Radio Fort'e Comes Alive

Communication students first mooted the concept for the establishment of Radio Fort Hare in 1992. A university radio station was launched the same year and it caught on like wild fire, establishing itself as the hottest radio station among the young black population in the province.

Unfortunately, bickering between the communication students and the then Student Representative Council over control of the airwaves stunted the growth of the station and eventually resulted in its demise.

Ten years down the line both parties seem to have learnt that sour working relations are counter productive and they are both working feverishly to re-establish the station. “The launch of Radio Forte is imminent, we are only just working on the final touches and then we will be launching the station, “explained the Interim Station Manager, Mike Rachidi. He said the response from the university community for various posts such as, newsreaders, disk jockeys, producers, and advertisers had been overwhelming.

“Following the huge interest students have shown in this project, the Management of the Radio Station was still sitting with over 60 volunteers who are keen to be a part of this new exciting initiative.”

Rachidi lamented that their greatest constraint was running capital since a project of this magnitude requires a huge injection of seed capital to kick start it. The project was given a generous donation of equipment by Primedia’s radio 702 in Gauteng following the intervention of the Division of Marketing and Communications Director, Luthando Bara in 1999.

“Our projections reflect that we will need seed capital of approximately R250 000.00 to cover both required infrastructure and running costs,” Rachidi said. He said that the Radio Forte management has engaged both the Student Representative Council and the university management requesting financial assistance. “Both the student body and management have responded positively to our request and we are expecting assistance from them, but this will not be enough and we are exploring ways of augmenting this through vigorous fundraising projects within the ensuring semester.”

Bara stated that the project has the full support of the Vice Chancellor Professor Derrick Swartz who has promised to secure funding for it. He added that the SRC which has pledged R4100.00 towards the project has been part of the initiative from the start. “The then SRC president Oscar Mabuyane was part of the team that went to Johannesburg to sign for the equipment donated by Primedia” he said.

Radio Forte falls under the auspices of the Division of Marketing and Communications. Bara said there is a growing need for a communication dialogue on campus. “This will complement our internal and external communication strategies’ he added.

The project, has however, also enlisted the expertise of the Department of Computer Science to assist with the technological aspects involved in such projects. “We need to work with the people from Computer Science, since they have technological expertise and we do not want to leave anyone behind,” explained Rachidi. It is also transpired during the course of this interview that, Baldric Chipagura, a computer science honours student is involved in an Audio Streaming project towards his degree. It is such expertise that the radio management hopes to enhance for the benefit of the entire Fort Hare community.

“You can get Radio Forte on the internet at www.mms://196.21.106.24.7007/,we are still awaiting the outcome of our radio license application from the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (ICASA),”Rachidi added.

By Nathi Gwen Gaqa