Hazel Friedman
The market targeted by Yfm South Africas first youth radio station is a multi- branded beast indeed. It feeds off a diet of MTV, Nikes, Aids consciousness, shopping malls, environmental awareness and a generous portion of nihilism. It burps attitude without the idealism of its more politically earnest forebears. It is the generation of movies like Doom Generation and Kids.
But it was the physical address of the launch itself that really said it all: Sandton Square. Smack in the middle of once-exclusively white Gauteng suburbia, enclave of the mink and manure set and heartland of the proverbial South African dream for a celebration of black youth on air.
Were not afraid of tapping into the contradictory scenarios faced by South Africas youth, says Dirk Hartford, the stations managing director, journalist, trade unionist and a former member of the SABCs strategic planning department. He adds: That means being in touch with both the realities and the aspirations of our market, and going for the gap.
It is one of those peculiarly South African ironies that until Yfm stepped in no one had attempted to set up a station catering for a group accounting for almost 70% of the general population. In Gauteng alone where Yfm operates from its studio at the Radio Freedom Institute in Bertrams the youth number up to eight million.
In 1994 the idea of a youth radio station as a public broadcasting responsibility emanated from major national youth organisations and was sold to the SABC via its strategic planning department. But by many accounts, vacillation on the part of the SABC resulted in the project being relegated to the deep-freeze. That was before a handful of die-hard lefties including Hartford associated with the project left the SABC in exasperation, formed Mopani Media and took the independent regional route.
Owned in part by major national youth organisations such as the Youth Development Trust, the Youth Investment Network, the South African Association of Youth Clubs, the South African Students Press Union, the South African Congress of Students and the Congress of South African Students, Yfm is targeted at the 16-to-20-somethings that comprise South Africas burgeoning black youth market. Still in the diaper phase of development, the stations content is primarily music interspersed with short newscasts although talk shows have been planned for the future.
Surprisingly, given the radical image it exuded at its Soweto meets Sandton launch, the content is unashamedly mainstream, with emphasis on hip-hop, RnB, Kwaito, Gong and fusion.
We based our choice on five auditorium studies involving 100 people at a time from our demographic audience, during which we played a selection of songs and got them to state their preferences, explained Hartford. The one music genre that didnt feature favourably was rock.
But lest you start thinking that Yfm is merely another Radio Metro with a make- over, the difference is already evident in the DJ line-up. Randall Abrahams from the Capes Good Hope radio recently replaced writer Sandile Dikeni at Yfms helm. The station also includes bold brash young radio upstarts from community and student stations, alongside tried and tested names like Fresh from Bop Radio, Sammi T from 5fm and Tomas from Good Hope. Oh yeah, and the sisters havent been excluded either. Durbans Zamo Shongwe fills the late-nite slot while Phindi Gule does 9am to noon.
* Yfm is at 99.2FM in Gauteng.
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