Happy birthday, BBC Swahili TV
I was proud to be part of the launch team of BBC Swahili TV back in August 2012. At the time it was ground-breaking – the first World Service TV programme (beyond the five-minute bulletins provided by the Russian service to a partner in Moscow) since the launch of Arabic and Persian TV in 2008 and 2009 respectively, as well as testing the new “Multi-Purpose Area” studio in the BBC’s New Broadcasting House to its limits.
So it was fluke that I was also assigned to the programme on Tuesday, when it was celebrating its first birthday – a year on-air. A year of , and an entire 28-minute programme showing the breakdown slate because the entire studio was non-functional.
On their anniversary show, presenter Salim Kikeke took viewers on a tour of the studio, gallery and newsroom. Guess who’s in the red t-shirt in the gallery?
