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An evaluation of SAfm as a public servicebroadcasterNirvana BechanPublished online: 28 Nov 2010.

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Communicatio, 25(1 & 2) 1999 (95-104)

An evaluation of SAfm as a public servicebroadcasterNirvana Bechan'

SYNOPSIS

I attempt to provide an analysis and evaluation of SAfm asa public service broadcaster. A public service broadcasteris entrusted with the task of informing, educating andentertaining the public in an objective, holistic andimpartial manner. The duty of public service broadcastersis to empower their audiences in terms of helping themunderstand their contexts and democratic rights. Thefindings of this report reveal that the station is establishedon hierarchical, bureaucratic structures whereby policymakers determine the structure and programming sche-dules of the station to match the needs and interests of ahypothetical audience. There is a great deal of tensionbetween those in administrative and management positionsand the actual production staff. The production staff atSAfm seem to be geared towards contextualising theirprogrammes, while administrators and managers areconvinced that SAfm is a nation-building station. Theygo so far as to impose a national identity on the public.This is purely idealistic as the real conditions of the SouthAfrican public are not taken into account in a fullycontextualised manner. This condition is severely limitingin terms of promoting and understanding cultural diversityand creativity in society. The station focuses almostexclusively on national issues, leaders and celebrities.There is no provision for promoting local cultures andissues which in reality have greater relevance to the lives ofthe majority of South Africans. SAfm has a seriousshortage of staff and for this reason research cannot becarried out at full capacity. Local events are oftenneglected because the station is weak on contextualisingvarious local stories. Research facilities need to bedrastically improved and more well-trained staff from avariety of diverse contexts need to be employed in order tohandle this crisis.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Historical background

SAfm is a public service broadcaster operating fromwithin the South African Broadcasting Corporation.The radio station has recently undergone a majorchange in programming formats and has redirected itsattention to a new target audience. It is important to

consider the historical background of SAfm in order tounderstand the present set of conditions under whichthe new mandate has arisen. Because of the length ofthis report it is only possible to highlight a briefoverview of the background of the station. SAfmoriginated as the 'A Programme' and was laterrenamed The English Service'.

The English Service' was one of the two whitenational radio stations. It initially followed a publicservice mandate in the British Broadcasting Corpora-tion (BBC) tradition. The station did not accept andbroadcast advertising. The policies of the SABC havebeen historically linked to the policies of apartheid.Tomaselli et al (1989) note that the two radio stationsaimed at white audiences, the English Service beingone, made no secret that they served dominant andprivileged groups within the social formations inSouth Africa (Tomaselli et al 1989:103). The periodof time between 17 June 1985 and 2 February 1990 ischaracteristic of the states of emergency in SouthAfrica. Ruth Teer-Tomaselli (1995:587) notes thatduring this politically turbulent period the SABCexpected a 'total onslaught'. In response to this a'total strategy' model was developed. She states:

Reports of the SABC, as well as internallycirculated in-house documents, provide evidencethat the philosophy of the corporation during themid 1980s was self consciously based on theprinciples of national security, in order to combatthe expected Total Onslaught.

It was during this period that the English Servicechanged to Radio South Africa (RSA). This occurredin January 1986. The very convenient switch from theEnglish Service to RSA came as part of the TotalStrategy formulation.

Since the English Service was so highly character-istic of apartheid ideology, it would have beenimmediately dismantled and/or discontinued if anyopposition group had taken over political power of thestate by force. RSA stood a greater chance of survivalagainst any oppositional force as it could legitimateitself as a transformed station that was more in line

Nirvana Bechan is a doctoral student in Media Studies, University of Natal,email: nbechan@hotmail.com

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with serving a greater audience than the previousselect the English Service.

Another reason for the switch from the EnglishService to RSA was a commercial one. Once theEnglish Service had been transformed into RSA, thestation began accepting advertising revenue for thevery first time and was therefore no longer a whollypublic service station. It had a commercial componentto it now. During this period the SABC began toremodel and redirect itself towards matters of finance.The SABC was restructured into 'Business Units' inJanuary 1991. It was the responsibility of each'Business Unit' to make its own profit (Teer-Tomaselli1995:578). It is quite evident that the SABC wasbecomming commercially oriented.

