high profile adverts during peak times. Capital FM aims to devise specific sponsorship opportunities around a client’s brand objectives based around the wide variety of shows they air.

Commercials/Creative Services- Capital FM offers in-house commercial production, taking care of everything from scripting to jingles, VOX Pops and the final polished commercial. The station makes an attempt to keep their rates competitive given the crowded FM station market in the country.

Popular Kenyan radio host Caroline Mutoko, now based at Kiss 100 FM in Nairobi, first worked at Capital FM.

Notable Presenters

*Eve D'Souza is a popular presenter especially among the youth. Better Known as the "Queen of Kenyan Hip Hop," she joined the station in 2001. She presents "Hits Not Homework" which airs Monday through Thursday between 16.00 - 19.00 GMT. The show mainly plays rap and hip hop, and more recently crunk. She, along with DJ Adrian, is one of the longest serving presenters currently at the station.One of the features on her show is Chit Chat.

CHIT CHAT

Chit Chat is a daily feature that runs from Monday to Thursday on 98.4 Capital FM in the evening from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm where young listeners are given the opportunity to call, email or SMS the studio and tell the on air presenter about some of the issues that they are facing that they would like advice on. The topics of discussion normally range between, break ups, how to handle various situations in a relationship, HIV/AIDS, promiscuity, abstinence etc. ideally, the topics lean towards relationships. The on presenters read out their issues and ask the listeners to provide probable solutions on how the issue can be tackled.

The target audience is ideally the youth (13-21 years) but there are also older listeners who can relate to these issues or want to find out more about the lives of teenagers today that tune in.

The presenters read out some of the texts and emails that the listeners have sent in and attempt to use that and their personal opinion to guide the topic to come up with a solution to the issue at hand. Point to note is that the listener is offered options to which they can use to make their decision.

*Nini Wacera presents "Late Night Capital", airing between 19.00 - 22.00 GMT. The show mainly plays RnB and blues.

External links

* [http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/ 98.4 Capital FM official website]