Chairs clatter noisily as five people shift their seats to find a comfortable spot in the small room that is the studio of Afrik Lounge Radio, an online radio program. For the four hosts and a DJ, it’s a tight squeeze—especially to cover a place as large as Africa, including news, politics, sports, and music.

Denver-born Temi Osifordunrin pitched the concept of an African-centered radio show to Free Speech TV, a local digital network, after discovering a community of young Africans in Denver looking to reconnect with their roots. Afrik Lounge started airing in March. Even with a primarily volunteer staff, Afrik Lounge was the network’s highest-rated program, with 8,000 monthly listeners worldwide (it’s since been sold to TradioV). Osifordunrin credits the show’s success, in part, to the high-profile weekly guests who join the conversation via phone, like King Peggy, the first female king in Ghana. “This show, as small as it is, has brought the African communities together,” Osifordunrin says.

5280 October 2012
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