RSA had never made a profit. Since it was still intheory a public service station, it had to retain itspublic service mandate, even though it was commer-cially driven through advertising at the same time. Thisambiguity in the station's public service policy andoperation still prevails. In its submission to theIndependent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) the stationput forward its case as a public service broadcaster.Margaret Stenhouse (1995) notes a contradiction inthis context when she states that RSA pronounceditself a public service broadcaster, yet 75 per cent of itsrevenue came from advertising. The station musttherefore be market driven. Teer-Tomaselli(1995:581) states that the tensions between thepublic service and the market have always been anissue in the SABC. (This issue in terms of RSA will befully dealt with later in this report.)

1.2 Methodology

The personal interviews with members of the SAfmstaff were conducted during my brief three-week stayat the station in Auckland Park from 8 to 27 July1996. During this time I participated and observed inthe departments of Current Affairs Live, Magazines,and Access and Drama. The production work that Iwas involved in at Current Affairs Live includedscripting, presentation and arranging live and pre-recorded interviews for the current affairs show AMLive. I was an observer and participant at the dailyproduction meetings. My activities in the departmentsof Magazines and Access and Drama includedscripting and presentation for the magazine pro-gramme The Big Big Brunch. In addition, I arrangedinterviews and attended production meetings.

I could not help but notice a great deal of tensionbetween the production staff and those in adminis-trative and managerial positions. For this reason Iattempted to gain further insight into how the stationoperates in fulfilling its public service mandate in anenvironment where there is considerable conflict inprofessional and administrative ideologies.

1.3 Transformation: RSA to SAfm

As South Africa moved towards democracy after the1 994 election, it was clear that RSA as a public servicebroadcaster had to shift its focus in this direction aswell. It was well known that RSA had grown out of

the 'total strategy' plan and still belonged to the oldhegemony of broadcasting which was characteristicof the National Party (NP) regime. RSA therefore hada history as a station that served to legitimategovernment policy. When the African National Con-gress (ANC) came into political power after the 1994democratic election, RSA had to seriously reconsiderits role as a public service broadcaster. Eric Louw(1993:101) states that various media policy plannersand academics recommended that the new democra-tically elected government should resist the tempta-tion to use the public service broadcaster as anideological tool for its own legitimation. Louwsuggested that the SABC should remain as acentralised institution, maintaining a diversity inprogramming content that catered for the needs ofthe various groups in society.

In the wake of a new democratic environment therewas no doubt that RSA had to change its policies andredirect its programming content in keeping with thechanges that affected the political, social and eco-nomic dispositions of the South African public. Thestation could certainly not legitimate itself and meetwith public approval in terms of its disproportionateallocation of resources. RSA was a commerciallyoriented station, yet it was running at a severefinancial loss. The station was steadily losing listener-ship, and it was not even sought after by the majorityof its target audience, who constituted the whiteEnglish-speaking sector of society.

SABC chief executive Zwelakhe Sisulu emphasisedthat the public service mandate would be geared toserving 'citizens' and not delivering specific consu-mers to markets (Leadership, (14)1, 1995:68). GovinReddy, the chief executive of radio, added that RSAwas 'an old fashioned radio station with a dwindlingageing, predominantly white audience' (BusinessDay, 1 April 1995:8). The All Media Products Survey(AMPS) for March 1988 concluded that the stationwas losing audiences rapidly. Of the listeners, 83 percent were white and 75 per cent belonged to the eliteand wealthy groups in South Africa. The switch fromRSA to SAfm caused a great deal of outcry amongtraditional RSA listeners, who accused SAfm ofcutting off their old favourite programmes and makingpoor use of the English language.

1.4 The public service broadcaster

It is the duty of the public service broadcaster,according to Marc Raboy (1995:20), to be policymotivated in enhancing the quality of life andempowering individuals and social groups to partici-pate equitably. Ian Ang (1991:29) states:

The audience-as-public consists not of consumers,but of citizens who must be reformed, educated,informed as well as entertained - in short 'served' -presumably to enable them to better perform theirdemocratic rights and duties.

I have chosen these definitions of the role of apublic service broadcaster as both promote theimportance of development and democracy. These

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are important issues that need to be fully addressed inthe South African context through the public servicebroadcaster. But does SAfm genuinely promotedevelopment and democracy?

