For over 20 years, Nairobi residents have tuned in to Classic 105 radio in the morning to listen to Maina Kageni while commuting to work or dropping their kids off to school. His baritone voice enthusiastically welcomes listeners and invites them to participate in an always engaging and sometimes controversial conversation.
“I wake up every day and I’m excited. I can’t wait to interact with my audience. I have something to share. I want to hear what they have to say,” he told CNN’s Larry Madowo on a special edition of the network’s “My Drive” show in Nairobi in early July, adding, “It doesn’t feel like work.”
That love for his listeners has helped him dominate Kenyan airwaves as co-host of the “Maina & King’ang’i in the Morning” show.
According to the State of Media 2025 Report, more Kenyans listen to radio than watch television. The majority, about 55%, watch from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and most don’t watch again until the evening. Radio, which operates mostly in the morning hours, is an important source of information that many Kenyans rely on.
Mr Kageni, 52, has been a radio presenter for nearly 30 years and says his entry into the industry was “the biggest fluke ever”.
In the late 1990s, he went to a radio station to book an ad to promote a DJ brought in from England for an unspecified event. But he didn’t have the 40,000 Kenyan shillings ($309) needed to narrate the ad. So he did it himself. The police chiefs heard his voice and offered him a job.
“If I had 40,000 bob that day, Larry, I would never have been on the radio,” he tells Madowo.
In 2004, Kageni teamed up with famous comedian Daniel “Churchill” Ndamubuki while on air as Mwalimu Kin’angi. Their comedic chemistry and lively debates have made their show one of the most popular in the East African country. It has reportedly held the title of Kenya’s No. 1 Breakfast Show for over 15 consecutive years and won Radio Program of the Year at the Social Media Awards (SOMA) in 2017.
Kageni says people, especially young people, listen to his show because: “First of all, they love things about relationships, and their relationships are crazy, much crazier than the relationships we had when we were kids. Second, I understand their music. Third, I have the funniest co-hosts who are literally unmissable.”
Kageni was driving through the streets of Nairobi with Madowo when he received a call from his co-host Kinanyi.
When Madowo asked about working with Kageni, Kin’anyi replied, “Maina is a genius.”
“One of the things that people don’t understand is the sacrifice and dedication that goes into the job. You know, it’s not about having a good voice or a big laugh. It’s about the dedication, being able to get up at 3:30 every morning on time for the 5 o’clock show. It’s more than talent. It’s more than dedication or sacrifice.”
Kageni’s start in radio may have been a fluke, but his success was no fluke. In order for the show to remain relevant to viewers, he said, they “change their attitude literally every three years or so, otherwise it becomes irrelevant. The audience is getting younger, so we have to accommodate them… So some of the viewers are getting older, so what I’m doing is getting younger people to come in and replace them.”
He said he has consistently targeted “30-year-old single mothers” as his core listeners.
“You need a connection. We always say that your listeners aren’t just customers, they’re your friends. They have to know you,” he added.
According to Kenya’s national public broadcaster KBC, more than 83% of Kenyan internet users listen to podcasts, one of the highest rates worldwide. According to KBC, 93% of these streams come from Nairobi, where Kageni is based. But the rise of podcasts and streaming doesn’t seem to worry him.
“The point is, if you’re always mindful of the quality of your content, you’ll never become irrelevant. Once it becomes easy to miss, streaming or not, podcasting or not, that’s it. So it’s always, ‘What are we offering every day? What does this audience want to hear?’ So even if they’re getting younger, you’ve got to get into their mind and think about what they’re listening to. You’ve got to play it.”
Kageni is more than just a radio personality. He also has other business commitments that fill his already busy schedule.
“I am a director of several clubs here and in Nakuru…I do a lot of real estate, which I am very grateful for, and I got an apartment here in Kilimani…and I have an online marketing and online marketing business, basically running online services for my clients…It provides a very good revenue stream.”
That source of income is definitely useful in feeding his obsession with cars.
“I’m obsessed with the BMW X6…specifically,” he said while driving the fifth version of the car.
“When I first saw it, I knew this was my car. I didn’t want any other car. So I picked it up in the showroom, drove it for three years, sold it, went back to the showroom and bought a new version. I did it five times.”
Besides the BMW, Kageni also owns a limited edition Isuzu D-Max Kipchoge.
Kageni, who has worked in the radio industry for almost 30 years, has some advice for aspiring radio personalities. “You have to be talented. You have to do something second to none. And you have to be dedicated,” he said… “You have to work hard… It’s consistency, it’s focus, and it should never be a job, because then everything else falls apart.”
For Kageni, radio is not only a job, but also a passion. And that passion continues to grow.
“I was very young when I got into radio. I literally grew up in radio. I’ve seen superstars rise and fall, I’ve seen presidents come and go, and I’m still here,” he said.
