SAfm is a national, English-language public radio station in South Africa. It has been operated by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) since its founding in 1936.
History SAfm was the SABC's first radio station, and the country's first public radio station. From 1924 to 1936, the only radio service in South Africa was a privately owned station called JB, which broadcast to the cities of Johannesburg, Durban, and (later) Cape Town. An Act of Parliament in 1936 made official the conversion of JB into a public broadcaster.
In its early days as a public radio service, the station was called the "A" Programme. When the SABC started an Afrikaans-language station in 1937, the two stations came to be called the English Service and the Afrikaans Service, respectively. In 1985 the English Service was renamed Radio South Africa; it has had its current name, SAfm, since 1995. The SAfm studio is now in SABC Radio Park, in the Johannesburg suburb of Auckland Park.
Programming From 1995 to 2003, it gradually reduced the scope of its programming from a general, multi-genre format to a news and talk radio format. In 2006, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa required SAfm to re-add drama and children's radio programmes, and these are now among the station's offerings. In 2012, SAfm was broadcasting 24 hours per day.
Audience figures Most SAfm listeners are in age range of 35 to 49, and LSM groups 7–10.
+Estimated number of listeners Month 7-day Average Monday–Friday May 2013 645,000 281,000 February 2013 566,000 263,000 December 2012 517,000 218,000 October 2012 516,000 218,000 August 2012 550,000 219,000 June 2012 540,000 221,000
See also
Channel Africa List of radio stations in South Africa Springbok Radio
References
External links