Surfing the Overberg airwaves with Pieter

Writer: Elaine Davie.

Listeners to local radio stations, first Whale Coast Fm and now Caledon Fm, will be familiar with the name and voice of Pieter van Aswegen, but perhaps not of what an adventurous life he has lived.

Right now, though, Caledon Fm is his main priority. He says people often ask, “You mean you have to go through to Caledon each time you present a programme?” Although this bilingual station has been running for some time in Caledon, it now has two other studios, one in Hermanus and one in Bredasdorp, as well as an OB (Outside Broadcast) travelling van, and it covers the whole of the Overberg. “To avoid this kind of confusion, we plan to change the name to the more generic Cfm,” explains Pieter, the station’s Programme Manager.

“The station’s focus is on community participation – ‘From the community, for the community’, so it’s essential that the whole region is able to identify with it. In fact, we view it as a powerful tool for selling this area and for emphasising ‘local is lekker’. In these difficult economic times, we also try to showcase individual businesses, especially those in the building where we have our studio, the Village Square.”

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