guest column:Stanley Tsarwe In Africa, radio still has wider geographical reach and higher audiences than any other information and communication technology, including television and newspapers. Like the rest of the world, African radio is breaking away from being an analogue communication tool that relies on top down information flows to one that relies on multiple feedback loops. The main driver of this is digital media technologies. It’s a trend I examine in a paper called Mobile Phones and a Million Chatter: Performed Inclusivity and Silenced Voices in Zimbabwean Talk Radio. I wanted to observe what is really happening at the convergence between radio, smartphones and related mobile-based applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. I found that apps like WhatsApp have indeed grown public discourse by connecting more voices to participate in live talkback radio, but this came with new challenges as newsrooms experience an oversupply of digital information from audiences. I set out to study a local radio station in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe through live studio ethnography and sustained interviews with radio producers and 21 audience members, the latter largely working class Harare residents. Unsurprisingly, both producers and audiences found the convergence between radio and mobile phones is stretching out the communicative space. It allows more inclusive, seamless and real time debate between radio hosts and audiences. There was a strong feeling that radio continues to inculcate a sense of imagined community. One producer said: “Because we have a dedicated mobile line for WhatsApp, our programme has grown a bit in popularity and we know some of our listeners in person. Some of them visit us during the day just to explain a point discussed in the previous show or even to give us story leads. And one of the listeners said: “I tune in to radio through my mobile phone, while I am selling vegetables on the market. I know that my neighbour is listening to this show also.” Apps like WhatsApp have become so pervasive and immersed in our everyday lives that many more people can now easily communicate with larger numbers of contacts than before. In the context of live talk radio, mobile phones are allowing more people to cheaply and conveniently access studio debates. Prior to the emergence of digital media technologies, landlines were expensive and not nearly as widely domesticated as mobile phones are today. By 2017, WhatApp was already by far the most popular app in Zimbabwe. It accounts for up to 44% of all mobile internet usage in a country where 98% of all internet usage is mobile. According to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, promotional WhatsApp and Facebook access bundles, marketed by the country’s mobile operators, are helping drive up use of these platforms. However, there’s also a downside to the advent of digital media technologies and digitalised newsrooms. Observing live studio shows I witnessed a number of structural constraints. For example, while radio audi