Thebe Mabanga in your ear Radio’s contribution to the growth in club culture over the past decade has been immense. When one thinks of the late Ian Segola and Quincy Kekana at the then Radio Metro 576MW, as well as Auldrin Mokgotsi at Radio Bop 540MW, it is hard to believe how much the phenomenon has grown. This generation exposed me to the first wave of house music that swept across the South African dance floors at a time when I would not be allowed into clubs. What these DJs could not do was live mixing. My first taste of this mind-blowing technique was with Vusi Letsoalo’s Panasonic Hot Mix on Metro FM. The problem was the show was mixed in Los Angeles and syndicated, which meant sometimes it would be out of sync with local trends. The clubbing trend as black audiences currently appreciate it was sparked by Yfm. The youth station inspired the second coming of house music. The benefit of listening to the latest club hits on radio is that it creates a sense of familiarity before people go clubbing. The problem is that when they get to clubs they expect to hear only what they know from radio and give a cold, blank stare to anything new, no matter how good. This revival has created a mini industry with DJ compilations being released every second month and bookings that last for months. The heavyweights in the style include Glen Lewis (Metro FM), Fresh and Phat Joe (Yfm). But the truly great are Christos, DaVinci and Oscar, who made their mark by word of mouth without the help of a radio show. A recent example of the black DJs’ success came last Saturday at the Electric Workshop in Johannesburg with the superbly staged Smirnoff DJ Knockout, where they were given the superstar treatment they deserve. The ”other side” of South African clubbing is defined mainly by dance music and my exposure to this is relatively recent. The biggest names in this style on radio include Kevin Lee, host of the Sound of Now (Highveld 94.7, Saturdays 9pm to midnight), and the 5fm duo of Sasha Martinengo and Ian F, as well as Derek the Bandit. This past weekend the Bandit took South African clubbing to new heights when he hosted his Saturday-night World of Dance live from the capital of European club culture, Ibiza off the coast of Spain. The Bandit was his usual menacing self with an appetite-whetting description of his experience. The odd thing about his show is that it is very difficult to distinguish between an advert and when he is playing a dance sweep. Also, on Saturday, he had a sponsored promo read live. This threatened to spoil his rhythm.
n In the last column, I reported on a Muslim station that was embroiled in a dispute with the then Independent Broadcasting Authority over discriminatory practices. It has since come to my attention that the station concerned was Radio Islam 1548MW and not The Voice 95.4fm as stated. Both the name and frequency of the station as well as the facts of the case were verified with the Independent Communications Authority, but of course that does not exonerate me. To err is human; to forgive leaves a warm, fuzzy feeling on the chest. My sincere apologies to all concerned.