Kampala — THE sound of James Blunt's Tears and Rain saturates the Touch FM on-air studios as I walk in to them at 11:22am on Wednesday. Seated behind the mixing console is Malcolm Muyinda, intent on the clock hanging from the wall right ahead of him.

The Most Wanted show, which he does from 10:00am to 12:00pm every weekday is underway. The studios are chilling cold, thanks to the air conditioning. He presses a knob on the console and the music's volume reduces to a bare minimum, being replaced by the hum of the AC. Malcolm puts on his headphones, pulls his seat closer to the console, and urges me to wear my headphones as I take up the co-presenter's seat. It is clear he is launching into a link.

The link is about musicians, actors and pop culture heavyweights who have made it big in the year: Peter Wentz, T.I., T-Pain, Nick Jonas, Bill Kaulitz, you name them. He finishes with the link and opens the studio telephone lines to callers. Most Wanted is an all-request music show. In rapid succession, he takes several requests: Peace asks him to play her Mercy, by Duffy, Moses asks for You're Beautiful by James Blunt, while Dickson requests him to play Just The Girl, by Chick 5, for his girlfriend. I am not familiar with some of the songs, but after all have been played, I realise they all fall under one genre, rock. Going by the name of the programme, Most Wanted, it is easy to conclude that, perhaps, the show is all about the "most wanted" rock songs. It is not. Well, not necessarily.

"Most wanted is basically a request show. It was intended to cater for the most wanted songs of whatever genre, but then somewhere along the way, rock took over other genres. It became much more popular. Out of 10 song requests, eight or nine are rock songs," says Malcolm.

Most Wanted is easily the most interactive of Touch FM's shows, and not just because it plays rock music, a genre that is hardly played by any other radio station. It is also the only show on the station where listeners get the latest gossip and celebrity news from the international celebrity world.

Touch FM is one of the few radio stations in town that consciously front their programming as opposed to personalities. The station's unique British-style music and programme format attracts more listener attention than the presenters do to themselves.

However, ever since about mid-last year, Malcolm has steadily been moving towards being the rare exception to this Touch FM rule. Its listeners closely associate him with rock music, making him the presenter who is closest to becoming a brand unto himself.

Malcolm is a light-skinned, charming, amiable and chubby-cheeked lad who you would never have reason to pick a grudge against. He is chronically shy, and when your firm stare meets his eyes, he somewhat trips on his words, bringing forth a certain vulnerability in him. This vulnerability or innocence easily comes over in his on-air voice. The ladies love calling him just to say: "Hi, Malcolm," even though they are supposed to be placing requests for rock songs.

Since he joined the station in 2004, he has been presenting this show. Besides it, he does The Dish, an extension of the Most Wanted show, between 12:00pm-2:00pm. The Dish features laid-back music that is not necessarily slow for the first hour, and new age music - the likes of Enya, Yanni and Hans Zimmer for the second hour.

"The show is popular because it is one of the only few places where you are going to find rock music. Rock is addictive, too. When you start, you want more and more. Rock is definitive. It has depth of message. It is not like hip hop where someone tells you about their cars, women and money."

Touch FM's listenership is more like a small, dedicated, close-knit family. But, courtesy of the Most Wanted show, it has got an even closer-knit rock music family. These are people who call in to the show almost on a daily basis, and have assumed a sense of belonging to the programme. They go by such names as. "Bernard the Talkative Rocker", "The Old Rocker", "The Ugly Rocker", and "The Sexy Rocker." Interestingly, this sexy rocker happens to be a presenter on another radio station! These people meet every two weeks at Effendy's, a Turkish haunt at Centenary Park for the station's Rock In The Park party, where Malcolm plays their rock favourites.

Franco Baitwa, the station manager, partially attributes the rock music craze to the advent of TV series like Smallville, One Tree Hill and The OC, whose soundtracks are usually rock songs. There is also the Rick Dee's Weekly Top 40 Countdown every Sunday, where he urges listeners to catch every rock song that he counts down on the Most Wanted show. The genre is versatile too, says Franco: "There is metal rock, gothic rock, alternative rock, contemporary, punk, indie and emo rock. Besides, it is very rich lyrically. Some rock is political, some is about love, while some expresses anger. There is no other genre that can depict varying moods like rock.

On a cheeky note, Franco adds: "If you are the worst dancer ever, rock music is the music for you because it does not require any co-ordinated dance moves at all. You just need to shake your body any way you feel like."