RockCity Radio 98.4FM jams into commercial broadcasting

Tororo’s RockCity Radio 98.4FM is set for its first official live broadcast on December 11, 2023 just two weeks after the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) gave it a green light to start.

The cultural leader of the Jopadhola, HRH Kwar Adhola Moses Stephen Owor will be the first voice on the new radio as it marks the start of commercial broadcasting ahead of a planned launch next year.

Tororo Broadcasting Network Limited Board chairman Geresom Okecho-Ochwo announced the plans at the weekend after he received a communication from UCC. “On behalf of our radio committee, I with profound happiness inform you that on November 24, 2023, the Uganda Communication Commission cleared Tororo Broadcasting Network Ltd (RockCity Radio broadcasting on FM 98.4 MHz) to commence commercial broadcast,” he said.

While live signal tests to Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya started early this year, some UCC technicalities and requirements were not in place, thus the delay for a radio that licensed to operate a commercial station in Tororo on December 1, 2022. The radio has however been online since January 2022.

“This radio is our joint pride; therefore, it is incumbent upon us to make it grow and dominate the air waves near and far. Let’s in unison nurture it jealously; let us extend support through personal advertisements, entice corporates, and utilise our recording studio,” Okecho-Ochwo remarked.

Okecho-Ochwo, who is also head of the radio fundraising committee of the Tieng Adhola Cultural Institution (TACI), said close to Shs500 million has been raised since a Shs600 million fund-drive to establish a radio to serve Tororo district and beyond was first initiated in 2020.

TACI radio fundraising committee Treasurer Constant Mayende said RockCity is set to start. He put initial operational costs to ensure the right staffing levels, overhead costs, and top grade programming to compete on the commercial radio front in Eastern Uganda, at about shs100 million

President Yoweri Museveni donated Shs200 million to the cause earlier this year to complement generous financial donations by individuals, institutions and corporations.

A house offered by Ambassador Bernadette Olowo- Freers in Tororo central business district to be rented has been repurposed, wired and is hosting the radio studio on James Ochola Road.

“I am excited that our voice… the radio has come of age and at the right time when we need to mobilise our people for development,” said NRM Electoral Commissioner Dr Tanga Odoi on social media, when he heard a date was set for the start of commercial broadcasting. The Independent