Community radio is envisioned as one of the ways to ensure participatory communication. However, exactly what participation entails looks different in different contexts. Consequently, conducting research grounded in participatory principles is not straightforward. Indeed, participatory research in community radio may vary depending on the individual context of each station, but presents challenges that cut across the board. For instance, despite context, questions and challenges when conducting research as an outsider to a physical locale include how to best identify respondents, how to ensure that all voices are heard and taken into account, how to communicate respectfully all round, and how to distinguish ‘genuine’ from instrumentalized research contributions. In general, the idea of ensuring a climate of reciprocity, respect and inclusiveness is at the back of the researcher’s mind. However, research contexts are not homogenous and neither are they free from prior influences and power structures - much as participatory communication efforts such as community radio ideally function on the basis of a horizontal power structure. Grasping and navigating these structures, accessing those who do not have a voice in that setting and taking their views into account is a challenge. This paper reflects on research carried out at three community radio stations in Kenya between 2014 and 2017. Each of the stations had a different organisational structure and location, but they all operated under the community radio tag. Furthermore, each of them was a beneficiary of donors external to the station. In seeking to access all views, apart from participant observation, I conducted interviews with funders, advocacy organisations working in the sector, regulatory institutions, station management, producers and audiences, and reviewed organisational documents at each station. Audience focus groups delineated by gender and age were identified as a way to reduce the impact of inherent disparities in social power on contributions to the discussions. As the research progressed, returning to the stations to present and validate the findings was an important step. At the end of the research, the synthesized data was shared with the stations. However, based on the existent organisational structures and hierarchies inherent in the stations, it was a challenge to ensure that the results of the research project were accessed by everyone that they would have mattered to. The issue of gatekeeping by the stations themselves as regards access to information was one to reckon with. Furthermore, there is the question of my positionality as a researcher, and as an outsider conducting research in previously researched contexts and how this may have influenced the data gathered and data analysis. This paper looks critically at the research process and lessons learnt, and draws lessons on how more participatory research in a community radio context may be conducted.