Thebe Mabanga
IN YOUR EAR
The community radio sector has received an impressive boost with the launch of the Coca-Cola Enjoy hour.
The project was started in February as a six-week pilot project on Alex FM. The project then became national, incorporating a selection of drive-time presenters, including Alex FM and Voice of Soweto in Gauteng, Durban Youth Radio in KwaZulu- Natal, Unitra Community Radio in the Eastern Cape and Zibonele FM in Cape Town.
The presenters were taken through a training programme and in some instances stations were helped with infrastructural requirements. They are now ready to take to the airwaves in fine style presenting the music-driven, energetic and highly interactive Coca-Cola Enjoy hour in a “syndicated” format every Friday between 4pm and 5pm.
The softdrink giant should be commended for showing faith in this important but sometimes-overlooked sector of our media. The effort will go a long way towards enhancing its credibility and serving as a springboard for fresh talent.
Earlier this month the radio industry gathered in Bryanston to receive the Radio Audience Measurement Survey (Rams).
For the first time since going on air, Yfm has shown a dip in listenership from 1,1-million to 1,2-million listeners. Community radio continued to show impressive growth. What is most interesting and really worth looking at is the method used to arrive at these figures – for one, the time-lag effect that is inherent in them. For example: a station like Tuks FM 107.2 at Pretoria University is shown to have dropped from 61E000 to below half of that. This is probably due to the absence of students from campus during the Easter holidays. Another interesting fact is that in all my years in South Africa, with the limited travelling that I have done, I have never encountered anyone surveying radio listenership patterns. Nor has anyone I know. So just who do these people ask? Anyway, the figures serve their purpose as a rough guide of who has how many listeners at what times. So you see, statistics are like a bikini, they reveal as much as they hide.
Earlier this month, Highveld Stereo 94.7 brought an inspired choice to its line-up by recruiting Alyce Chavunduka for its 10pm to 1am slot. The former Zimbabwean Radio3 presenter – whose South African media manoeuvres have taken her to radio 702, SAfm and SABC as both presenter and newsreader – has taken her place well in Jo’burg’s all hit radio’s roster. She makes the transition from reading news to being casual and laidback for presenting music with effortless ease.
Sadly, as Chavunduka comes into her new job, another former radio presenter – Ian Segola – bows out for good after being gunned down at a Johannesburg nightclub three weeks ago.
Go well, Ian. The people you have inspired will continue to present on radio, play at clubs and write about this exciting medium.