Shunned by the local entertainment industry, K.F. Malindi jr. early 2016 joined the great trek down south, armed with only three things, his degree, a voice and a dream.
His hope was somewhat over-ambitious, for very few foreigners yet alone Zimbabweans make it on South African radio stations, not just any radio station, but Africa’s biggest online radio station — CliffCentral.com
“I had just moved to South Africa and was still job hunting a good friend of mine, Kamu Phiri and I were watching Hot 97 and we were like man we can do this,” recollects Malindi.
Knowing he probably had one shot at it, he dared to contact former Idols judge and founder of Cliff Central, Gareth Cliff
“I sent an email to Gareth Cliff like a week later, he responded a day after and two days after that we were on CliffCentral.com.
“In this industry, you just gotta throw yourself out there, you have nothing to lose from trying. In Zimbabwe the entertainment industry shunned me but I still didn’t give up. And now I’m in my second year at Africa’s Biggest online station,” he enthused.
With that boldness, he has been producer and presenter, firstly of a show called Zim Conversations and as of January, No Borders.
No Borders is a programme that seeks to take a conversation to every African, focusing on day to day matters and topics that affect the 21st Century individual. From continental Politics, Current Affairs, Music, Arts & Culture
It was the first radio show to partner with MTV Shuga Down South and air the MTV Shuga Down South Radio Drama Series.
Back home Malindi had built his name in the sometimes thankless music industry, he had managed Youngnash (now signed to Anashe Media Group & HWMiT), facilitated his meeting Yagi Dojo, he also managed Marcques and Mile now signed to Veryus with Verseless.
“I worked at HWMiT Joe Public with Yagi Dojo and Audius Mtawarira and orchestrated the acquisition of major media campaigns with Hivos, The Dutch Embassy in Harare, Women’s University and UNAIDS along with Fungai Zvirawa of Khaya Defero we did Zim’s first World AIDS Day Concert,” he added.
Having hosted the only Zimbabwe Centred show on an International platform, Zim Conversations on CliffCentral.com, K. F is one of those leading a revolution of internet radio stations.
Being part of the history-making CliffCentral, he has decided to also create a piece of history by affording airplay to musicians, who like him a few years back, are shunned by traditional radio stations.
“I despise “Gate Keepers” the people who feel because they have radio shows or are manager’s at record labels they get to decide what’s hot and what’s not,” he explained, as he gets more passionate.
“So I have dedicated my shows to playing music that most stations don’t play I ask upcoming artists to email me their music which I plug and playlist and leave it to the listeners to judge whether it’s hot or not.”
At CliffCentral he has hosted a lot of Zimbabwean personalities as well as market local Zim music, his platform is probably the only foreign program that has pushed Zimbabwean content to a wider audience.
“Being a Zimbabwean obviously I’m biased and I play as much Zim Content as possible and I always try and get guests from Zim to come onto the show,” he said.
“I genuinely feel we have amazing talent, but unfortunately, we don’t have the platforms to market our content,” he added.
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