Africa’s finest power media House, Nation Media Group has today released a statement –that this blog has had access to, that will see it close several of its radio stations that are under the franchise. The giant media gurus will be closing down their radio stations to focus on making their presence online a certified marque and also battle the losses radio has brought overtime. The closure is set to affect a number of employees at the radio stations in Kenya’s Nation FM and QFM and Rwanda’s KFM. Unconfirmed rumors have also informed this blog that Uganda’s Dembe FM could be affected in the long run although the press release says otherwise. Uganda’s KFM shall not be affected and will keep running because of it’s fast rising popularity both online and radio.
Below is the statement the company released;
In the past few months, we have embarked on implementing a new strategic direction that ensures we secure our current business and position the organisation to win in the future. To achieve this, we are cognisant of the changing trends in which individuals are consuming our products. In line with the new reality, we are reorganising ourselves with the objective of transforming the Group into a modern Twenty First century digital content company embracing a digital/mobile first business model.
In this regard, we wish to announce the rationalization of our broadcasting division. This will entail consolidating our television stations into one strong multilingual television station under our flagship brand NTV. We are also scaling down our traditional radio business in Kenya (NationFM and QFM) and Rwanda (KFM). We will keep a live signal and maintain an online presence in line with our digital strategy. The rationalization steps are effective as of 30th June 2016.
Regrettably this will result in a reduction of our workforce through job redundancies. We do recognize that today’s announcement will be difficult for the affected employees and their families. This exercise will be carried out due respect to our employees and within the Kenyan laws. We will strive to provide all the necessary support to help them manage through this transition.
We would like to reassure our customers that we are committed towards delivering value to our audiences in line with their expectations.
