AFTER spending millions of rands announcing that it was "The news and information leader", SAfm proceeded to introduce music in the most unsuitable areas of its broadcast!
A station that had a definite signature suddenly became a hybrid with no identity. I cannot tell you how often I have switched on SAfm and wondered what station I was on!
One of the most annoying ingredients of Radio 702's current affairs programmes is the invitation to listeners to phone in and give their lay opinions right bang in the middle of a serious news item.
Guess what? SAfm recently introduced this exact stupid style of presenting current affairs on its PM Live slot.
Doing so subjects us to biased, unqualified, live, often puerile, listener phone-in comments, thus compromising one of its best qualities - its impartial, BBC-like approach to current affairs content delivery!
Why SAfm saw fit not to stick to its tried and tested, poll-like recordings of what listeners think of the current affairs subjects it covers, is anybody's guess.
I don't have to tell you that the adoption of SAfm's incoherent music strategy is most likely an attempt to compete with Kaya FM. And then you have to ask: how can the only national English radio station in the entire country see itself as being in competition with inferior to regional stations like Radio 702 and Kaya FM?
One of Radio 702's best qualities is the longevity of its presenters' service to the station.
This gives the station stability, a strong signature and high levels of presenter expertise.
Even young kid on the block YFM knows that you don't just change presenters willy-nilly, and that if you have to, you must prepare your listeners for that change well in advance. Not so at SAfm where Dennis O'Donnell is station manager.
Xolani Gwala, for example, has come and gone, been back and shifted from this slot to that without one official announcement to prepare the listener. The evening talk slot that I pioneered in 2008 has since had three presenters.
PM Live, which Gwala lifted above Tsepiso Makwetla's horrible wanna-be-cockney accent that just won't disappear, now has Glen Lewington, a man who sounds like he's on horse tranquilizers.
The result is the amplification of Makwetla's accent and the ruin of what was a really good current affairs show. Why Privani Pillay, who worked so well with Gwala was moved from that slot to make room for Makwetla, is still a mystery.
Pillay, by the way, has since been pulled back from the wilderness to present Midday Live, which begs the question; Whatever happened to Ike Phaahla?
In short, SAfm is adept at discarding its best qualities and copying the worst of what its perceived competitors have on offer. And they wonder why it's shedding listeners so rapidly. Unbelievable!
SAfm risks losing its true identity
AFTER spending millions of rands announcing that it was "The news and information leader", SAfm proceeded to introduce music in the most unsuitable areas of its broadcast!
A station that had a definite signature suddenly became a hybrid with no identity. I cannot tell you how often I have switched on SAfm and wondered what station I was on!
One of the most annoying ingredients of Radio 702's current affairs programmes is the invitation to listeners to phone in and give their lay opinions right bang in the middle of a serious news item.
Guess what? SAfm recently introduced this exact stupid style of presenting current affairs on its PM Live slot.
Doing so subjects us to biased, unqualified, live, often puerile, listener phone-in comments, thus compromising one of its best qualities - its impartial, BBC-like approach to current affairs content delivery!
Why SAfm saw fit not to stick to its tried and tested, poll-like recordings of what listeners think of the current affairs subjects it covers, is anybody's guess.
I don't have to tell you that the adoption of SAfm's incoherent music strategy is most likely an attempt to compete with Kaya FM. And then you have to ask: how can the only national English radio station in the entire country see itself as being in competition with inferior to regional stations like Radio 702 and Kaya FM?
One of Radio 702's best qualities is the longevity of its presenters' service to the station.
This gives the station stability, a strong signature and high levels of presenter expertise.
Even young kid on the block YFM knows that you don't just change presenters willy-nilly, and that if you have to, you must prepare your listeners for that change well in advance. Not so at SAfm where Dennis O'Donnell is station manager.
Xolani Gwala, for example, has come and gone, been back and shifted from this slot to that without one official announcement to prepare the listener. The evening talk slot that I pioneered in 2008 has since had three presenters.
PM Live, which Gwala lifted above Tsepiso Makwetla's horrible wanna-be-cockney accent that just won't disappear, now has Glen Lewington, a man who sounds like he's on horse tranquilizers.
The result is the amplification of Makwetla's accent and the ruin of what was a really good current affairs show. Why Privani Pillay, who worked so well with Gwala was moved from that slot to make room for Makwetla, is still a mystery.
Pillay, by the way, has since been pulled back from the wilderness to present Midday Live, which begs the question; Whatever happened to Ike Phaahla?
In short, SAfm is adept at discarding its best qualities and copying the worst of what its perceived competitors have on offer. And they wonder why it's shedding listeners so rapidly. Unbelievable!
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