1.4.1 The public service broadcaster and nationbuilding

Senior members of production staff believe thatdemocracy is served through the approach of multi-culturalism, whereby people of all cultural back-grounds can listen to the station and acquire a senseof common identity. Caleb Thondhlana is assistant tothe manager of programmes. He believes that SAfm asa national public service broadcaster is entrusted withthe role of 'uniting the nation'. Thondhlana believesthat the promotion of the concept of unity will enablelisteners to feel a sense of commonality and thus helpin the wider process of nation building. In hisdiscussion of nationalism and the development ofrecently politically liberated countries, Robert White(1994:6) states: 'A country's own history and specific"myth" must be fostered, not following another. Everynation must respond to its own history, ecology,culture and personality structures.' Like Thondhlana,White does not recognise that there are diverse groupseven within a nation. National concerns are beingimposed over diverse local concerns. This position isof no benefit in promoting development, which isrequired most at local grassroots level. SAfm maytherefore be accused of not fulfiling the public serviceethos in terms of promoting development. It is alsoquite impossible to try to foster a national identity in asociety that is extremely multifaceted. The era ofapartheid has left behind a deeply divided nation interms of social, political, cultural and economiccontexts.

1.4.2 Public service broadcasting in theinformation age

One must consider factors such as the pressures ofglobalisation that work against fostering a singlenational identity through a public service broadcaster.The information age in broadcasting is characterisedby new technologies that operate on a global scale.M-Net and MultiChoice are the exclusive SouthAfrican challengers to public service broadcasting inthis country. Companies such as these are interactivein the global information economy which, accordingto Tomaselli (1996:2), has reshaped broadcastingglobally, and challenged the integrity and sustain-ability of public service broadcasting. This newcontext of broadcasting is characterised by, 'newtransmission and reception technologies, new globalaudience profiles and patterns of reception, and newways of funding public service broadcasting'. As aresult, broadcast media are growing rapidly in terms ofthe number of television and radio stations availableto the public. Muriel G Cantor (1994:163) states:

Few programmes can generate enough appeal tohave a 'mass audience' made up of all genders,social classes and age groups. Over the last

decade, television has come to reflect more directlythe tastes and lifestyles of various audiences.

For this reason people now have a larger choice inselecting a radio station that serves their particularinterests. Despite this, policy makers at SAfm stillbelieve that they can capture a unique 'commoness'among their listeners that will help develop a nationbuilding station.

1.4.3 Anticipated target audience

Production staff at SAfm and policy documents suchas the marketing plan describe their anticipatedaudience as an emerging group of South Africanswho have a lot in common in this new democracy.There is often a hypothesised image of an audience,according to J S Ettema and D C Whitney (1994:6)that is constituted in broadcast policy making. Butprofessional mass communication does not alwayshave a clear picture of its audiences. Production teams'practise their craft not by internalizing an audienceimage but by acquiring and maintaining a productimage'. The SAfm marketing plan for 1995/1996indicates that:

SAfm is the first South African station to take upthe challenge of meeting the needs of a radiomarket where English is a common language andto take the risk of setting up a full spectrumprogramming schedule before any firm topicaltrends of commonality are plainly evident.

It is quite clear from this statement that there is noparticular target audience that the station is beingdirected at. The proposed listenership is hypothetical.The station is located in a situation where a commonaudience trend is anticipated. It is hoped that thisanticipated development of 'commonality' amonglisteners, according to policy documents and seniorproduction workers will entrench SAfm as a stationserving and working towards national development.Since the transformation of RSA to SAfm, the stationhas steadily been losing listenership. One of the mostimportant explanations for this loss of listeners is thatthe sales force are not familiar with the product. If thesales force, as well as the policy documents, im-plemented by policy makers, are not exactly sure oftheir targeted audience, George Mazarakis (1995) iscertainly justified in putting forward his question,'Who can relate to SAfm as it is now?' (RhodesReview, July 1995:4).

2 INSTITUTION AND BUREAUCRACY

2.1 Hierarchical structures

There appears to be a great divide between theadministration and management of the SABC andthe production staff of SAfm. This is clearly estab-lished in the executive summary report of SAfm'smarketing plan which states:

The fact that English is a shared language for mostof the population and that SAfm is striving to be a

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more representative and broadbased public servicebroadcaster has not yet been accepted by themedia or by certain decision makers within theSABC.

It seems as though the production staff of SAfm isgeared towards being a fully representative station ofall South Africans through the medium of English.Does the managerial staff have another agendaplanned for the station under the guise of the publicservice ethos? Teer-Tomaselli (1995:581), in herdiscussion of the role of the SABC in the 1994election, states that members of the board of theSABC perceived that management was still hangingon to the old structures of the corporation. Thesewould include an affiliation with the ruling ideologiesof the government as well as tendencies to run thecorporation along the lines of a capitalistic institution.These two reasons in practical terms strongly deny theoperation of the SABC as a public service institution.

