Thebe Mabanga
IN YOUR EAR
Johannesburg-based adult contemporary station Kaya fm 95.9 is steadily making inroads in winning over a fastidious and habit-driven audience – the black middle class – using retro sounds with a world music slant.
Since its August 1997 launch, Kaya has entrenched its distinct sound. Its music selection is astute, yet accessible. When the rest of us were feasting on the retro wave that is now ebbing, Kaya went for the classics that inspired this wave. This move is now paying off handsomely: a late 1970s chart topper sounds as much at home as some of the recent hits.
The Saturday morning Top 20 show has a decent mix of the fresh and inspiring. From Youssou N’dour to Mary J Blige, anything that is good and worthy of recognition gets mentioned here and the balance spills over to the rest of the station’s line-up.
The biggest stars of the Kaya show are definitely Kgomotso “KG” Moeketsi, Lawrence Dube, Redi Direko and Given Mukhari.
KG struts her stuff weekday mid-mornings (9am to 1pm). She competently engages a range of interesting interview subjects. From poet Gcina Mhlophe to Abdullah Ibrahim and Sibongile Khumalo, Moeketsi shows genuine appreciation but sometimes gushes in awe. But then in the company of such luminaries, who would not?
Later in the day (4pm to 7pm) veteran broadcaster Dube takes over with his bubbly, invigorating and fresh-faced sidekick, Direko. The duo have found a perfect balance between information and music.
Not so long ago, Direko conducted an interview about the South Philippines hostage drama. It was one of many in which she displayed impressive aplomb. Her skills extend to the newsroom and producing the show. She is definitely learning fast.
Mukhari has been with the station since its inception and was one of the first presenters to settle into the Kaya format. He has now ventured to being the station’s talk show host.
Kaya Talk is neatly packaged into daily themes, starting with Entertainment Outlook on Monday, Health Beat (Tuesday), Business Speaking (Wednesdays) – hosted by Mukhari- and Renaissance Talk with Tefo Mohale on Thursday.
A drawback is that it occasionally suffers from conceptual flaws. During a recent show on emigration for instance, the panel construction lacked depth of field and balance.
Two representatives from an organisation called Young Business South Africa – we were never told exactly what they do – provided interesting but insufficient insight into the subject. Wits lecturer Chris Landsberg was allowed to define the parameters within which the discussion was to be conducted and had to be excused midway through the show.
On the day of the show, a crucial document on immigration was presented to Parliament but hardly got a mention.When the team assembles the panel correctly, such as during last Thursday’s African Unity Day commemoration, the hosts tend to make their attitudes too obvious.