Cape Town - Sundays in the Mother City are about to get hella “Fresh”.
The “Big Dawg” of SA radio, DJ Fresh (real name Thato Sikwane) has joined the weekend line-up on popular Cape Town radio station, Kfm.
And the seasoned broadcaster is promising to bring his brand of award-winning DJ skills and talent to the Mother City when he makes his debut on the airwaves this afternoon on his new #FreshSundaze show, from 3pm to 7pm.
Fresh, who joined Kfm’s sister station 947 in Joburg in August as their new drive-time presenter, takes over from Tim Thabethe, who left the station two months ago.
While the 46-year-old may still have to win over the hearts and ears of some Capetonians, he’s more than ready for the challenge.
“There’s always been a soulfulness to Cape Town that other regions lack. Audiences here seem to have almost a higher appreciation of music, especially the golden oldies and tried
and tested music like R&B. I believe that Cape Town has always had that something special about it, because people are discerning about their music tastes - they know what they want or don’t want.”
Fresh said he planned to reflect the laid-back Sunday vibe in the city. “I’m not one to have a ‘know it all’ approach to things, I’m here to learn and grow with the Mother City audience.
“I suppose it’s like a waltz - we’ll dance and lead and follow each other.”
While the playlist for the show won’t be a drastic change to Kfm’s usual drive-time music offerings - “it’s researched, tried and tested and it works”, said Fresh - there will still be some exciting new features, like Fresh’s 5@5 which will see the DJ mixing one listener’s favourite tracks into an exclusive mix.
And he promises a strong focus on promoting home-grown talent.
“Between 6 and 7 we’ll be promoting and reflecting some of the Mother City DJ talent because one thing I’ve always been adamant about in my 24 years on SA radio is the fact that we need to promote and put talent out there and I don’t think enough of that happens - especially on prime time shows.
“There’s actually no better time than this to showcase local talent and let people take pride of what is grown in the city.”
Fresh working on a regional station like Kfm would allow him to create a more personalised listening experience for audiences.
“Regional is my preferred type of radio because it allows you to zero in on that audience and cater to them. I find nationwide radio very generic because you can’t isolate people because you’re Jozi-centric for example. It’s for that reason that it’s so important for me to do the majority of my broadcasts from Cape Town because you have to be within community to talk to the community.”
And he’s hoping that #FreshSundaze will stand apart from other popular Sunday drive-time radio shows by remaining authentic and catering to a diverse audience.
“I’m from the school of thought that if it’s Sunday drive time, then we should give people the exact same quality of radio and programming and effort you would any other drive show,” Fresh said.