Alex FM rebuilds after the

ALEX FM

Almost a year ago, the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma on 9 July served as the catalyst for widespread unrest and looting across much of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. Among the victims of this lawlessness was Alex FM, which was briefly forced to shut its doors. Thanks to invaluable assistance from various players, the station is back with a bang. BACK ON THE

AIRWAVES

From liquor stores value of R5 million – but fortunately none of to furniture the people [at the station] were injured on the outlets and day,” station manager Takalane Nemangowe even funeral homes, so many tells Spot-On. businesses were looted last year. These actions by the slew of unemployed But one of the most puzzling stories and angry young South Africans weren’t really was the ransacking of Alexandra FM, about Zuma, even though the arrest of the where equipment worth millions was stolen. former statesman triggered it – it was citizens “Indeed, on 13 July, the station was looted during the unrest. All our equipment, office furniture and everything was stolen – to the

Station manager Takalane Nemangowe

showing their frustration with the government through these riots where 354 people died.

Nemangowe is disappointed that the community the station serves was the one that came to destroy it. “I don’t care what was perpetuating what was happening at the time, politically or not. The people that were looting are pure criminals. They themselves did not care about the political atmosphere of the country at the time – they just saw a platform [to commit crime] and utilised it. If the police responded in time, a lot of things could’ve been avoided. But that’s all in the past now,” he recollects.

“We’ve lost a lot of revenue because we depend on advertising as a community radio or the community media sector as a whole. Some of the questions you’re asking – like, ‘How long did it take to come back?’ – are the very same questions we received from clients and people who were investing in the station. Some are now sceptical to invest at Alex FM because they don’t know if we’re fully back or whether we’re operational, and all those sorts of things. So, you can imagine that transition; we lost a lot of revenue. But we continue to work around the clock to try recover, but it will take some time,” Nemangowe says.

A HELPING HAND

Alex FM is one of oldest community radio stations in Gauteng, having been established in September 1994 by the Alexandra Community Trust. After the looting, the station was forced off air for at least nine hours due to the equipment theft. “Our sister station LM Radio assisted us in terms of finding a studio so that we could continue with our broadcast. So, after nine hours, we were back on air, but from a different location.” The community radio station broadcasted from Rivonia in Sandton and Nemangowe confirmed to Spot-On that the stolen equipment is yet to be recovered. The studio break-in made the news, which saw Alex FM receiving aid from donors – including a R2 million cheque from the National Lotteries Commission.

“We had a lot of assistance from a lot of organisations, companies and also ordinary people. National Lottery was one of them; we also got some assistance from Primedia, Afrika Tikkun and a number of other organisations for the station to recover some of the lost equipment, so that we can continue to broadcast and be the voice of the community,” Nemangowe says.

“Our sister station LM Radio assisted us in terms of finding a studio so that we could continue with our broadcast. So, after nine hours, we were back on air, but from a different location.” We serve as the main source of information for our people; we’re also a developmental institution to young people from the community. We absorb them from the community, give them skills, experience and expertise – we ready them for [the] mainstream.”

BACK TO NORMALITY

This sense of community and comradery from industry peers and greater Gauteng has helped the station in its recovery. The station’s broadcasters have returned to their old building in Alex. “One can say we are at 70% of rebuilding the station,” says Nemangowe.

“But it will take us some time to be 100% back to where we were, because there’s quite a lot of things we have lost. There are other things that are not replaceable like our recordings, our archives – those are the things we will never recover. We’re talking about archives that go as far back as 1994 when the station started, so we lost our history as a station… but so far, so good. We have managed to come back, and we are operating 24/7 like we used to. It’s work in progress,” shares the station manager.

LESSONS LEARNT

He says the devastation has in some way, fast-tracked the station’s development in certain areas. “Looting has taught us to implement certain things that we did not have. For instance, we did not have insurance and now the station is insured. We beefed up on security.” Nemagowe adds that they’ve now begun backing up their audio and The station received a lot of assistance from many organisations, companies and also ordinary people to recover

everything that happens in studio in the cloud, in case something similar occurs again in future.

The station plays a huge role in the Alexandra community, as many people see it as their trusted source of information. “We serve as the main source of information for our people; we’re also a developmental institution to young people from the community. We absorb them from the community, give them skills, experience and expertise – we ready them for [the] mainstream,” says Nemagowe. Some of the Alex FM’s alumni today work at stations such as Power FM, 702 and the SABC.

“We continue to play that role and see ourselves as a community leader.”