Radio Kano from Nigeria.
After searching for the last days, I was able to identify the station last night via an advertisement for a Nigerian company and also received brief confirmation from the station. The exact offset is 728.9991.
Christoph Ratzer to MWCircle iog (2026-01-10)
Here is some background information on Radio Kano:
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE KANO STATE RADIO CORPORATION (RADIO KANO)
The history of Radio Kano dates back to 1946. At that time, the station was founded as a branch of Radio Distribution Services (RDS), which had been established by the British colonial rulers. At the same time, two other Radio Distribution Services were established in Lagos and Ibadan. The first head of the radio distribution office in Kano was Alhaji Bello Dandago (Sarkin Dawaki Maituta). When the station was renamed Provincial Broadcasting Corporation a few years later, various experienced broadcasting pioneers headed it.
It was not until 1958 that a 1 kW transmitter was installed in Kano, which had a coverage radius of about 25 kilometres and covered the city of Kano. The provincial stations at that time mostly carried only a few of their own local programmes and mainly repeated programmes produced centrally in Lagos or regionally in Kaduna. Programming was further fragmented by the need to divide airtime between the national network in Lagos and the regional station in Kaduna.
These Radio Distribution Services later developed into the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS), which in turn became the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in 1956, with its headquarters in Lagos. In the following years, further stations were established in other provinces of the federation.
After the creation of the federal states in 1967, the provincial stations of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation largely retained their independence in their respective states. It was not until 1978 that the then federal military government decided to reorganise the country’s broadcasting landscape. As a result, Decree No. 8 of 1979 was issued and the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) was transformed into the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). This led to the federal military government handing over all NBC stations in the various states to the respective state governments for independent administration. As a result, only four FRCN stations (Kaduna, Enugu, Ibadan and the headquarters in Lagos) remained under direct federal administration.
The former NBC station in Kano was renamed Kano State Radio Corporation (Radio Kano) after the handover in 1978/1979.
Radio Kano now has a second channel called Radio Kano II FM Stereo, which was founded in 1986 and began broadcasting in 1987. This FM channel was set up primarily for the purpose of musical entertainment – a concept common to FM systems worldwide. The FM channel is now the station’s most important source of income.
Radio Kano is currently divided into six departments, each headed by a director or deputy director. The departments are:
Administration & General Services
Programmes (AM)
Programmes (FM)
Engineering
News & Current Affairs
Commercial Services
Radio Kano’s headquarters are located at No. 1 Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Kano, and are commonly known as “Gidan Bello Dandago” (House of Bello Dandago). This is where the studios, control rooms (links) and FM transmitter are located.
Additional AM transmitters are stationed in Tukuntawa and Jogana.
Radio Kano currently broadcasts on the following frequencies:
Tukuntawa Tx → 549 kHz (wavelength: 546 metres)
Jogana Tx → 729 kHz (wavelength: 412 metres)
FM Tx → 89.32 MHz & 96.89 MHz
OB Link → 366.72 MHz {Outside Broadcast Link}
Radio Kano is thus active in both the traditional mediumwave (AM) and modern FM bands, covering the Kano region and surrounding areas with its various transmitters.
https://de.scribd.com/document/388062151/Brief-History-of-Kano-State-Radio-Corporation
Christoph Ratzer to MWCircle iog (2026-01-11)
Kano’s transmitters were removed from WRTH 2024 for a good reason: they were reported to be off for a longer time by a local listener. Both he and I tried to contact the station about the situation, but they didn’t reply. I asked my contact again and he says, that it is heard now, but only irregularly and only on 729 kHz and only relaying FM, no more separate programming. The state is said to be in political chaos.
Christoph, as you have a fluent contact with them, could you please ask if on 729 kHz they are on with the 25 kW Jogana transmitter or if it is even something new?
And is 549 kHz expected to be back? Manoma Radio?
Mauno Ritola to MWCircle iog (2026-01-11)