CRITIQUE BY MARGARET MUTHEE

CLASSIC 105 BREAKFAST SHOW AND FOCUS ON AFRICA – By Margaret Muthee 07-0562
CLASSIC 105 BREAKFAST SHOW

The breakfast show on Classic 105 that runs from 6 am to 10 am is a Contemporary show whose target audience is young and upcoming professionals. The presenters of the show are Mwalimu Kingangi and Maina Kageni, both in their mid thirties. The plot of the Classic breakfast show is such that they deals or discuss day to day issues and also briefs their audience with the currents news and traffic updates. It also carries forward the aftermath of an afternoon show, “Busted” hosted by a female presenter Ciku. From the busted findings they are able to pick up a topic. For instance one recent busted section, a woman was discovered cheating on her husband with her boss and she kept on uttering the phrase “Oh my God” thirteen times. That became the topic of discussion later. They also get to discuss issues that affect this generation and purely adult contents, for instance, on the 15th of October; the topic of discussion was from the question, “Is it true that currently women are holding much higher positions in companies and organizations than men? And also, “Behind every successful woman is a man or men who has contributed so much to that success.”
They basically play current music and sometimes music that was popular in earlier years known as oldies. The music is however repeated a lot. This can be boring to the audience at times as they already know the music.

There are a lot of unethical issues since some of the discussions held by the presenters lead to some debates. In one show after the census, they kept on discussing how the Luhya tribe will soon overtake the Kikuyu who have been drinking foolishly. They also went on discussing tribes and their stereotypes, like how Luhya’s are watchmen, Kikuyu are thieves and many others. This I thought should not be and especially in a country where people are trying to heal their wounds after post election violence. In another instance they were discussing Tanzanian general elections. One of the presenters kept on reminding us how slow our neighbors are, and how unlike Kenyans they will go to the polling stations discussing among each other who they are voting for unlike Kenyans who will keep it as a secret and only the ballot paper and box will know who has been voted for. Maina, the host, also commented that the results are likely to come out next year as our Tanzanian brothers are never in a hurry. This I feel is a stereotype and was unethical.
The two presenters are in their mid thirties.
The theme of the program is to keep people updated on what is happening and especially as they seat in traffic in the morning.

The program source is local.I feel that the program idea is not really original. Most of other stations have it as well.

Production values

The audio production is great as sound is very clear. They also have a good use of sound effects. The advertisements played during the show are also well produced. The combination of the presenters was a great idea as they use different tonal variations.

The music they choose is suitable for the target audience however, they should minimize repetition. Their mood varies according to what current affairs are. If there is sad news being discussed they tone down their discussions abit, unlike other times when they are laughing.

The continuity I feel is abit lacking as they do not resolve people’s problems and they do not address them in their next show. Other times even in one program, they may move from one topic of discussion to the other.

Story line crafting is not really nice as people may make them deviate when they call in.

Worldview being put forth is secular humanism where people don’t really care about other s feelings, anything can be said.

Values do not complement those of people of faith. They are unethical in some of the ways they handle topics of discussion.

FOCUS ON AFRICA: BBC STATION
On the other hand, focus on Africa is aired on BBC station at 10pm. The presenters of the show are Sophie Ikenye and sometimes Peter Ndoro. The two are also in their mid thirties. Unlike the classic breakfast show that rums for hours, this program is half an hour. It is in form of African news.

The target audience is Africans of all ages as it updates on African issues. These include elections taking place in African countries like in the recent case of Tanzania and Ivory Coast.

Just like the classic breakfast show the theme of the program is to keep people abreast on what is happening but in this case, not in the local context but in the African context.
Unlike the breakfast show on classic they do not play any music. They however have sigtune that breaks between stories. The program is short and most times the news are repeated by the same presenter or later by a different presenter.
The audio quality is good even in their voice overs. However, most of the times they have done translations since different African countries speak different languages. Some of the reporters are also not fluent in English like the presenters of the classic breakfast show.
The tonal variations are good due to different presenters and reporters. I feel that the program idea is original although their content is not entirely local. This is unlike the classic breakfast show. Their audio production is clear.

Continuity in the program is good as they follow up on stories they had given earlier. They follow up on election stories by informing the audience the winners of the elections.
The storyline crafting is good as they start with African stories, other world news that affect our continent and finally sports news. The world view being propagated is humanism where people are made aware on what is happening in other countries, how it affects them and how they can help. They also cover all African countries and not some, and request for views from all over the continent.
In their news coverage, they are not unethical and the value systems they hold do not contest with those of people of faith as is the case with the classic breakfast show.