Thebe Mabanga
in your ear
Eleven years of being a cultured, avid and habitual listener of radio may not be enough to claim to be a guru, but it certainly helps to distinguish good radio from the bad and unbearable.
So, to reflect on a period during which the medium has been a consuming and blinding passion for me, I select my all-time top 10. These are presenters who represent the stations I have been listening to and what I believe radio should sound like.
Counting down to number one, they are:
10 Glen Hicks and Louis Karpas:?5fm’s Sports Hour anchors make this list for the production quality, pace and sheer brilliance of their show. A lot of today’s presenters can learn from this duo.
9 Ian Segola: His Saturday night Top 40 on Metro remains the epitome of brilliant usage of jingles, stings and drop-ins. The most progressive remix player in black commercial radio and with Quincy Kekana introduced me to radio clubbing.?
8 Michelle Constant: What can I say, the blonde babe just has it. She is a good example of how regularly stoking the fires of professionalism can help one retain longevity in the profession. She recently noted how women quit radio because they get tired of fighting. I am glad she chose to fight.
7 Ben Dikobe and George Manyosi: Hosts of Radio Bop’s Midday Madness, forerunners to how witty banter can liven up midday. Dikobe has since suffered the irony of being underused at his peak at Metro. Speaking to him these days, one gets a sense that he has too much distraction.
6 John Robbie: Raconteur of note in print and on radio and a lively dinner guest, he epitomises a quality that distinguishes all the 702 talking heads: the chutzpah to speak their mind. Jon Qwelane also has the chutzpah, but his intimidating abrasiveness scares me sometimes.
5 Bob Mabena: One of the first pin-up boys of radio in the Nineties, he made a bold step by crossing to Highveld. Since his return to Kaya FM there are times I feel he merely trades on reputation without a desire to stoke the fires of passion for radio.?
4 Tim Modise: For his pioneering work in talk radio at Metro fm’s Jungle Fever. At SAfm his moderate stance has come too much to the fore.
3 Shado Twala: My earliest lessons in jazz and world music came from here. The voice helped to ensure I paid attention. She remains a prolific host and music library.
2 Lawrence Dube: Kaya FM’s drive-time host remains an influential force in my perception of the medium. These days I listen to songs like Omar Chandler’s You Change Me For the Better and Wet Wet Wet’s Goodnight Girl and remember how the Toyota Top 20 and Dube’s Morning Situation introduced me to such a broad taste in music.
1 Cyril Bongani Mchunu aka Kansas City: The late and great king of radio, arguably the first voice I was ever able to identify on the wireless, even before I became a cultured listener of radio. He has influenced a generation of radio hosts, in Zulu radio and beyond.
Congratulations to 702 talk radio on being awarded the International Broadcasting Excellence Award by the National Association of Broadcasters in the United States. The award “recognises broadcasters from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in advancing the broadcast industry and for services provided to the community”. And with it comes a trip to Las Vegas for the station’s managing director Rina Broomberg.
Meanwhile, SAfm has lined up a bumper weekend for classical music fans. Highlights include a three-hour show on Good Friday morning and an extended edition of Patricia Glyn’s Sundowner Classics. Tune in for details.