Springbok Radio

Springbok Radio was a South African radio station that operated from 1950 to 1985.

History

A decision was made by the SABC in December 1945, to develop a commercial programming service as soon as possible but was constrained by post war financial issues.[1]:726 After almost 5 years of intense investigation by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and, after consultations with both Lord Reith of the BBC and the South African Government, it was decided to introduce commercial radio in South Africa to supplement the SABC's existing public service English and Afrikaans networks and help solve the SABC's financial problems.[1]:727 The SABC would build the equipment and facilities for the new service and would place them at the disposal of advertisers and their agencies at cost for productions and allow them to make use of SABC's production staff.

On 1 May 1950, the first commercial radio station in South Africa, Springbok Radio took to the airwaves broadcasting in both English and Afrikaans.[1]:728 The service started at 06:43 am with the music Vat Jou Goed en Trek, Ferreira.[1]:728 The first voice heard on the air that morning was that of Eric Egan. Eric would be well remembered for his daily "Corny Crack" and catch phrase "I Looooveee Yoouuu".

Many of the drama programmes during the 1950s were imported from Australia but as time moved on and more funding became available, Springbok Radio produced almost all of its programmes within South Africa through a network of independent production houses. By the end of 1950, thirty percent of all Springbok Radio shows were produced by South Africans talent or material and independent productions were sold to sponsors through the organisations sales team.[1]:728 At the same time all air time had been sold or used up and the transmission times was extended.[1]:728 By the end of 1950 the revenue contribution of Springbok Radio was ₤205,439, in 1961 it had grown to over two million Rand and by 1970 had reached R6.5 million.[1]:728

However, in the 1980s the SABC ended up killing off many of these independent production houses when Springbok Radio closed down. If it was not for these production houses, Springbok Radio would not have survived. Almost 90% of programming came from them.

In 1976 television was launched in South Africa and this was followed by television commercials in 1978. Commercial TV was the major factor in the demise of Springbok Radio, which was very much dependent on advertising revenue. Springbok Radio closed on 31 December 1985.

List of programmes

Springbok Radio's programme schedules reflected the White, primarily English-speaking, suburban lifestyle of the period, when many women were housewives. Weekday schedules broadly comprised a breakfast session (05:00 - 08:30), women's programmes (08:30 - 14:00), Afrikaans soap operas (14:00 - 16:15), teatime chat shows (16:15 - 16:45), children's programmes (16:45-18:15), dinnertime programmes (18:15 - 19:00), the main news bulletin (19:00 - 19:15), and family shows (19:15 - 24:00). Saturday programmes were generally light: music, sitcoms and quizzes. Sunday was more sedate: music, chat shows, requests for the armed forces (during the 1970s and 1980s), news commentary and drama.

Programmes included:

Children's

Comedy/variety

Documentary

Drama

Drama: courtroom/detective/police

Drama: espionage

Drama: soap opera

Drama: supernatural

Games shows/quizzes

Greetings/requests

Interviews/chat shows

Music

News/current affairs

Radio plays

Science fiction

Show business

Women's interest

Springbok Radio Preservation Society of South Africa

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, this was a non-profit organisation which had collected and archived all sorts of material including sound recordings and photographs related to Springbok Radio. It housed the biggest sound recording archive of the station in the world and was an internationally recognized sound archive. The Society was formed in 2002 by Frans Erasmus in Johannesburg. The archive held many original recordings on tape, reel to reel and transcription discs and also has many private off-air recordings of the station. The society was engaged in a restoration project, transferring the analogue recordings to a digital format. On 1 July 2008, this Society launched Springbok Radio Digital, a service where many of the restored programmes can be heard.

On 8 May 2012, the archives of the Society was handed over to the SABC Sound Archive and the society was officially disbanded.

Springbok Radio Digital / Springbokradio Digitaal

This is a creation of the Springbok Radio Preservation Society of South Africa with assistance from the SABC, in which certain of the Society's restored programmes are streamed. The service started operating on 1 October 2008 and operates a 12-hour service from Mondays to Sundays, repeated four times. The service concentrates on presenting a selection of old time Springbok Radio programing restored and preserved at the Springbok Radio Preservation Society Archive.

Springbok Radio Digital was officially handed over to the SABC Sound Archive on 8 May 2012.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Shorten, John R. (1970). The Johannesburg Saga. Johannesburg: John R. Shorten Pty Ltd. p. 1159.
  2. McCormack, Dewar (1994). The Perm Book of 'Test the Team'. Cape Town: Salty Print. p. 226. ISBN 0-620-18165-6.

External links

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