Ruben Mowszowski
Commuters travelling to and from work might complain about being harangued by preachers in the coaches, but they can always move. However, if Metrorail goes ahead with a plan to pipe radio broadcasts into its trains, those who value the quiet journey will have to put up with it or find some other form of transport.
Metro are fitting out trains to enable drivers to broadcast information to passengers. If a specialised receiver is added, commuters will be able to listen to music and up-to-the-minute information from an outside radio station. It’s a classic opening for advertisers, captive audiences and a potential source of revenue for Metro. The first eight-coach trains with these facilities will be on the rails in April this year, whereafter, the broadcast facilities will be fitted at an annual rate of two or three train sets.
”Though it will take some years for Metro to fit out its 600 or so coaches, our aim is to have radio stations broadcasting directly to passengers,” Metro said. The advantage of direct broadcasts is immediate access to news relaying train delays to passengers.
The realisation of the idea is a long way off. In the meantime, the job of broadcasting train reports for commuters outside of trains has been taken up by a community radio station with a Christian message.
Cape Community FM (CCFM) is one of four religiously-based Western Cape stations. As a community service, CCFM broadcasts train information to 325 000 Metro rail commuters in the Western Cape. It provides a train timetable update every fifteen minutes during peak hours and every hour thereafter.
The station is definitely not evangelical in tone, with only one 15 minute sermon a day. Programmes are always ”good, clean, wholesome stuff,” said CCFM trustee, pastor John Thomas. ”We also play heavy metal music at night,” he says.
Broadcasting out of a former sunday school building in Fish Hoek on Cape Town’s False Bay coast, CCFM shares its 104mhz frequency with Tygerberg Community Radio.
CCFM was started in 1992 by a group of Fish Hoek Baptist Church members. It was granted one-month licences by the Department of Home Affairs in 1993 and 1994 and commenced broadcasting under a one year licence, granted by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), on August 1 1995. Thus CCFM became independent of the Baptist Church.
Members are required to attest to their faith and pay R110 (others can pay R50 and register as supporters).
CCFM’s running costs are met by membership fees, donations and some advertising. They expect to attract more advertising, though they don’t want ads for alcohol, cigarettes and anything ”below the belt”.
CCFM claims its listenership is as diverse as Cape Town’s population.