Legally Clueless
Kenyan media personality Adelle Onyango gained international recognition for her work in radio, podcasting, and efforts to empower African women and youth. She launched Legally Clueless in 2019 as a way to centre African experiences and people whose stories are rarely covered by mainstream media. The podcast has more than 112 episodes and 1.2 million online streams. It is also syndicated on Trace Radio Kenya and has a video series. Legally Clueless's grant is funding a tour of Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa and Eldoret to record stories in Kenya’s universities and tertiary institutions. The series will capture various aspects of the lives of young Kenyans in these towns.
“One of the reasons I left traditional radio and started Legally Clueless was to be in the thick of life capturing the voices of Africans, their experiences and thoughts on issues they deem important. I wanted to be able to show the diversity in our people and our experiences. That’s why I also always wanted to take the podcast on the road,” she said.
She added: “I was on traditional radio for 10 years and witnessed first-hand how limiting those platforms are when it comes to telling African stories and unpacking issues they deem important to or about Africa. There isn’t enough effort in showing and celebrating our diversity.
Adele Onyango’s Legally Clueless podcast went on a four-city tour of Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa and Kisumu to record conversations with young people in Kenya’s university towns. The podcast physically recorded 30 people who shared their stories of innovation, inspiration, creativity and their experiences of their country and relationship with the rest of the continent.
Legally Clueless also produced four video episodes of the podcast - 1 for each location that highlighted the storytellers and their locations, allowing audiences to all see Kenya. The audio episodes were published on Castbox, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Tune-in and by the podcast’s syndication partner, Trace East Africa’s radio station in Kenya. The series had 266,247 views and YouTube and 168,970 audio episode streams. It also led to a similar tour in Paris to amplify stories of Africans living in the city.