Radio Cririque, Mayelle (08-0026)

My radio Programme critiqueProgrammes: Praise Junction on Hope FM and The Interview on BBC World service.Praise JunctionThis programme airs every weekday from 10:00am to 02:00pm on Hope FM. It is presented by Wambui Mburu, a Daystar alumni. Wambui is warm as she deals with real life issues on her show. She interviews personalities who’ve been there and came through successfully. In the latter part of the show she makes your lunch hour worth while with soothing worship music. Among some of the prominent personalities she has featured on her show are Mrs. Rebecca Ng'ang'a (Daystar University), Mrs. JAne Awiti (DAystar University), and Eda Adoi.

The InterviewThis is a half-hour interview with interesting and prominent people from around the world with a great range of interests and opinions. It is presented by Owen Bennet-Jones and sometime Carrie Gracie. Each week, one person is put under the spot light by either Owen or Carrie, they explore topical issues, personal motivation and interviewee's hopes and fears. Some prominent people who have been featured on this programme are, entrepreneur/philanthropist Bill Gates, Abdullah Abdullah-Afghanistan opposition leader and nobel prize winner Wangari Maathai.


The genre of these programmes is basically Interview mostly profiles. The style of presentation of both shows is largely informal and conversational. For instance, Wambui is warm and empathetic towards her guests and often laughs and chats with them. Owen on The Iterview is also conversational with his guests and shares in the good and bad moments. However, unlike the Praise Junction interviews, Owen Bennet-Jones sometimes gets tough on his guests, he becomes searching and combative when necessary on the show.


I had a hard time making up my mind on the local programme to be compared with a similar one on the BBC. I am an ardent fan of Wambui's programme and I like Owen's interviewing tactics generally from this and other programmes but I thought the two programmes can not be put together; Wambui is so calm and gentle to think she can be compared to tough guy-Owen. But when I checked my notes on interviewing, I realized I was doing the wrong thing comparing them that way and if I continued that way, I would still be wondering which programmes to put together for this assignment. Yes, the notes clearly stated that the aim of an interview is to provide in the interviewee's own words, facts, opinions or reasons on a particular topic so that the listener can form a conclusion as to the validity of what he or she is saying


Now some differences between the two programmes:Praise Junction features solely religious personalities(born-again Christians)and focuses on mainly social and spiritual matters unlike The Interview which cuts across cultures and issues as long as the people are significant in their communities and or world wide and it talks about everything from politics to religion and all depending on the interviewee's background story and experiences.Praise Junction is more of a sequence allowing for other spots to be aired with in the main show. For instance, news updates and commercial breaks are brought in often-the other day for example, Wambui broke into the programme to give some breaking news about some strike somewhere along Ngong road. We don't hear this on The Interview at all, it is a one-off programme. This could be due to the limited time of the show, but then it could mostlikely be the general style/format of the programme.Musical breaks are frequent in Praise Junction, as the interview goes on which is not the case with BBC's The interview.More so, listener involvement is catered for in the Praise JUnction via text messages, people are allowed to comment, question and ask for prayer requests during the show, where as the Interview on BBC is just between the host and guest.I find these differences as what make these programmes unique and interesting. Just imagine all interview programmes on radio sounding almost alike... It has also got to do with the overall style/format, vision and mission of th e station. This is the beauty of radio broadcast!

On originality and impartiality:After listening for all these weeks and more, I have come to conclude that both Praise Junction and The Interview are interview programmes that encompass all the three major types of interviews we saw in class-informational (they impart the listener with information), interpretive (both Wambui and Owen/Carrie sometimes supply the facts and ask the interviewee to either comment on or explain them, emotional (both provide an insight into the interviewee's state of mind so that the listener may better understand what is involved in human terms eg interviewee's motivation, challenges, and fears in life).So, what about originality and impartiality in these shows?Both shows are original according to me. Wambui's programme is outstanding, has its own style and tone which has drawn great numbers of listeners over time. No other show in Kenya or else where I have been sounds like hers and I understand the idea for this programme came straight from her. No wonder she exhibits so much passion and love for it that we can hear over the air waves. The Interview on BBC though like a number of interview programmes on Western radio and television programmes still has originality in it. Owen Bennet-Jones has his own authoritative yet relaxing style of interviewing that makes his show rather different from the others, the fact that it is about this one guest and his or her life experiences liked to social, economic, political, and cultural issues is unique to this show alone (as far as I know).Although impartiality is key for broadcast and other journalists world wide, I guess there's exception when it comes to journalists already aligned/affiliated to particular partisan media houses especially religious and political houses. With this said, there is no need to mention that Wambui Mburu's opinions and conclusions totally lie on one side-in line with born-again Christian morals where as Owen and Carrie try as much as possible to remain impartial at all times-its called journalism ethics. But these ethics are relative depending on where and when and by whom.