MARCUS KWIKIRIZA: Nxt Radio is radio like no other- audio, visual, online and on the go It is now 18 months since Next Media Services, launched its 106.1 Next Radio- Uganda’s first visual radio, promising to revolutionise the radio landscape in Uganda, with over 300 radio stations. We caught up with Marcus Kwikiriza, the station’s General Manager and co-presenter of Nxt Morning Zoo, a breakfast show on the station on how much of the revolution has been achieved thus far.

Marcus is a career radioman having started radio right after senior 6 in Vac. I took a break to seek an education in India for 4 years but have been doing radio pretty much all my adult life. It has taken me to 3 East African countries where I have worked both on-air and managerial positions. So, 20 plus years in the game.

Next Radio- you describe yourselves as Visual Radio. What’s that? Radio is supposed to be audio? Isn’t it?

It is supposed to be audio indeed and conventional radio is exactly that. When Kin (our CEO) asked me to get out of retirement to get back into Radio, I said no because like I said above, I had done it all in conventional radio. But then he told me about this new idea of visual radio and that got my attention.

Visual Radio is like a TV. Everything you hear, you can see. Songs are the videos, adverts are the TV ads (if the client wishes so), and when we talk, you see the presenters talk in studio in real-time. Everything is visual and live; so like I said, it is like a TV. And we can be watched on an App that we have (NXT Radio UG both on Android and iOS), the WEB (nextradio.co.ug), and a channel on Startimes channel 243 (the same way you watch NBS) and enjoy.

At launch, you promised to redefine radio? How did you plan to do this? It is now 15 months since launching Next Radio- what has been the market reception? Have you succeeded in the redefinition? 

Yes, we have redefined radio. The market (our target audience is in love with the possibilities that visual gives them. The fact that I don’t have to be in my car to enjoy radio (4 ways to enjoy Radio all the time as I mentioned above). The fact that I get to see the video of my favorite song on the go (don’t have to wait to get home to watch it), the fact that I get to watch my favourite presenter every day- all these things have made the whole process more enjoyable. The clients have also been very receptive because like I said, they get two for the price of one. Imagine your TV Ad played on Radio, think about that…. (how much does a TVC cost?)

Yourself being from normal radio and the market you are selling to being used to normal radio- what challenges have you met?

As you can imagine, explaining visual audio isn’t easy because it takes time for people to understand the whole concept but we are getting very good reception once it’s understood. The second issue is the Mis-conception that its heavy on your data consumption but once it is tried, our listeners/viewers realize it’s no different from using WhatsApp.

You have been in radio for quite some time and have seen it change over the last 10 years- taking into consideration the advent of the internet, smartphones and generally the internet of things- where do you see radio in the next 10 years- for listeners, owners and advertisers?

Radio is going in the direction we have taken. Internet penetration is increasing and before you know it, all or at least most of radio consumption shall be online. For example, although radio consumption is still largely FM based but the biggest usage is FM on phone (for the youth). And most radio stations are moving to the web when access is not limited by frequency restrictions, thus going global.

Next Radio is heavily online but also has 106.1FM to cater for people who are used to consuming radio the old fashioned way. But the future is online.

We are heading into the elections seasons- perhaps the biggest advertising season. Similarly, I also know there are many brand managers out there who do not know how to take advantage of your audio-visual platforms? What do you have for us? How can you make us stand out differently?

As I have told you, many advertisers who fear to advertise during this time, this is the time when we have most eyeballs/ears. Same as now when we have this Covid-19 pandemic; we are running campaigns to keep our listeners not only up-to-date. We are doing giveaways because in as much as it’s our journalistic duty to keep you informed, most of the information is mostly saddening so we have to find a way to keep people positive and smiling and that is largely our job as well.

Likewise in elections, we shall not only keep you posted with the FACTS of what is happening but it’s a great time to run visual campaigns because the election updates can get tiring. This is the time for brands to stand out and Next Radio is the only station that can bring it to life in audio, visually and on the go- on radio, on TV, on your phone via our apps and online.