East Coast Radio (South Africa)

East Coast Radio
Broadcast area KwaZulu Natal, certain areas of the Eastern Cape and small portions of Swaziland
Slogan KZN’s widest variety of Hit Music from the 90s to now
Frequency 94.00 - 95.90 MHz
Format Top 40, news, traffic
Owner Kagiso Media Corporation
Webcast
Website http://www.ecr.co.za/

East Coast Radio, East Coast Radio, also known as ECR, is a KwaZulu-Natal commercial radio station with an audience of approximately 1.5 million.[1] It is one of the largest regional radio stations in South Africa.

The station can also be heard online from its website and on channel 26 via Digital Worldspace Radio. It broadcasts from Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal

East Coast Radio started as Radio Port Natal, broadcasting from the SABC studios in Old Fort Road, Durban on 1 May 1967. When the station upgraded its technology to include stereo broadcasts, it was rebranded to RPN Stereo. It was sold to the Kagiso Media Group on 1 July 1994.

ECR is also the leading brand in the Province of Kwazulu Natal. Also known for planning and putting on Great events, such as The Toy Story charity drive, The big walk, and even Durban Day. ECR dominates in the affluent LSM 6-10 urban group in KwaZulu Natal with an operating profit margin of 50.8% in 2006.

East Coast Radio is also a sister station to Jacaranda FM which is based in Pretoria.[2]

In 2015 the station appointed former KZN Tourism Marketing manager Boni Mchunu as its General Manager.[3]

East Coast Radio also has long terms partnerships with sports teams based on KwaZulu-Natal including Super rugby outfit, The Sharks, soccer outfit AmaZulu as well as cricket franchise The Sunfoil Dolphins.[4]

The station has won several coveted MTN radio awards including the 2011 prize for Best News and Actuality Producer for "150 Years: Relive The Legacy."

The feature, which aired from 1 November to 16 November 2010 looking back to the arrival the first indentured Indians arrived in South Africa.[5]

In 2014 The Drive with Damon team won an MTN Radio Award for Best Promotions/Stunt, while the station's imaging producer, Salendran Thulukanam, was honoured as an MTN Radio Awards Bright Star.

In 2015 Damon Beard who hosts The Big Favour every week, where deserving individuals and organisations receive assistance, trumped other national nominees to be named Best Community Project.[6]

East Coast Radio journalist, Khatija Nxedlana, was also recognised as a young achiever. She was honoured with membership to the exclusive MTN Radio Awards Bright Stars Club.[6]

East Coast Radio Big walk

The Big Walk is KZN's largest outdoor event with 30 000 walkers annually.[7] The first edition of the event which was held in 2004 had just over 1 800 participants. The walk has 5 km, 10 km, 15 km and 20 km routes.

Durban Day.

Durban day is an annual outdoor music event hosted by East Coast Radio every September. The event has been held annually at the Moses Mabhida Stadium People's Park in recent years and attracts over 15 000 music lovers every year. Some of South Africa's top music acts have graced the Durban Day including Lira, Prime Circle, AKA, Khuli Chana, Mango Groove and The Parlotones.

ECR Toy Story

East Coast Radio Toy Story is the station's annual CSI initiative and seeks to collect toys and cash donations for underprivileged children in KwaZulu-Natal. The drive has been running for more than 15 years and has grown year on year since its inception. In 2015 more than 100 000 new toys were donated to charity drive.

As part of the initiative East Coast Radio hosts its Corporate Day Challenge. Here celebrities and jocks from the station donate their time to take pledges from corporates. In 2014. Record-breaking R1.6 million was raised,[8] the following year just over R1.2 million was raised during the challenge.[9]

Broadcast time

Weekdays(Monday-Friday)

04:00-06:00 Msizi James
06:00-09:00 East Coast Breakfast with Darren Maule
09:00-12:00 The Zaba Show
12:00-15:00 Jane Linley Thomas
15:00-18:00 The Drive with Damon
18:00-21:00 East Coast Urban with Bongani Mtolo
18:00-22:00 East Coast Party People with Deon Govender(Friday)
21:00-00:00 Trending tonight with Sirshin Moodliar(Monday-Thursday)
22:00-02:00 Londeka Shabane(Friday)

Weekends(Saturday-Sunday)

Saturday

02:00-06:00 Tbc
06:00-10:00 The Weekend Breakfast with Ricky
10:00-14:00 New 40 with Carol Ofori
14:00-18:00 Tbc
18:00-22:00 East Coast Party People with Deon Govender
22:00-02:00 Londeka Shabane

Sunday

02:00-06:00 Josh Bhengu
06:00-10:00 The Weekend Breakfast with Ricky
10:00-14:00 The Bongani Mtolo Show
14:00-18:00 Tbc
18:00-21:00 Play Local with Msizi James
21:00-00:00 The Experiment

Listenership figures

Estimated Listenership[10]
7 Day Ave. Mon-Fri
May 2013 1 873 000 1 002 000
Feb 2013 1 679 000 913 000
Dec 2012 1 686 000 893 000
Oct 2012 1 684 000 913 000
Aug 2012 1 747 000 916 000
Jun 2012 1 726 000 912 000

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.