Ferial Haffajee and Maria McCloy on Radio Metro
NO announcements were made, but it’s not like people didn’t notice that one of Radio Metro’s stalwart DJs, and the presenter of Bush Telegraph, Lawrence Dube, wasn’t there anymore.
Dube was hauled off air in May when the radio consortium of which he was a shareholder won a coveted commercial licence for Gauteng. His role in the consortium was perceived by the SABC to pose a conflict of interest.
This week lawyers were adding the finishing touches to a settlement pay-out for Dube, whose contract would have run to the end of October. Now Kaya FM is set to take Radio Metro head-on, with Dube behind the microphone in a key slot. Its programming includes a healthy dose of talk, which could also dent Radio 702.
And there’s talk that other Metro DJs will be switching to Kaya, among them Ernest Pillay, whose midday show has leaped in popularity. Other big names, like Hugh Masekela (a 5% shareholder) may also feature on Kaya.
Metro can’t afford to lose any of its line- up now: they’ve just increased listenership to 2,3-million a day, up from 1,8-million in October.
This week Metro station manager Zolisile Mapipa said he did not know of any jocks leaving, but added that their contracts were up for renewal in October.
With a slew of commercial stations set to hit the dial from August, Metro’s boys, with their perfect twangs and dedicated followers, will be prime poaching material. Metro will be looking to the SABC to match offers from private stations. “We will do everything to keep our talent,” says Mapipa. He has managed to lift listenership by opting for the safety of hit parade radio, instead of the path they blazed when Shado Twala and Tim Modise’s talk shows became recommended listening. They tackled the day’s hottest political topics as well as information programming for the real South Africa.
Metro has cut almost all talk programming, the latest casualty being the cutting back of the last remaining talk show, Bush Telegraph, from three to two hours.
“Music is our flagship. We made a decision to cut down talk, but we still have hourly news bulletins and they’re much livelier now,” says Mapipa. Metro is also targeting a much younger audience.
Until recently, Metro wavered between teen- bop and young adult. “The core of our listenership is 16 to 24, but we also cater for 24 to 34,” says Mapipa.
Good news is that local music on Metro is getting a boost. From July the local Top 10 will be the local Top 20, taking their local music quota beyond the requisite 20%.
But it appears to be endgame for DJing as a craft. Gone are the days when DJs like Twala came to work lugging crates of LPs and CDs to chose from in order to widen the listening horizon. Some of the station’s DJs are apparently upset about a new computer programme called Selector, which could mean music will be determined by programme planners.
Simon Ramokotjo, senior programme planner, counters that such paperless, CD-less studios are the way that stations around the world are moving and that DJs can still help select songs for their shows. He adds that this system lends consistency to a station.
@Steady, Mr Reddy
AMOS VILAKAZI responds to Govin Reddy’s complaints about the performance of the IBA
THANK you for giving us the opportunity to respond comprehensively to the letter by Govin Reddy, which appeared in the Mail & Guardian, May 30 to June 5. In his article Reddy questions whether the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has succeeded in creating an overall framework that will ensure the development of a vibrant broadcasting environment. That the IBA has achieved this is beyond doubt.
When the IBA was established in 1994, there was policy vacuum in this country, hence the need for the triple inquiry process. This open and transparent consultative process elicited responses from a broad spectrum of South African society. The foundations for the development of an appropriate regulatory environment that would form the basis of a viable broadcasting environment were firmly laid. The authority was able to complete this three-legged process in nine months, when in other countries it has taken years to deal with only one of the areas under investigation. The product of this process was the Triple Inquiry Report published in August 1995.
Based on that report, the IBA has been able, thus far, to achieve great results with the privatisation of five regional stations which had previously been part of the SABC stable. The authority has also opened up the airwaves to the community broadcast stations. Of the 82 temporary broadcasting licences granted during our first year, only three have ceased to broadcast due to financial reasons. None of the private stations has experienced any such problems.
The authority is currently working on the licensing of even more private radio stations and a private national free-to-air television service.
These stations have contributed and will contribute in a serious manner to the provision of diverse broadcasting services to the people of South Africa. In our view these facts do not support Reddy’s conclusion that we have failed to create a framework for a vibrant industry.
The authority took a holistic view of the broadcasting environment to ensure that each sector in that environment could compete fairly. It concluded that the “… viability of the public broadcaster is intimately related to its mandate and programme obligations. These will have a direct bearing on its costs, and will also determine its ability to attract and maintain audience share … Whether the public broadcaster’s revenue comes from advertising, licence fees or fiscal grants, it can only be justified if it sufficiently meets the needs of a large enough section of the public to attract sufficient share.”
