As MAMA FM prepares to celebrate its longtime community service, a glimpse of the community radio manifestation is cordial to the journey yet achieved!
“At the time of my joining in 2002 as a trainee, this Radio Mast wasn’t there, Mama FM would tap signal from the UBC radio national mast in Naguru. Everything you see now are developments through time,” Kalanzi Lawrence, a 19years worker at the station relates.
On August 24th 2021, MAMA FM marks 20 years since its first live voice programs hit Uganda airwaves. Over time, it has equitably represented the marginalized especially women.
Envisioned to have the concerns and voices of the less privileged in society to take Centre stage in the Uganda mass media for a fair and just world, Mama FM has made stride in rural and semi urban areas within central Uganda.
Three months to celebrations, the immerse positivity created by existence of the community radio station can only be related by the wide reliable audience and attribution to other stakeholder tireless efforts.
Monday Herbert a security officer and one of Mama FM listeners in Kikulu zone Kisaasi relates that his long time listening to the Senga program on Sunday has largely helped his marriage in terms of peace, unity and respect as a couple with his wife who equally listens in.
“I listen to the program of Ssenga concerning family affairs every Sunday with my wife. Every time we listen to this program and there is an ongoing problem, Ssenga’s program advice helps us resolve our issues instantly and realize our weaknesses. I must say we have maintained a peaceful home all thanks to Mama FM Ssenga program.” Says Monday
Ssenga program is just one of the diverse and vast programs of developmental and interactive content constitute broadcasts of the radio. For example edutainment programs, features, live talk shows, music and news. Some of the talk shows include: Disability is not Inability, current Affairs, Business and Entrepreneurship, Human Rights, among others.
According to research conducted in 2014 by Mama FM about the community information needs as regards the radio broadcasts, it was discovered that the medium has a 4% royal listenership in Kampala.
This listenership base has increased through the scope of time due to improvement of the radio programming. Programming was altered to listener driven topics and more voice interactions within content broadcast, with Luganda as the dominating language of usage.
To date, Mama FM has publicity beyond the listenership to social media audience on Facebook and a growing following on twitter. On Facebook, UMWAMama FM has a following of over 3000 people and a fast growing following on twitter.
Kalanzi, a long serving employee of the station further observes that the radio has had vast transformations in terms of equipment and capacity from the time of its start.
“I have witnessed Mama FM and the Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA) grow through all the challenges the station faced while it was starting some included lack of enough equipment, sketchy audience, and unskilled labor among others,” relates Kalanzi.
Twenty years later, Kalanzi says that the station owns more computers, recorders, a grown audience, skilled labor, among other strides.
Programming Insights
Amidst the challenges of program sustainability due to low advertising and sponsorships, the radio has over time improved in its programming. This is through the increasingly interactive, informative and impactful programs.
Besides the fundamental informative and edutainment programs, there is the news desk which is Luganda oriented and a developing English front. Mama FM continues to generate news content from the community in the surrounding target areas.
As per the 2020 Mama FM annual report, there are 14 news reporters, five female, nine male. These are widely supported by internees from various institutions amidst their field trainings.
Beyond the studio walls, Mama FM has induced capacity building of its staff volunteers through trainings and workshops within the recent years of service. Among the trainings have been on gender sensitive reporting and media gender champions, safety on training protocol, gender media monitoring, to mention but a few.
ABOUT MAMA FM
Mama FM is a women focused community radio which also targets children, People living with Disabilities, youth and men. It is a product and project run by Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA). UMWA was formed in 1983 to cater for the professional interests of women in media and well as information needs of the marginalized.
To effect this, the association had to make outreach programs to communities thus creation of the alternative media, Mama FM in Kampala to serve the needs. The community radio also filled the gap of representative inclusion that was lacking in mainstream media had created.
Thus, it started in 1994, following a situational analysis of women coverage, their portrayal and listening habits. A license of operation was issued in 1999 and frequency allocation of 101.7 in 2000. This consequently led to recruitment of producers, presenters and the first live broadcasts on June 21st, 2001. Since then, Mama FM has unconventionally improved quality of its broadcasts.
It’s a previllage that we have mama fm ,the only community station in the city