Lusubilo Gondwe is Phoenix 89.5FM Radio’s Voice … steps aside after 30 years brand building
Lusubilo Gondwe (left) with Frank Mutubila Talk with Frank (right).
Lusubilo Gondwe is Phoenix 89.5FM Radio’s Voice
… steps aside after 30 years brand building
By Frank Mutubila Talk with Frank
I met Lusubilo Gondwe at the beginning of Radio Phoenix 30 years ago, when Ambassador Mumba Kapumpa and I started presenting Let the People Talk. From that time, she carried a calm presence that was hard to miss, quiet, steady, and full of quiet strength.
For three decades, she has been the true voice of Radio Phoenix, a voice people came to trust without question.
It became part of daily life, familiar, steady, and comforting. I have watched her closely over the years, and what stands out is her rare discipline and consistency.
While others chased attention, she stayed grounded, focused on her work, never distracted by noise or fame.
Her way of reading the news was more than skill, it was care. Every bulletin was clear, smooth, and carried a sense of purpose.
She did not just read stories, she delivered them with respect and meaning, as someone who understood the weight of every word.
After 30 years, she now steps away from the microphone. It is a moment that carries emotion, because voices like hers do not really end, they stay with people. They linger in memory, long after the broadcast is gone.
What a voice, what a broadcaster, what a rare and beautiful presence, and what a lasting legacy she leaves behind.
Phoenix FM was founded by broadcaster and journalist Errol Thomas Hickey who died in 2017. Mr. Hickey was born in Salisbury, in pre- independent Zimbabwe, but came to Zambia over 59 years ago. Most of the iconic early images of an independent Zambia and first president Kenneth Kaunda are attributed to Hickey.
In 1996, Mr. Hickey secured the very first independent radio broadcast license in Zambia and launched Radio Phoenix.
Multi-party democracy had just been introduced and the media market was slowly being liberalised. “Let the People Talk” becoming one of the most popular political and phone-in programs on air for many years. Over the years, the programs saw many veteran journalists host the popular programs such Frank Mutubila, Anthony Mukwita, Kenneth Maduma, Sam Sakala and John Chola anchoring the programme.
Radio Phoenix also spawned workers or those associated with the station become radio station owners, such as Moses Nyama, Ken Tonga and others. Radio Phoenix lived to the meaning of it’s name, rising from ashes when it suffered fires that gutted the station twice at its bases at Zambia National Building Society and ZIMCO house.
And like the mythical bird, the phoenix, the station rose and shone again. Mr. Hickey also owned a lodge and an events and management company. A few years ago, Hickey lost his wife, Ursula to cancer. It was later learnt that he has been battling cancer that had afflicted him the last few years.
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