Nairobi is Kenya’s capital and the country’s largest city. With more than nine million residents in the metropolitan area, Nairobi is also home to a lively radio broadcast landscape. One of these prominent stations, Kayu FM, has chosen to serve its listeners using Lawo RƎLAY virtual radio software.
Kayu covers numerous important local and regional topics, airing its programs in Kikuyu, one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Gikuyu people, who form the ethnic majority in Kenya. Taking advantage of the refitting of a former hotel building, Kayu FM combined and renovated several rooms, converting them into full-fledged radio studios powered by Lawo RƎLAY software. The Kenyan system integrator BYCE Broadcast was responsible for the implementation of the project.
Lawo’s RƎLAY virtual radio suite empowers radio talent with a full-blown broadcast mixer, all in software: live audio mixing, processing and source routing can be performed on a touchscreen connected to an off-the-shelf PC or, for remote and on-location shows, a laptop computer.
RƎLAY allows Kayu FM to mix 24 audio sources, as well as AES67-compliant AoIP signal streams, directly on the station’s PC for pristine audio production and output. Rose Kimotho, CEO of Kayu FM, says that “RƎLAY brings professional radio production to our radio station, complete with Audio-over-IP and internal routing.”
“The RƎLAY touchscreen interface is a clean and low-maintenance surface,” says Grace Murungi, Kayu FM’s Program Manager. “And it is so easy for our talent to learn and work with the RƎLAY software – everyone says so. We just love our radio station’s new facilities!”
