Fred Arocho Leaves Radio Jambo

Celebrated sports radio presenter, Fred Arocho, announced his exit from Radio Jambo, one of the stations under the Radio Africa Group.

Arocho penned a farewell message to Radio Jambo followers in a statement shared on his official social media pages on Wednesday, March 29, 14 years after joining the station.

He expressed his gratitude at working in the Lions Place-based company in Nairobi, appreciating the management for supporting him throughout his career at the Swahili radio station.

"I cannot believe how time has flown, it's now 14 yrs since I joined Radio Africa Group, a place I have made home.

Radio Jambo presenter Fred Arocho holding a football. /FACEBOOK.FRED AROCHO

"With great humility, I take this opportunity to formally thank the management (RAG) for the confidence bestowed on me while on air and to my fellow staff members who made the place a wonderful family for me," he wrote in part.

He reminisced the lessons he learnt at RAG in terms of his role as a presenter and on his personal terms and expressed gratitude for the guidance and support during the more-than-a-decade stint at the station.

"My time at RAG has taught me a lot both as a broadcaster and as a person, I will forever be grateful for the guidance and support in my role as presenter, and as I leave I do so with pride and much satisfaction.

"I'm once again thankful particularly to Carol Radull for helping me discover a side of me that might have never been noticed if it were not for the opportunity she offered me!" he went on, further passing the appreciation to his over 1 million Facebook followers.

In a recent interview, Arocho disclosed that he joined the media industry by a mere coincidence. The veteran described his rise to stardom which Radull had facilitated by helping him get his first job at the Radio Africa Group.

"It was a match at Nyayo stadium, where Mathare United was playing Gor Mahia. So I attended that match and incidentally, Carol Radull also attended the match with some fans and there was an issue that brought that game to a halt," he disclosed.

According to him, Radull had scouted him and hired him after a rare encounter during the football match between Gor Mahia and Mathare United and had asked for his number while the match was stopped.

“I was very vocal with my argument as to what stopped the match and Radull was seated close to me. She asked me, “Well, can I have your number so that we can discuss the issue that stopped the match on my show?" he posed.

Arocho accepted the offer and went on to be interviewed by Radull.

“During her show, she called me live on radio and I explained the reason I thought the referee’s decision was wrong and she liked my argument. A week later she called and told me Radio Africa was starting a new station called Radio Jambo and asked if I would like to join the team and become an analyst.

“Well, I took the challenge and the rest is history. Apparently, my interview was done in English. For the first week, Radio Jambo was an English station. Many people might not remember but it was an English station. So I joined and we did our first show in English, then it turned to Swahili," he added.

At Radio Jambo, he hosted The Weekend Warm Up show every Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm alongside Diamond Okusimba and Bramwell Mololo and presented sports news plus offered live football commentary.

He also featured as a pundit on the Sporty Monday show on Citizen TV. Coincidentally, Arocho was a footballer with playing stints at premier league clubs Sony Sugar and KCB.

Fred Arocho during a past Citizen TV 'Daybreak' show. /FILE