When you first meet Douglas, he comes off as a young adult doing a TV job and to him; it’s not a big deal.
Little does this young adult know that for a typical Ugandan teenager looking up to Bobi Wine, Chameleon or Navio, the name Douglas screams larger than life celebrity.
He describes himself in rather few words, “Douglas is a TV personality, family man and also business minded”, he says calmly. In fact, as I settle into the interview, he apologizes for not being able to make me tea.
He has the most famous music show on TV at the moment, the show boosts of over16, 700 face book likes (the most liked Ugandan TV show) and still, that success has not gone to his head.
“You can never assume you are the best, you always need to look and learn from those you think are better”, he says.
In fact, he says it’s this attitude that pushed him to always do better every day.
“Am afraid of being too comfortable. I prefer looking at what my show is lacking to develop it”, he adds.
This year, Douglas' show Katogo was nominated for the yet to be held Radio and TV awards but even when I tell him that am sure he was winning it, all he says is “ God willing”.
Katogo, a show with many pages debuted on Record TV in 2009, it was a result of a major shake up at the station and in a production meeting with the new management, one young producer and active contributor to the meeting Douglas Lwanga was spotted.
“I had earlier joined the station as a background person, so after the meeting, the new manager asked me to do a show and I openly declined”, he says.
“He couldn't take no for an answer thus made me do a couple of shows from political ones, family to katogo its self. He said if I failed as a presenter in one month, he would let me get back to production”,
It was after one month that the manager let him off the hook, not to get back into production but to specifically do a local music show which was untitled at the time.
“The name katogo was a lose translation to mean a mixture of food and drinks. The show was meant to compliment another show on the station which specifically played foreign music”, he says.
However, according to Douglas, the turning point of Katogo was when he had Bebe Cool on the show.
“Because of the controversies between Bebe Cool and Bobi Wine, the two artistes barely trusted any TV presenter. They felt like some presenters and media houses had taken sides”, he narrates.
Douglas exhibits the perfect working culture you will rarely find in a ugandan tv presenter. He makes a log for all the artistes he wants to appear on his show in a specific month. His focus and dedication could not hide, at one time he excused himself to call and confirm the interview with Leilah Kayondo that evening.
He's a former student of St. Lawrence and says, he's not in the entertainment industry by mistake. In his days at Cream Land, he and friends formed a dance group; they ended up performing and touring different St. Lawrence campuses.
“It’s my background as a stage performer that helped me adapt to TV easily. I actually think the ministry of education should find a way of including performing arts in mass communication”, he suggests.
He's also a multi-talented chap that besides his presenting job, he does graphics for cooperate companies and different musicians. He has done concert adverts for Bebe Cool, O Ssuna, Bobi Wine and Konsens's previous concert in Kampala. It’s because of this background that many artists got to know him as a colleague thus appearing on his show whenever he calls.
Not afraid to face his fears, Douglas says he was intimidated by TV's big shots prior to the premier of katogo.
Lucky for him, he didn't have to compete, thanks to the different segments featured on his show.
“my show comes five times a week which gives me an advantage to do a number of things, I can premier a new song everyday and I can report a breaking story when it happens”, he says.
He also adds: “I premier a new song daily and whenever an artist brings his video, they can expect it to be playing in at least three days”.
Though, even with a great work ethic, Douglas has not been saved from artists and their drama. Much as he has not had issues with any artist, he can't say the same about them.
“Someone will bad mouth your show because you are not playing their songs enough times”, he says. He's also had a problem with artists thinking his show is meant to provide PR for them.
“An artist will call you with a story of his rival attacking him and in minutes the rival will call you with a different version of that story. Each of them will want you to consider their story”, he says.
He's also had the taste of our celebrities' always enormous egos, he says, “some people have refused to appear on my show because they feel like they are bigger than the Ugandan TV industry, one said if he was to give me an interview it had to be in the comfort of his home”, he quickly tells me he has no exceptions for his show and all interviews are done at the station regardless of the artist in question.
When I met him at the Record TV studios, he had been editing and organizing music for his show later that day. His dream is to see the show become regional and probably global.
“I want to be able to stream the show on line in a few years time”, he says.
And, like many music pundits, he too thinks Ugandan music is on a crash course due to the lack of creativity, he however feels if promoted enough, world musicians can save the future.
“many people think we hate world artists like Qwela, Maurice or Kaweesa but no, we simply don't get their videos yet we truly believe in them”, he says and immediately shows me clips of Maurice kirya's performances he's yet to showcase on his upcoming episodes.
Katogo is produced by one Wajid and, Douglas gives him various mentions during the live broadcast. Together, they have created a modern TV revolution and their biggest asset is still the perfect connection they have with their audience.
“I try to be as original as possible, I don't know if it’s me or the music that people love. But so far, we are happy with the love the public is giving the show”, he says.
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