Monday, February 27, 2006

Need tunes in your rent-a-wreck?

Its the same story the world over. You've arrived, you have the car and on the way to the hotel, you poke around the radio stations, hoping to find something vaguely to your taste.

Luckily, we have a pretty good choice to pick from here. Talk radio (in many languages) to classical to trashy pop to pirate dance radio - take your FM pick!

This list isn't definitive but hopefully there will be something to your liking before you can get to a CD shop!

National

  • 5FM. Cape Town, 89.0; Johannesburg, 98.0; Durban, 89.9; 5fm frequency finder. Hails from our national broadcaster and is broadcast countrywide. Currently undergoing what would appear to be a minor demographic change, 5FM caters predominantly for the younger crowd playing anything from pop, to hip-hop to dance (Sat evening's Saturday Surgery is good) to rock.

  • RSG: 100-106 (another from the SABC). More suitable for the daring Dutch tourist, this station is purely Afrikaans. With a mixture of talk radio, rock, classical and some boeremusiek, it caters for the contemporary Afrikaans speaking set.



Gauteng - Johannesburg/Pretoria and surrounds

  • 94.7 Highveld. Can also be streamed across the net (not so easy to do in a car though). Highveld caters for a varied crowd and is listened to in offices all over Gauteng. Broadcast in English, music is mostly contemporary pop.

  • 94.2 Jacaranda. Also available online, Jacaranda is also changing it's demographics. It's now like the Afrikaans/English cousin of Highveld, although the two companies are not connected. Music leans from contemporary 'adult' pop to hits of yesteryear.

  • 95.9 Kaya. Also available online. Playing a lot of jazz and contemporary South African music, Kaya caters for a predominantly black African market. Listened to in offices all over Gauteng.



Cape Town

  • 94.5 KFM. Similar in concept to Jacaranda with the English/Afrikaans programming with its mix of 'adult contemporary' music.



Durban

  • East Cost Radio. Based in Durban. Programming aimed at younger ages with its contemporary pop music.

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