In pursuit of excellence in radio broadcasting, winners of the first ever Zambia Radio Awards were announced Friday night at the 1st Annual Zambia Radio Awards, held at the Carousel Shopping Centre in Lusaka.
Notable among the winners was the Trade Kings Zambia who received the Zambia Radio Awards’ Corporate Award to acknowledge Trade Kings’ contribution in doing the most to support radio stations in Zambia.
Trade Kings currently has a presence on over 40 commercial and community stations countrywide, promoting their various products ranging from washing detergents to confectionery to beverages and dairy products.
Trade Kings has had a long running radio presence in Zambia, from initially running its adverts on ZNBC’s Radio 1 and 4 at its inception to widening its reach to include privately-owned radio stations as the company has grown.
The Zambia Radio Awards finalists were selected by a task force of broadcasters, and the winners were voted for by the general public and the votes were tabulated by an independent firm.
Graced by Minister of Information and Broadcasting Kampamba Mulenga, the event looks to grow – encompassing both commercial and community radio stations countrywide.
Speaking earlier at the event, Ms. Mulenga encouraged the organizers of the Awards to make it an annual event, appealing for corporate buy-in, adding that her Ministry would support such initiatives to encourage industry growth
Trade Kings Media Manager James Songwe pointed out that radio plays a pivotal role in advertising Trade Kings’ products to existing and potential consumers.
Mr. Songwe noted that radio has the largest allocation in Trade Kings’ annual media budget – second only to Trade Kings’ spend on television.
“This is because Trade Kings realizes the importance of radio as a media that has far reaching implications and immediacy as radio is available to a large cross section of society wherever they are and at any given time of day. Trade Kings knows that by maintaining their presence on these radio stations, they are playing their part in growing the community radio stations and getting closer to the people who make them what they are today and what Trade Kings will be going into the future. It is an Award well received,” Mr. Songwe said.
Established this year, the Zambia Radio Awards are given to radio stations and outstanding on-air personalities to recognize excellence in radio.
The Zambian Radio Awards is an initiative aimed at creating healthy competition among the various players in the radio broadcasting industry.
The ultimate goal of the Awards is to improve the quality of service delivery in the industry. They are Zambia’s premier and only radio awards recognizing and honouring outstanding achievements in the Zambian radio broadcasting industry.
Participants or nominees were drawn from all radio stations in the country, private as well as state owned.
Big winners on the night included 8 Awards for Hot FM, Sun FM who scooped the 7 Awards in the Northern Zone and Falls FM who scooped 7 Awards for the Southern region.
Well done Mr Fresh Emmanuel Nyoni for this accomplishment…