Three new SA radio stations hit airwaves

THREE new radio stations are adding diversity to the tightly controlled South African radio sphere.

Smile 90.4 FM, supported by film producer Anant Singh, hit the Cape Town airwaves last week.

One Gospel, a religious music station, is expected to launch in Durban in the middle of the year.

Power 98.9 FM, owned by MSG Afrika Investments consortium Holdings, will be launching in Gauteng within months, although the station is tight-lipped about the starting date.

Talk show host, author and academic Eusebius McKaiser hosted his last show at 702 last week but would not be drawn on whether he was joining Power 98.9 FM.

“I cannot confirm anything about my powerful next move,” said McKaiser.

Power 98.9 FM will be targeting 25- to 49-year-olds and is licensed to play a minimum of 30% music and 70% talk.

Some staff will begin working next month but, as they have signed confidentiality agreements, they would not comment on when the station would start broadcasting.

The station will “release information to the media in line with the roll- out plan”, CEO Given Mkhari said yesterday.

Week-old Smile FM is also aimed at 25- to 49-year-olds with 50% talk and 50% tunes, said Smile’s programme director Clive Ridgeway.

“The play list comprises 50% South African songs and 50% international songs.”

Lizma van Zyl, head of talk content, said “the talk will be a seamless mix of Afrikaans and English with a typical Cape Town flavour”.

Media Development and Diversity Agency CEO Lumko Mtimde called the three new commercial stations “a welcome addition to the media landscape in South Africa”.