Radio Rwanda (est. 1961)
is a
radio station
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...
of the Rwandan Broadcasting Agency, a public broadcaster that also owns Rwandan Television, Magic FM, and other public radio stations.
Before the attack of the
Rwandan Patriotic Front
The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi; , FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda.
The RPF was founded in December 1987 by Rwandan Tutsi in exile in Uganda because of the ethnic violence that had occurred during the Rwandan Hutu Revo ...
on October 1, 1990, Radio Rwanda was the only national radio station in Rwanda, representing the views of the state and the party in power. Shortly after the start of the
war, the Patriotic Front created its own radio station,
Radio Muhabura.
In March 1992, Radio Rwanda began to broadcast false information regarding the possible assassination of
Hutu
The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...
officials, after which many
Tutsis were consequently killed in the
Bugesera region. When the transitional government was installed in April 1992, it demanded a programming change of the radio by
President Habyarimana. This preserved the transitional government's role in the state radio, but stopped that of the president's party, the
National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development. Due to the growing influence of Radio Muhabura, radical Hutus created a new radio station in 1993, named
Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines. Radio Télévision Libre frequently made hateful statements against the Tutsis, and several of its journalists were eventually convicted of inciting
genocide
Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
. Although Radio Rwanda and Radio Télévision Libre were two distinct, independent radio stations, they were broadcast at the same wavelengths at different times, which led the population to confuse them.
Radio Rwanda was reestablished between 1994 and 2000, with financing from the German government.
Today Radio Rwanda has become a national public radio with six regional stations including Magic FM (
Kigali
Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...
), Radio
Rusizi, Radio
Musanze, Radio
Nyagatare, Radio
Rubavu, and Radio
Huye. The current director is Divin Uwayo.
In 2013, the singer
Cécile Kayirebwa
Cécile Kayirebwa (born 22 October 1946) is a Rwandan singer. She brought her family up in Belgium, but she has toured and published albums. She is known for singing about Rwanda. She sued Rwandan radio stations in 2013 for failing to pay her roya ...
sued several Rwandan radio stations including Radio Rwanda. She noted that her music was frequently broadcast, but she had received no royalties.
[Court orders Orinfor, Isango star pay Rwf 8.6M to Kayirebwa]
February 2013, GreatLakesVoice, Retrieved 4 March 2016
Notable hosts
*
Noël Hitimana
*
Tatiana Mukakibibi
*
Eliézer Niyitegeka
*
André Sibomana
See also
*
Media of Rwanda
References
External links
Official website
{{coord missing, Rwanda
Radio stations in Rwanda
1961 establishments in Rwanda
Radio stations established in 1961
Defunct shortwave radio stations