Radio Pulpit was the victim of a false campaign last week which claimed that the government was closing the station down. A viral sms, urging the public to sign a petition to keep it on air, was distributed to cell phones, prompting some 200,000 people to react.
‘More than 200,000 listeners across the country have been reacting,†says chief executive officer Roelf Petersen.
The confusion started when Radio Pulpit’s contract with Radio 2000 ended in December, forcing it to move from its FM frequency to an AM frequency. But despite an outdoor advertising campaign informing listeners of the frequency change, many still believed that the station had closed down.
‘We suspect it was from worried listeners that could not hear us because our FM contract with Radio 2000 has come to an end and they stay out of our AM footprint. We believe that it was because of the normal communication gaps in the passing of information that these half-truths and un-thruths emerged,†says Petersen.
Radio Pulpit is now broadcasting on AM657 and is waiting to hear from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa whether a new licence application has been approved.