FM LICENCE FOR 702?
A reliable source says the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has made up its mind and will soon offer Primedia, owners of the radio station, an FM frequency (108.1) in the Pretoria area. But as with Pretoria-based Jacaranda, the signal will spill over to the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, the heart of the station’s main target audience.
But Primedia says it knows nothing about these developments.
Dan Moyane, executive chairman of Primedia Broadcasting, says: “We have applied for FM frequencies to Icasa and the hearing took place on October 31 2005, to which the public were invited and interested parties made submissions.
“As far as we know, Icasa has not yet made a final determination on our application and any comment on this matter at this stage would be mere speculation.”
Another source says Icasa has offered Primedia feedback on the hearing and its decision, and proposed an FM frequency to broadcast on. Primedia management and other key stakeholders in broadcasting are said to have deliberated on this.
A number of media companies, among them Kagiso Media and the SABC, have objected to 702 moving to FM, arguing that any available frequency should be given to a greenfield station.
The station, which was established in 1980 as Channel 702 transmitting from the “homeland” of Bophuthatswana, has been broadcasting on MW for 26 years. In the past few years it has been urging Icasa to allow it to move to FM. It claims MW is losing its listeners and advertising revenue due to a fading signal. Its transmitters in Garankuwa in the North West are old and require high maintenance. The MW frequency is also difficult to pick up in most city centres.
Primedia’s other Gauteng station, Highveld 94.7, has been a huge success since it was acquired from the SABC, with annual advertising revenue of more than R220m, the biggest of any station in SA.
In the past Icasa has insisted that there is only one available frequency, 92.7, and that this would be awarded to a greenfield station.
Primedia would have preferred to have an FM frequency covering most of Johannesburg. But being mainly in Pretoria and spilling over to the northern suburbs of Johannesburg is still good enough for 702, as it would reach more listeners in its target group of LSM 7-10 — high earning individuals. These are likely to be the same listeners who switched off the station because of the bad MW signal.
Inet-Bridge
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