It’s easy for radio DJs to be so enamored with the sounds of their own voices that they don’t give listeners a chance to respond. Award-winning debater and new YFM presenter, Oliver Dickson, attempted to change that narrative by taking his YTalks show to Starbucks in Johannesburg last night.
A post shared by Yfm YonaKeYona(@yfm) on May 29, 2018 at 6:50am PDT
The packed coffee spot saw sober-minded youth gather to talk about issues that aren’t always discussed. One of those issues was: does social media activism count as activism? It was interesting to listen to how varying the opinions were.
A DJ got up to announce that he received 2000 retweets in an hour in support of him begging to play at Major League Gardens and someone else countered that using social media to protest being excluded is not the same as putting your body on the line.
Station DJs like Khutso Theledi, Nia Brown and DJ Sabby were present and oddly, so were some runners who were sweating up storms. The idea of bringing YTalks to life is a brilliant one.
The pair @niabrownlive and @mthaux are ready for #YTalksAtStarbucks
A post shared by Yfm YonaKeYona(@yfm) on May 30, 2018 at 10:02am PDT
But the station should either find a new venue or hire it out exclusively as it’s distracting to have athletes waking up and down or to see people on their laptops, with their backs to the presenter.