Glynis O’Hara INYOUREAR
EVER sensitive to trends, especially constitutional ones, a few days of hor= izo
ntality were spent listening to SAfm (104 to 107 FM), employing verticality= on
ly under duress. And one was faced with some serious questions.
Such as: Does Vuyo Mbuli really, really like the music he plays? Where did = Aly
ce Chavunduka get her fondness for Crosby, Stills and Nash? Why is a magazi= ne=20
programme called Woman Today? Does it matter? Is this the only English broa= dca
ster doing drama? Why are there so many awful British accents around? (That= on
e does matter.)
Once the stronghold of Auntie Beeb (BBC) values in Africa, there are now Af= ric
an voices and African interest programmes in the best local twangs, along w= ith
the oddest, old-style hangovers from the past. It’s a fascinating station,=
wi
th a wide range of programming – minus the over-excited, hyperactive tones= of
certain other broadcasters.
Listening to SAfm is actually a bit like dealing simultaneously with a rebe= lli
ous punk teenager and his middle-aged father. It ranges from the occasional= ve
ry trendy, young stuff – like Michelle Constant’s adventure programme Bush= (W
ednesday 8:30pm), to the frankly fortyish with market updates, religious pr= ogr
ammes and loads of classical music. It does not, however, go as young as it= us
ed to. Gon e is the toddler’s 4pm appointment with Noddy, relegated to the merely visu= al=20
confines of television.
The SABC’s national English language station is still, despite loads of cri= tic
ism, often a safe port in an overwhelming sea of noise.
Its morning news programme AM Live is ably presented by Sally Burdett and J= ohn
Maytham (yes, the actor), both of them strong interviewers. Woman Today, T=
ota
l Exposure and Lifestyles in the middle of the day all offer good stories a= nd=20
entertaining, thought-provoking material.=20
Rodney Trudgeon can be relied on to soothe your soul at 2pm with classical = mus
ic, but late afternoon’s PM Live could do with a touch more energy.
The down-side comes from some of the material chosen for dramatisation. Wed= nes
day night’s play presentation, for example, a double bill of Mickey Mookey = by=20
Steve Walker and Diary For Jennifer Anne by Isabella Wilke, went from the a= wfu
l to the riveting.
The first play used a grating ”quack-quack” sound effect whenever Mickey Mo= oke
y’s name was mentioned, coming over like a cross between Donald Duck and th= e w orst of Edgar Allen Poe. Interesting, too, how regional British accents (an= d t here are far too many of them in drama on this station) jar on the ear. Let= ‘s=20
hear it for African voices.
The second piece, A Diary for Jennifer Anne, an Artes award-winner, was pro= voc
ative, disturbing and beautifully read in the rich, earthy African/Afrikaan= s t ones of Elize Cawood. Directed by Hilary Keogh, it entered into the mind of= a=20
child-abusing mother. It was tough, muscular stuff, just the sort of thing = the
station needs.
Saturday morning offers one of the delights of the week in Bruce Millar’s T= he=20
Big, Big Brunch at 10am, with comedy, music, interviews and features around= th
e entertainment world. Graham Norton’s irreverent report from London is a t= rul
y funny highlight.
Other Saturday programmes worth looking our for are Caleb Thondhlana’s Afri= can
Moods (noon), Richard Haslop’s Roots To Fruit (1pm) and Rafe Lavine’s Tota=
lly
Live: And Definitely Not Unplugged at 8:30pm. For all the sports fans, the=
re’
s wall-to-wall sport from 3pm to 7pm.
On Sundays at noon there’s the up-beat Lunch with Africa, usually presented= by
Thondhlana, and The Editors, an informative, brisk and thoughtful look at =
the
week’s top stories by correspondents and editors, with Nigel Murphy.=20
Indeed, studying the schedule, it seems there’s a goldmine to discover. Who= kn
ows? One could even turn the TV off, put down that detective novel and retu= rn=20
to the habits of childhood, when the whole family gathered around the radio= , s hut up for a while and let their imaginations invent the pictures …