Bafana Khumalo
With all the bitching about English as she is spoken on SAfm, wait till you hear the Voice of Soweto. It’s promising not to broadcast the queen’s English when the station comes on the air in spring.
But in a spirit of reconciliation, the Voice promises not to slam the phone down on callers with made-in- Woodmead accents.
“The idea of Voice of Soweto was first born in 1990 when we were students at Wits,” says MD Mpumi Dakile. “I saw a guy broadcasting outside the SABC in a caravan, offering road safety advice, and it planted the idea in my head about a station for Soweto.”
But the idea had to percolate for another two years before the Independent Broadcasting Authority called for applications for community licences.
“I then approached a number of people and said, ‘Let’s work on this’,” says Dakile. The outcome was a team that includes Nsimbi Buthelezi, a marketing executive, social researcher Hilton Toolo, market researcher Lindi Dlamini, sound engineer and “technical expert” Biki Moloadi, and advertising copywriter Wilson Mafokoane.
The group’s first task was doing some serious market research in Soweto. “What we found”, says Dakile, “is that people want a community radio station that speaks to them in their own language — Soweto-speak, a mixture of English, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans.”
Having confirmed their suspicions that Sowetans would indeed want to have the Voice of Soweto unleashed upon them, the group then canvassed support for their application and managed to muster support from organisations as diverse as the African National Congress and the South African Police Services.
This done, they joined the queue for a licence. At the IBA hearings, some board members cast doubt on the integrity of their application. It was simply too good.
“Our presentation was very slick,” admits Dakile. “Some of the board members said ours was the most impressive of the applications they had heard.”
Voice of Soweto is the only one of three Soweto stations licensed that doesn’t have to share a frequency. The other two, Soweto FM and Radio Buwa, will have to share.
The reach of Voice of Soweto will spread beyond the townships — its signal will reach Berea and Yeoville. Says Dakile: “Sowetans are a commuter community and we want to reach them when they are working during the day and when they go back home.”
The station will broadcast mainly in English, says Dakile, “but if you come and speak in tsotsitaal we will be able to respond to you. Tsotsitaal is not in the constitution as a language — but it exists.”
So, with their valued licence in their possession, what do they intend to do with it? “Without giving away details of our programming strategy, I can tell you we will not be afraid to experiment. We are looking for a fresh approach.” Voice of Soweto has elected a self- imposed quota of 60% South African music. Does that include Bles Bridges?
After a momentary — and pregnant — silence over the future of the Plastic Rose-wielding One, Dikeni responds: “Well, if a listener calls in and requests Bles Bridges than we, a community service, will simply have to play his music.”
* Voice of Soweto will be broadcasting on 87.6 FM.