DURBAN - The option to scrap the 90/10 rule of axed SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been met with delight as it promises to turn around the fortunes of LotusFM, which had been losing sponsorships because of the policy.
Kaiser Kganyango, the SABC spokesperson, said radio stations could change the amount of local music and international music they played, as long as it fell within the regulations set by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa).
The 90/10 rule meant 90% of the music aired had to be local.
According to Icasa, 60% of music aired should be locally produced. Kganyango, referring to the SABC’s interim board chairperson Khanyisile Kweyama’s speech on Monday, said some radio stations were able to operate with a high percentage of up to 80% local content. They would not be asking them to change their content policy.
Ashwin Trikamjee, president of the SA Hindu Maha Sabha and one of the people behind the Save our LotusFM campaign to scrap the rule at the radio station, expressed his delight at the change.
He said he had heard last week that radio stations could change the amount of local and international music according to their needs.
“On behalf of my community, I am delighted. It will restore the community’s belief in the radio station and will return it to being vibrant.”
Trikamjee said he knew that advertisers would soon return to the radio station. He felt the rule was not commercially viable in the short term because of the financial demands it would have on the SABC.
In the long term, he said there was still a place for the 90/10 rule, but felt what should be done was to gradually phase it in, such as first having a 50/50 rule. The reason for this, he said, was because currently there was not enough quality music produced in the country.
South African Tamil Federation president Marie Pillay-Ramaya said they welcomed the change in the rules.
Pillay-Ramaya said LotusFM would continue to suffer as long as there were problems with the SABC, which had not got its house in order and lost funding from Indians locally and those in the diaspora.
Pillay-Ramaya said they did not have a problem with the rule, but with the manner in which it was implemented.
He said it would have been better had it been phased in over a period of three years.
He said the station needed to be rejuvenated and change its programming so that it could cater for people from various walks of life in the Indian community.
“They should ask listeners what they want,” Pillay-Ramaya said.
The changes come in the wake of recent developments within the SABC, which include the dismissal of Motsoeneng and the resignation of many members of the previous SABC board. The 90/10 rule attracted widespread condemnation within the Indian community and spawned the Save our LotusFM campaign.
One of the main points made by the campaign was the dearth of quality music that was being produced locally.
The Daily News had reported the changes had resulted in a huge loss of listeners and advertisers for the radio station.