Johannesburg - It’s that time of year again where radio stations across South Africa vie for the coveted annual national Radio Awards.
This is the 11th year that the awards will honour outstanding achievements across campus, community, public broadcast and commercial radio stations.
Head of Arena Events, which hosts The Radio Awards, Taryn Westoby said despite the challenges of the ongoing lockdown, the quality of entries received has been remarkable considering the Covid-19 pandemic and remote working.
“We congratulate the radio industry on their hard work and perseverance in delivering valuable content to their listeners and ensuring that radio remains one of South Africa’s foremost media choices,” she said.
The Radio Awards entries were adjudicated by a panel of 40 judges and reviewed by BDO South Africa, auditors of The Radio Awards.
Entries for this year’s awards were required to have broadcasted on FM or AM and online between January 1 and December 31, 2020.
Eighty one awards will be announced during virtual announcement that will stream via digital channels on July 16 at 3pm.
This year’s ceremony will see the inclusion of three Bright Star and four Hall of Fame inductees.
“We congratulate all the finalists and inductees for their hard work, resilience and dedication to the medium of radio in South Africa. Now, more than ever, radio has cemented itself as an accessible, trusted source of information and entertainment, as well as a platform making people feel connected during incredibly trying times,” said Westoby.
The Station of the Year finalists are:
• Commercial: East Coast Radio, Jacaranda FM, Kaya FM, KFM 94.5, and Radio 702.
• Public Broadcast Services: Lotus FM, Radio 2000, SAfm, Thobela FM and Umhlobo Wenene FM.
• Community: GrootFM 90.5, Hot 91.9FM, Pretoria FM, and Radio Khwezi.
• Campus: PukFM 93.6, Tuks FM 107.2, UJFM 95.4 and Voice of Wits FM.
Station of the Year finalists were determined by the number of times they appeared as a finalist across all general categories of the swards. To stay in contention for the prestigious Station of the Year Award, finalists will need to submit a further motivation to be scored by The Radio Awards advisory panel which includes a representative from the National Association of Broadcasters.
The motivation needs to speak to the station’s innovation, audience growth, community outreach, general achievements, as well as their “x-factor” or unique selling point. This score will account for the first half of a station’s final score. The second half of the final score will be determined by a station’s success in the general categories.
Hall of Fame inductees are selected from a group of individuals that are nominated by their peers, and who are revered by the industry and have left an indelible contribution to radio for at least thirty years.
This year’s inductees are Alfie Jay, Brenda Sisane, Lance Rothschild and Mark Pilgrim.
Primedia Broadcasting secured two finalists – KFM 94.5 and 702 – for Station of the Year in the Commercial category.
The two stations represent the Western Cape and Gauteng markets in the music and talk radio formats. The stations also have an additional 22 finalists between them.
Radio 702 station manager Thabisile Mbete said: “2020 was a tough year for the station. We implemented a large number of changes which were informed by an in-depth 702 listener study.
“We appreciate this industry acknowledgement. I think it shows that our peers view the refreshed 702 and our new #WalkTheTalk philosophy as positive, and results from rolling listener studies show that our listeners agree.”