Saturday sees the staging of the fifth annual Metro FM Music Awards. As the station seeks to celebrate excellence in local music, as voted for by its listeners, it should pause and reflect on its broader contribution to the music scene.
If the introspection is honest, Metro FM will find that it has been coincidental to, rather than instrumental in, much of what has happened in popular music over the past 10 years.
From the time the station registered 5,6-million listeners two years ago, Metro has been a stagnating monolith rather than a thriving giant.
For instance, the awards will celebrate, among others, best club DJ and hip-hop album, two innovations of the past decade that were pioneered by Yfm, not Metro. Some say Metro gave a national platform to Yfm’s innovation, but that is madness. Ukhozi FM has a 21% audience share and African language stations combined have 65% — they spread the word further than Metro.
The trend that Metro failed to anticipate and capitalise on was the globalisation and crossover of musical tastes.
These days American music stars go to Rome and sweep the boards at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Moreover, when you hear Natasha Bedingfield’s These Words on the radio, you can’t tell if you are listening to Highveld, 5fm, Yfm or, indeed, Metro. If Metro anticipated this convergence, it would have begun to incorporate artists such as Lenny Kravitz in its line-up long ago.
Metro’s problems reside with its manager, Lesley Ntloko. A marketing man, Ntloko saw himself as a custodian of the good work done by his predecessor, Romeo Kumalo.
Under Ntloko, Metro has come to epitomise a black, middle class content in its own bubble, refusing to be adventurous in musical tastes and in the experience of listening to radio.
Ntloko’s most uninspired decision was to rehire Vusi Letsoalo.
Make no mistake, Letsoalo taught me radio through his early 1990s show, The Pleasure Mix. I skipped class to listen to him interview Vicky Sampson about her debut album, and he opened his December 16 1992 show with Mary J Blige’s Real Love. But as the famous jingle goes, that was then, this is now.
Ntloko brought Letsoalo back, arguing he will bring Metro the East Coast listenership. That was an overestimation of the popularity of a fading star.
Two of the few things of Metro’s line-up that work are Azania Mosaka on the drive show Route 326 and Pabi Moloi on weekend breakfast.
Mosaka was a brave gamble short on the heels of the failure of another female DJ, Penny Lebyane, as a talk-show host. As for Moloi, she has wit and spunk, and a future in the game.
But Ntloko’s biggest mistake was to try to make Metro bigger than just a radio station; to turn it into a lifestyle brand — it has lost focus.
I love my soccer teams for the football they play, I love my station primarily for how it sounds. I recently met someone who told me they listen to Metro. Before I asked why, they mentioned that it has cool prizes. Go figure.
So roll on the hype of the awards, a good showcase for Metro and Ethekwini municipality. They are held because Metro can afford to do so. There is a lesson in this for all of us: money can buy you credibility, or hide your flaws as a failing trendsetter.
The details
The Metro FM awards take place on Saturday November 27 at the International Convention Centre in Durban. The show will be broadcast live on Metro FM from 7.30pm. For a list of the nominees visit www.metrofm.co.za