Standard Group Insider Reveals Why Radio Maisha Went Off-Air
A Standard Group Limited insider has revealed the financial difficulties that led to Radio Maisha going off the air in Nairobi and other parts of the country on Tuesday.
Under the condition of anonymity, the source disclosed to PoliticalPulseChat that the Mombasa Road station has not been able to maintain transmitters and satellite components as required.
Private service providers have terminated contracts with the station after an entity owned by the Moi family failed to fulfill its obligations.
Tuesday, the satellites that allow the company to broadcast its programs were affected by what a source described as a sunspot, resulting in an outage. However, this only persisted for five hours before the services were restored.
A sunspot is an interruption of satellite signals caused by an interference that disrupts the standard data transmission.
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“You can find somewhere in Isiolo and other remote areas, Radio Maisha’s signal has not been working for three or four days. Once the issue is raised after some time, then it is restored,” the source indicated.
He added that the company relied on technical consultants for the management of satellite system maintenance.
“Out of 12 engineers, 4 broadcast engineers were recently fired, hence those remaining were tasked with ensuring all the signals are working to a maximum,” he added.
“They don’t have the capacity to have people on full-term basis at the stations. Currently, they rely on consultants.”
One of the radio stations owned by Standard Group is Radio Maisha. Radio Maisha, a Kiswahili station founded in 2010, covers news, entertainment, and current events.
Journalists at Standard Group are uncertain about their future as a result of the media organization’s financial difficulties.
Early in September, the media company announced a second round of layoffs for 2023.
Standard Group Insider Reveals Why Radio Maisha Went Off-Air