Abstract:
Radio is one of the mass media technologies that were readily
absorbed in and adapted to the patterns of construction and
integration of communities. Among non-elite Kenyans, radio was
inserted into their performative practice of greetings through a
quasi-interactive programme known as kutuma salamu, which
literally translates as “sending greetings.” This article analyses the
practices of kutuma salamu, a significant popular cultural
phenomenon that is worthy of academic attention for at least two
reasons. First, Voice of Kenya was the only radio service operational
in Kenya from the 1960s to 1980s and it was largely associated with
the serious business of official government communication. Second,
in form and substance, this programme was very similar to presentday popular digital social media, yet dates from a time before the
invention of the internet. The article examines how this popular
cultural phenomenon thrived by disrupting official public service
radio and how it mediated the performance of social identities. The
main argument here is that radio has always provided an
opportunity for alternative voices to be heard, and some of these
voices can be understood as metaphorical extensions of the
performance of transgressive social identities.
