Star FM is a privately owned radio station in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and the country's oldest Somali-language broadcaster. Established in 2005, the station boasts of a listenership of millions of people in northern Kenya as well as the capital,

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, and can also be heard across

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

and southern parts of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. With its headquarters in Nairobi, Star FM has transmitter stations in

Garissa Garissa ( Arabic: قارسا) is the capital of Garissa County, Kenya. It is situated in the former North Eastern Province. Geography The Tana River, which rises in Mount Kenya east of Nyeri, flows through Garissa. The Bour-Algi Giraffe ...

Dadaab Dadaab () is a semi-arid town in Garissa County, Kenya. It is the site of a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR base hosting 426,822 registered refugees and asylum seekers as of 28 February 2025, in four refugee camp, camps (Daga ...

Wajir Wajir () is the capital of Wajir County in Kenya. It is situated in the former North Eastern Province. History A cluster of cairns near Wajir are generally ascribed by the local inhabitants to the Maadiinle, a semi-legendary people of high ...

, Madogo in

Tana River County Tana River County is a county in the former Coast Province of Kenya. It is named after the Tana River, the longest river in Kenya. It has an area of and had a population of 315,943 as of the 2019 census. The county borders Kitui County to t ...

and

Mandera Mandera (a) is the capital of Mandera County in the former North Eastern Province of Kenya. It is situated at around , near the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia. Districts Mandera was the capital of the former Mandera District. As a whole ...

in the country's northeastern regions. In Somalia, Star FM has stations in

Mogadishu Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Ocean for millennia and has ...

, Guriceel (89.5FM), Bulla Hawa/

Dolow Dolow (; ), also spelled Doolow, is a town in the southern Gedo region of Somalia. The city sits on the Ganana River near the Somali Region in Ethiopia, just north of Luuq. Buulo xaawo District lies west of Dolow near the North Eastern Provin ...

(92.5FM), El wak (89.5FM), Dhobley (Gedo Region) (89.5FM),

Afmadow Afmadow () is a city in southern Somalia, located in the middle of the Juba region and bordered by Kenya, Badhadhe, Kismayo, Jamame, Jilib, Hagar, Bardhere and Elwaq in Somalia, it's 401 km southwest of the capital Mogadishu. It is home to ...

(89.5FM),

Kismayo Kismayo (, , ; ) is a port city in the southern Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose) province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region. The city is situated southwest of the capital Mogadishu, near the mouth of the Jub ...

(89.5FM),

Jowhar Jowhar (, , Italian: ''Giohar'') is the capital city of Hirshabelle state of Somalia. Jowhar is also the administrative capital of Middle Shabelle region of Somalia. Along with Baidoa, it used to form the joint administrative capital of th ...

(97.0FM),

Merca Merca (, ) is the capital city of the Lower Shebelle province of Somalia, a historic port city in the region. It is located approximately to the southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu. Merca is the traditional home territory of the Bimal c ...

(97.0FM), Dhusamareeb (89.5FM),

Beledweyne Beledweyne (, ) is a city in central Somalia. Beledweyne District is the capital city of the Hiran region. The city is situated in the Shebelle Valley riverine near the Ethiopian border, 210 miles (345 km) north of Mogadishu. Beledweyne ...

(88.5), Abud Waq (89.5FM), Bosasso (88.5FM) and

Galkacyo Galkayo (, ,Dr Badal Kariye Ba Bsit Ma Mba & Phd, ''The Kaleidoscopic Lover: The Civil War in the Horn of Africa & My Itinerary for a Peaceful Lover'', (AuthorHouse: 2010), p.116. Italian: ''Gallacaio also known as Rocca Littorio'') is the third- ...

(88.5FM). The station broadcasts 24 hours a day across Kenya in Somali, English and

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and VOA Somali Service as well as Radio Ergo. Star FM's programming consists of news, entertainment, political, business, sports and humanitarian programmes. “When the station began to broadcast in 2005, the listeners in North Eastern happily identified with Star FM, calling it their own,” the station’s chairman Mohamud Abdullahi Sheikh told the

Daily Nation The ''Daily Nation'' is a Kenyan newspaper. It was founded in 1958 and is published in Nairobi. History The ''Daily Nation'' was started in the year 1958 as a Swahili weekly called ''Taifa'' by the Englishman Charles Hayes. It was bought in 1 ...

References

{{reflist Somali-language radio stations 2005 establishments in Kenya Radio stations established in 2005 2005 establishments in Somalia