It is interesting to note that when the authority invited submissions on the regulatory regime for private television, it was not until a direct request was made to the SABC that it made a submission. In that submission, it only concentrated on the concession it wanted the authority to make in favour of the SABC by delaying the new private television licence.
It is clear from Reddy’s letter that he has not read the authority’s Position Paper on Private Television. In this document the authority concluded that ” … in order to protect the long-term viability of the SABC and in view of the limited financial assistance from government, the time-frame for the achievement of its local content quota must be reformulated. The authority is keen to balance the achievement of public interest objectives in the (Triple Inquiry) Report with the SABC’s initiatives to create financial sustainability”.
To achieve this, the authority revised targets for the implementation of the SABC’s mandate, hence the new target for the achievement of local content levels in 1999.
The issue of funding for the public broadcaster enjoyed much attention during the authority’s public hearings and meetings. A specific study was commissioned to investigate not only the SABC’s financial position and prospects, but also to consider the entire environment as it would be unfolding.
Key to this study was the impact that the licensing of new private broadcasters would have on the viability of public broadcasting.
The authority concluded that the creation of a competitive environment would not negate the SABC’s viability. The SABC itself projected revenues from licence fees to stay at around R300-million “for the next few years”.
The authority also noted that fulfilment of the SABC’s new mandate would have cost implications. Since the benefits of such mandate would be derived by the whole country (through improved education, an improved quality of life and a more informed population), the authority called for government funding of some of the aspects of the SABC.
Regarding the sale of the SABC’s stations, in adopting the triple inquiry, Parliament accepted the need for government funding of some of the aspects of the SABC’s mandate. We recommend to Parliament that these stations be sold and that the proceeds of the sale be used by the SABC to fund its mandate. When the SABC subsequently sold these stations, the authority’s role as a regulator was limited to issuing licences to applicants who best met the licensing criteria.
Ownership issues
Mr Reddy appears not to see the difference in the current ownership structure of the stations sold by the SABC compared to the days when these stations were still part of the SABC stable.
The SABC is a public institution, whereas those stations were private. The point about this process was to diversify ownership and dilute the SABC’s monopoly. Most of the new stations have an ownership of between 50 and 60% by previously disadvantaged groups such as trade unions. That, in our view, is the difference.
Funding
Mr Reddy complains that the authority has done very little to ensure the continued viability of the public broadcaster. It is noteworthy that the authority made direct and specific proposals in this regard. The Triple Inquiry Report made the following proposals:
* that public broadcasting be funded through a mix of advertising and sponsorship, licence fees, government grants and other income derived from merchandising products and leasing facilities;
* that Parliament should also provide funding on a triennial basis for:-
1 the cost of provincial split time on radio stations;
2 the cost of increasing African language and local content television programming on the SABC
3 the cost of funding the Education Ministry/SABC task group recommendations on educational broadcasting.
The authority proposed that the proceeds arising from the sale of the six regional SABC radio stations should be used to fund the new mandate. However, these proposals were subject to ratification by Parliament. Parliament did not adopt the report subject to a few amendments that did not change the recommendations on funding.
We were informed that government wanted the SABC to produce a business plan indicating, amongst other things, all its financial needs and how the money sought from government would be used.
Instead of concentrating on blaming the regulator, the SABC should pursue and finalise this matter with the government.
The Naledi Bid
Mr Reddy questions the authority’s decision to grant the Radio Jacaranda licence to Newshelf 71 (who bid R20-million less) and to turn down the Naledi Media Investments application. Written reasons for this decision were published on October 15 1996 and are available in the IBA library. Some of those reasons were:
* that money was not the only criterion;
* that Newshelf 71 was stronger in regard to participation by historically disadvantaged shareholders;
* Newshelf 71 was stronger in terms of funding because it was funded from its own shareholders resources;
* the human resources development strategy of Newshelf 71 was more likely to make a positive impact on the broadcasting environment as a whole.
While Naledi Media Investments was also strong in regard to some criteria, on the whole, the authority was satisfied that Newshelf 71 was a better applicant.
Establishment of a youth station
The authority’s proposal for the establishment of a national youth station was conditional on the SABC doing a feasibility study and on frequency availability. The SABC has applied for a swop of the transmitters of Radio Metro with those of Radio 2000 in preparation for the establishments of a youth station.
The authority has informed them it is prepared to consider the application for the transmitter swop but they still need to submit the results of their feasibility study if they want to apply for a youth station.
Amos Vilakazi is head of communications at the Independent Broadcasting Authority. Govin Reddy is chief executive at SABC Radio