Durban - Things are slowly getting back to normal at Lotus FM after the scrapping of the controversial 90% local content policy that saw the station’s listenership dwindle, affecting advertising.
Comely Maxegwana, chairperson of the portfolio committee on communications which visited the SABC this week, said things were looking up for Lotus.
“The station manager of Lotus FM (Alvin Pillay) told us that now that the SABC interim board had dealt with the issue of 90%, the listenership is increasing. The morale is up; things are looking good,” he said.
Lotus FM’s target listenership is drawn mainly from the Indian community.
The 90% quota implemented by former SABC chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng about a year ago was disastrous for Lotus, which lost listeners and millions of rand in advertising revenue.
Some advertisers said that when the policy was introduced last year, they were forced to pull their adverts from Lotus FM, because research had shown their target audience was no longer listening to the station.
The station has resumed playing the Indian music that made it popular, and is approaching advertisers to woo them back.
The policy was said to have also affected staff morale. Maxegwana said the response from Lotus was positive. “The staff feel free to do their work, there are no governance issues anymore. The morale is definitely high,” he added.
The portfolio committee also visited other media outlets, including Ukhozi FM.
But brand and advertising consultant Andy Rice said it could take some time before the station persuades advertisers to come back.
“Advertisers will wait a while because they need to make sure that listeners do come back. If you (Lotus FM) have lost business in the last six months, chances are you are going to take another six months to recover,” he said.
Ashwin Trikamjee, the president of Save Our Lotus FM, a pressure group that lobbied the communications minister and the SABC to consider reversing the 90-10 policy, said the change has been received positively by the Indian community.
“I am confident the listenership will return to what it was at its peak and that advertisers will return,” he said.
However, Trikamjee said a quota was necessary and could still be implemented in stages. “I believe it is important in encouraging local artists. It must be handled well and introduced gradually.”