ONE ON ONE: Kobi Kihara

BUZZ: Who watches the show, considering that most guys are trying to beat morning traffic?

Morning television is something that is relatively new in Kenya; it started around 2007. The nature of it is that many people are on the move.

But there is a huge demography of people who, between 6am and 9am, are still not leaving the house. We found a lot of these are women and young people between the ages of 24 and 40, and that’s our target.

We want to  remain true to that audience and create an impact.

Who’s the brains behind the show?

I am the producer and I oversee the daily running of the show, but it’s a team effort. The whole team comes together and ensures we produce a daily live show, the only one in the station, three-hours a day.

Being a producer and a presenter is quite hard, I’m on air a lot and so I do have to let the reins go and let other people assist in directing. We do have a great team that has become like family. But I came up with the concept and format.

You’ve worked at Citizen, Kiss and now NTV. Do you feel you now have this thing down to a pat?

I’ve had a production company since 2006 — With An Eye Productions — that produces TV shows and conceptualises programming for different shows across Africa.

When I left Kiss I focused a lot on that, creating amazing quality content and programmes. The opportunity to work at NTV came at this time when I was freelancing and I realised having a daily programme where I can showcase my talent is incredible.

But I wouldn’t say I have it down 100 per cent, because you can’t achieve that level. It’s about constant growth, but I feel the natural organic progression for me would be a day-time show which I would be the host.

Your stay at Kiss was very short

I realised I’m not a news person; originally, the idea was doing news differently and creatively, giving the regular mwananchi an opinion and giving the anchor a voice within the story. But it became something else, it was churning out story after story and I realised very quickly I wasn’t happy.

Was it boring?

No, I covered the Sinai fire and I followed up on the victims for a year. The news cycle in this country is very fast; people’s challenges and hopes get cycled so fast — 12 hours and your story is gone.  I just couldn’t do that. I wanted to have a certain impact towards making people’s lives better and I felt news wasn’t doing that for me, I was just reading. Sometimes it’s difficult, how do you walk away from a story, say, from the Garissa attack story?

Are you happy with your career now?

I’m very happy and fulfilled at the moment. I feel it’s definitely headed in the right direction. But with everything, there must be balance, there must be a reason and someone you’re going to; to sort of reflect why you’re doing it, and I feel I’m in that balance.

So you have someone special to share it with?

Yes I do, but he is a very private person. I’ve come a long way in my love life and relationships. I was very superficial about the kind of person that I picked. Now the things that I want are companionship, fulfilment, trust, a safe haven and a God-fearing man who is going to love me, and it doesn’t matter in what kind of package they come in. It’s become so hard to date in Kenya.

I think it’s an epidemic the Ministry of Health needs to deal with. Anyway, I like how it’s working out, so far.

You balance out your different personalities very well; you manage to sound street-wise yet classy.

I grew up in Washington DC, went to high school in America, university in England, did my photography in Paris, my masters in Canada and then I moved back home after 20 years.

I realised a lot of people in the media put on a persona, I don’t know why, and that locks out a huge demographic.

With AM Live, I realised we need to talk to the people who matter, wasee wa mtaa. I also grew up in Lang’ata, there’s no way, even with such extras in my life, that I could forget the 13 or 14 years of sheng and matatus. So as a producer I do have to talk to them in their own language, the show is for them, and if the three of us are sitting there and all we do is twanging, then we’ll lock out a huge part of the country.

Do you still take a matatu?

When I was at Citizen I used to, even when I was on air, and people used to ask me for money, people couldn’t believe I would take a matatu. It got so crazy I started taking a taxi.

If I’m coming to the CBD between nine and six pm, I will certainly take a matatu, I don’t have a problem with it. I’m not going to drive in that traffic and spend another one hour looking for parking, then pay 300 bob because I’m going to pick up something at Super Cosmetics. If you think other people are watching how you live, Oh my God, you will lose yourself.

Does being on TV make you self-conscious about your body image?

It does, and the thing is my weight fluctuates a lot. I don’t have a problem with it, though. When you come on air you’ll actually get a lot of compliments but you always pay attention to that one criticism. I’ve had only one very negative comment that I’ve seen.

This guy just really went off, and he didn’t talk about my weight, he talked about my forehead, my boobs, and my Kikuyu legs on Instagram.

He wouldn’t stop it until I deleted, blocked and reported him. But it is one’s responsibility to be healthy and fit. I do a lot of yoga and I’ve lost like 10kg; a lot of it is also due to stress and embracing hunger, not just yoga (laughs).

Do you think the television industry is shallow because there is so much emphasis on looks?

Yes, when I was at Citizen I used to go to work in torn jeans and braids, never did my eyebrows and not a spec of make-up, maybe just eye liner, and I was happy with my look.

Then I was producing the morning show and I was looking for presenters. I was called into a meeting and asked to present the show, so they threw me to Catherine Kasavuli. She was like, you are a train wreck, this is going to be a project (laughs).

So I hang out with her and we became friends. She taught me about hair, make-up and then came my eyebrows.

I remember we had a 24-hour fight, I didn’t want to tweeze them, but she told me ‘Kobi, listen, I know what I’m doing’. I remember looking at myself after the makeover and wondering if that was seriously me. My boyfriend at the time didn’t realise it was me after the makeover.

After the photos were in the papers, I started paying attention to that and I hated it, and I still do, to date. Most of these presenters, if you ask them what would be their ideal look, they would totally give you something different than what the standard is. But I get it, as an employee, you have to remain loyal to the brand.

How many pairs of shoes do you have?

I’ve recently just let go of two huge bags, but definitely a hundred pairs. I’m getting someone to create a shoe closet in my car for my boots. It’s a problem. The other day I brought two wrong pairs of shoes and one of the camera guys told me I have shoes in the studio. Sometimes I don’t even know I’m missing shoes. It’s shoe o’clock all the time.

What do you binge on?

When I obsess, I really obsess. For about a decade it has been chips, sausage and Fanta. I love nostalgic moments and that reminds me of my childhood. But I think this comes from the fact that I worked at a Five-Star restaurant for 10 years. Every time I went home for summer or Christmas I would always go back to the restaurant and they would always take me back.

I worked as a hostess, a waitress, a bartender, then I became too chaotic and my manager put me in the kitchen, so I became a sautee chef. Now I’m obsessed with sweet and sour chicken. But I’m juicing this year.

How do you think AM live is doing, compared with the other morning shows?

The other shows are very editorial and AM Live is a lifestyle show; we still have room for improvement. I get worried sick every quarter year when I’m waiting for the Synovate numbers to come because I want this show to be number one and for it to make a very big impact.