Maria McCloy
The multi-media revolution hit Khayelitsha in July 1997. That’s when a colourful tower came up, built by Rainbow Nation Community Towers Project. It’s a tower with a difference and it broadcasts programmes as varied as soccer matches, news, the DStv music show Channel O, SABC and M-Net as well as educational videos and CD Roms.
The news is the tower’s most popular programme. The nearly sky-high sentinels provide programmes for 24 hours a day. It is controlled by computer from Cape Town and there are LED – light electronic display – electronic billboards with community and non-governmental organization news, notices, announcements and broadcasts of the local community radio stations Zibonele and Bush Radio. Plans to install a number of Internet stations in the tower are under way.
The tower’s creators are Bruce Williams, Nkululeko Mali and Erik Haraldsen who, after four years of work, found a way of making media accesible. Most people have no access to satellite TV, M-Net or even a newspaper.
The first 12m wide and 18m high tower with a huge screen was built last year in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, with financial help (it cost nearly R1-million to build) from Nasionale Pers, who put up the capital. Four other towers are planned for Zondi in Soweto, Botshabelo outside Bloemfontein, KwaMashu in Durban and Umtata.
Operational costs are funded by the ad revenue the stations get. Williams says the response has been so positive that even though they’re only planning five towers this yearfor which they already have a core sponsor, seven other sponsors with deep pockets have shown an interest.
Williams says part of the appeal is that advertising rates are much cheaper than advertising on television. Rainbow Nation Community towers have sponsoship from, among others, BP, Metropolitan Life, Ceres, Premier food and Drum magazine. Most revenue comes from the billboards that make up the tower.
Aside from negotiating with various community forums before towers are built, these forums also say what people want to watch. the project is also 20% owned by the community forum that decides how its share of the profits will be spent. In Khayelitsha, the community forum decided that its share of the profits would go to legal aid – the University of Cape Town now helps to run a legal resources centre inside the tower.
The location of the towers gives an indication how many advertisers and marketers are discovering what a worthy place it is to promote products.Williams says: “It’s not aimed only at a seated audience. If you’re going to the rank you could look up housing or job opportunities, or you could watch TV while waiting for your taxi early in the morning.”