Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

Type	Terrestrial television and radio broadcast network
Country	Kenya
Availability	Kenya
Founded	1928 by the Government of Kenya
Slogan	"Kenya's watching."
Broadcast area	Kenya
Owner	Government of Kenya
Launch date	1928 (radio) 1962 (television)
Official website	www.kbc.co.ke

Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) is the state-run media organisation of Kenya. It broadcasts in English and Swahili, as well as in most local languages of Kenya. The corporation started its life in 1928 when Kenya was a British colony. In 1964, when Kenya became an independent country, the corporation's name was changed to Voice of Kenya. In 1989, the Kenyan parliament reverted the corporation's name from Voice of Kenya to Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.

During the rule of president Daniel arap Moi, KBC became the mouthpiece of the government. Each broadcast opened with a piece on what the president had been doing that day. Under the then president, Mwai Kibaki KBC takes a more objective line. The corporation helped mould most of Kenya's notable journalists especially before the liberalisation of the airwaves in Kenya. One such journalist is Leonard Mambo Mbotela whose name has for a long time been synonymous with KBC radio's Idhaa ya Kiswahili (Swahili Service). Others before him included Job Isaac Mwamto, Amina Fakhii, Khadija Ali, and Stephen Kikumu, who was one of the pioneer broadcasters. In the English service broadcasters who pioneered the service were Hassan Mazoa, Sammy Lui, followed later by Peter Njoroge, Elizabeth Omolo and in the prime hey days of the service in the 1970s were Abdulhaq, George Opiyo and Kazungu Katana.