Have you ever thought of starting a radio station? Well, it is important to understand the regulations associated costs before venturing into the business.
Importantly, you need a license from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) before thinking of going live on air.
CAK has three categories of Radio licensing. They include;
- Public Broadcasting.
- Commercial/Private broadcasting service.
- Community Broadcasting services.
Public broadcasting license is only given to Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) which is a national broadcaster. It owns TV, radio stations and a host of digital products.
Commercial or private licensing is given to individuals or companies who want to run a radio station for commercial (profit) purposes.
Community Broadcasting Services licensing is given to individuals or groups that want to run a community radio. A community radio station focuses on issues affecting a certain demographic and is not aimed at profit making.
If you intend to be playing copyrighted music content on your radio station you will also need to apply for a license from Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK).
If you want to start a commercial free to air radio, you will pay an application fee of Ksh10,000. If your application is approved by the regulator, you will pay an initial license fee of Ksh100,000. Subsequently, you will be paying Ksh100,000 per year or 0.5% of annual turnover if the amount is higher than Ksh100,000.
For community radio you will be required to pay an application fee of Ksh1,000. If your application is approved you will pay Ksh15,000 for operating license and renew annually at cost of Ksh15,000.
Community radios pay Ksh10,000 per month to MCSK while commercial radios pay between Ksh200,000 and Ksh700,000 depending on coverage of music played.
After getting your operating licenses, you will now need to buy basic radio equipment which include:
- FM radio Transmitter
- Antenna
- Coaxial cable
- Power supply
- Equipment Racks
- Connectors
- Audio Equipment
- UPS
Depending on the quality and sophistication you need for your equipment, the above items will cost you between Ksh500,000 and Ksh2 million.
