A new role was created and advertised for a joint Swahili and Somali service based in Nairobi, Kenya.
In addition to the online webcast, the BBC Somali radio programmes are known to be broadcast on FM in 5 areas as of December 2024: Baidoa, Kismaayo, Hargeisa, Burao, and Djibouti City.
Pierce Gerety, a UNICEF representative in Somalia, said it is the most important news source in the country, and that many of the citizens were listeners.
[10] Anthony Oldin contrasts its perceived unbiased reporting with the media in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, in which news organisations spread misinformation and encouraged ethnic groups to kill one another.
[15] In 2006, a former service member for over 30 years said the station's aim is to spread British propaganda and that they are keen to see Somalia split up.
[18] In April 2010, Ibrahim Sheikh-Nor, writing in Hiiraan Online, accused Omar of having excessive control over the station and of running it like a "proprietor outfit".