Highveld Stereo’s new managers are grappling with change, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy
Former Highveld Stereo managing director Eon de Vos has left the radio station after an association of 17 years. De Vos and some of the new owners of Highveld differed on the strategy that should be used to take Highveld into the next century.
Tensions began brewing between the old and the new when Highveld’s staffers moved offices in December and took up space at the Primedia Broadcasting location in Rivonia.
No one can put their finger on the problem but there existed differences of opinion between the new guard and the old-timers from the moment the sale was completed, says one Highveld DJ who refused to be named. The tensions varied from differences in attitude to change in the command structure with the new guard taking over the reins and transforming the newsroom by encouraging the influx of affirmative action cadets who are being trained as radio reporters.
Highveld was sold last year at a cost of R320-million to the Africa on Air consortium, consisting of Primedia Broadcasting, the Mineworkers Investment Company, the South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union and the Women’s Investment Portfolio.
De Vos this week told the Mail & Guardian that he agrees with the new owners that the main goal of commercial radio is to make money and offer advertisers a platform to market their wares. However, he argues that there existed differences between himself and management on the development of an on- air format and the manner in which the merging of cultures was taking place at Highveld.
Colleagues close to De Vos say that he was not fired nor did he resign, but there was an agreement that he and Primedia Broadcasting chief executive Stan Katz should part ways.
“It was amicable but I think De Vos reached the stage where he had to ask himself whether fighting out the differences with Katz was worth all the effort,” said one colleague.
It is understood that it was not a quick decision and was mulled over by the people concerned for some months. De Vos’s association with Highveld began as a DJ in 1979, followed by a management and public relations role in 1983 and 1984. He then went back on air in 1986 and has since been associated with Highveld in various ways, his last position being managing director.
“There are a couple of things that I am looking into but it is too early to reveal any of my plans,” said De Vos, nearly a week after his departure.
Katz confirmed that there were differences between himself and De Vos but said this did not stem from any plans to transform Highveld. The parting, he said, was amicable.
Primedia Broadcasting has a 40% stake in Highveld. The group also holds the management contract for Highveld which effectively puts Katz in charge of the day- to-day running of the station.
Alongside Katz is Highveld Stereo’s non- executive chair, Kuben Pillay. Katz, Pillay and a third party form a management committee which is responsible for the long-term plans of the station.
On the day-to-day running of Highveld, Katz cannot help but spew forth the station’s progress as he sees it.
“There is a great deal of transformation taking place but we are not planning to change the music station’s basic format. We are targeting a 25+ audience and are playing more mainstream adult contemporary music with a strong mix of familiar songs.
“Highveld Stereo used to play a lot of unfamiliar songs and we believe that people enjoy that which is familiar to them. We are conducting extensive research into what our target audience wants to listen to. Meanwhile, we assume that listeners do not like the unfamiliar.”
Katz argues that Highveld’s former managers had not conducted research for many years, thus forcing the station’s new management to reassess its target audience.
Highveld, he says, is involved in an ongoing process of hiring people and has “a fully fledged news team” of 11 reporters. He admits there will be competition for Primedia’s other radio station – Gauteng- based Radio 702 – but believes the roles of the two radio stations differ.
Africa on Air’s Pillay agrees. He says Radio 702 and Highveld Stereo will compete for audiences and adspend which is healthy. However, he adds that the former is information and news-driven, which is typical of talk radio; while the latter is music-based, typical of commercial radio.
“The two news teams operate independently of each other and are targeting different listeners,” says Pillay.
Those who have listened to Highveld Stereo will have noticed a “tweeking of the format” – it has been tightened with more golden oldies being played and there is aggressive marketing taking place on air (such as the punting of Highveld’s place on the dial, 94,7FM).
While Katz talks of the great deal of “optimism and enthusiasm” in the Highveld newsroom, Pillay tells of the promise of performance made to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). Africa on Air vowed to use this investment opportunity to advance previously disadvantaged groups and concentrate on training potential reporters at Primedia’s state-of-the-art facilities.
On affirmative action, certain sources in the consortium argue that some of the veteran staffers at Highveld are not keen to see their positions usurped by upcoming young black talent, while others say this projected paranoia is a misconception and that things at Highveld are “simply hunkydory”.
However, it is believed that Africa on Air was forced to give the IBA and SABC an undertaking that it would not fire people at random on taking control of the radio station. Instead, Highveld’s new management has to ensure that transferred staffers keep their jobs for at least one year, a promise which has, in some instances, proven to be a stumbling block towards progress.
Pillay refused to be drawn on the Katz/De Vos saga, saying simply that the latter decided to leave Highveld’s employ last Thursday.
It is not clear why the two men clashed, but as well-known Radio 702 DJ Chris Gibbons says: “As with most mergers and new acquisitions, there is almost invariably a clash at the top, resulting in one of the big boys spending more time with the family.”
Gibbons, who is also managing director of Broadcast Resources at Primedia Broadcasting, says the company has made a “number of stabs” at affirmative action but these have been “without conspicuous success”.
Primedia is now “going over the ground again”, and has resorted to using a consultant and forming a policy committee which hopes to successfully tackle the issue.
Workshops and consultation are the keys words being bandied about the corridors of Primedia with management feeling the pressure to succeed on the affirmative action front.
“We feel we have a complexion which is pretty male and pretty white and there is a feeling that we have to access a diverse market. There has now been a management drive towards bringing staffers into the equation and hopefully we will get it [affirmative action] right this time round,” says Gibbons.
Currently, the composition of Primedia Broadcasting in terms of affirmative action is 70% white to 30% black. “At Primedia we have one person of colour on the main board, but several affirmative action candidates hold senior positions throughout the company. Let us not forget that affirmative action is not only based on colour but is a question of gender as well and Primedia has several women in key positions.”
Gibbons says Primedia has been around in one shape or another for more than 16 years. In 1980 its radio station was launched with a mixed race format – something which in the new South Africa would be dead right – but a year later, a decision had to be taken to “either go black or white”. Radio 702 went the white route.
“Unfortunately, at the time, the deliberate crossover of cultures and an intentionally mixed format bombed.”
Gibbons admits that Primedia is probably not moving at a fast enough pace for the new South Africa, but he says the company is probably faring better than most with affirmative action.
All eyes are on the Primedia group, especially with its latest and expensive acquisition – Highveld – officially forming part of the stable.
Africa on Air and Primedia take “complete control” of Highveld Stereo in March – which means they will start selling their own advertisements. Currently, the adspend of the radio station is being placed by the SABC, with Highveld’s sales team impatiently waiting in the wings.