I interviewed Caleb Thondhlana during my stay atSAfm. Thondhlana is involved in management andprogramming at SAfm (assistant to manager: pro-grammes). Most of his views and oppinions were inopposition to those held by the production staff atCurrent Affairs Live.

Most of my documented evidence is drawn frominterviews and observations of the production staff ofCurrent Affairs Live. It is therefore necessary to supplyinformation about the staffing structure so that thediscussion that follows can be situated in propercontext.

2.1.1 Current Affairs Live: SAfm (July 1996)

Executive producer: Charles Leonard

Senior producer: Ferial Haffagee (AM Live)Acting senior producer: Thoraya Pandy

Presenters and producers: Sally Burdet (AM Live)John Maytham (AM Live)Brett Davidson (PM Live)San Reddy (PM Live)

2.1.2 Audience assessment and institutionalpolicies

During my stay I interviewed George Hill, a studentserving an internship from the Peninsular Technikon.Hill was attached to Current Affairs Live for one year.He noted that the policies of the station aredetermined by the bureaucrats in managerial positionswho have a lot to say about the station's transforma-tion into a genuine public service broadcaster, servingthe needs and interests of a diverse South Africansociety. He comments that in practice, however, thisnever really happens. In response to this I would liketo draw on Robert White's discussion of communica-tion as a tool for development. White (1991:151)states that all people must contribute to the pool ofinformation that provides a basis for national decisionmaking and allocation of resources. This role shouldnot be the exclusive right of professional elites. Inreality, the management staff of the SABC assume

total power over policy decisions. This is an extremeviolation of the public service ethos. Decision makingis supposed to evolve from the needs and aspirationsof the public.

Media organisations, according to Dennis McQuail(1987), process reality to increase conformity. Hegoes on to comment that bureaucracy favourspredictability and uniformity. In this way an audiencegrows to be uncritical. Any radical viewpoint is notgiven a fair hearing as it could be seen as a threat tothe established hierarchy of decision makers. Alter-native perspectives, according to Eric Louw(1984:33), are often not represented and if they are,they are seen from the viewpoint of the institution thatdistorts the information in favour of its own ideolo-gies. This is why there is no clash in ideas andtherefore no true growth of understanding. A marxistanalysis of those who are instrumental in this type ofpolicy formulation show that they are the 'capitalistelites' (Murdock 1982:145). Murdock goes on tostate that 'cultural industries as a whole operate toadvance the collective interests of the capitalist classor a great dominant part of it' (Murdock 1984:145).

The anticipated target audience of SAfm is a largegroup of South Africans with a sense of 'commonality'in their values and attitudes towards life. It is quiteclear that the policy makers of the station are imposingthese characteristics on an audience that is not evenevident. This allows policy makers to serve their owninterests in terms of their hierarchical positions withinthe SABC. This activity goes strongly against themission of a public service broadcaster. JohnMaythem, producer and presenter of AM Live atSAfm identifies this trend of policy making at thestation. He calls this unfair action of audienceimposition the 'top-down' process, whereby thepublic are supposed to conform to the establishedorder rather than policy being created to attend totheir needs and interests. In opposition to this,Thondhlana states that as a public service broad-caster, SAfm has to act as the communicationmediator between the government and the public. Inthis way the government will be able to give thepublic a sense of direction in terms of fulfilling thebroader interests of the nation. This argument sup-ports the premise that bureaucracy within the SABC isstill very much linked with the ruling political regime.It also makes the SABC seem inaccessible to publicquestioning. These findings are supported by IanAng's (1991:7) discussion:

Institutional knowledge is driven toward makingthe audience visible in such a way that it helps theinstitution to increase their power to get theirrelationship with the audience under control ...contained in the interest of a predeterminedinstitutional goal.

The real needs of the public are ignored in favour of'predetermined institutional goals'. This may be clearlyillustrated if one considers the predetermined targetaudience that the station hopes to rear. AndrewUnsworth states: 'It seems that some things at the

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SABC are cast in concrete and can never change.' Hegoes on to say that AM and PM Live have never feltthe full support of the SABC hierarchy (undatedarticle).

2.1.3 Production Autonomy

Charles Leonard, executive producer of Current AffairsLive, complains continuously on the issue of currentaffairs programmes being restricted in terms of livereporting. This department does not have its owncomplement of reporters. Producers have to dependon reports commissioned from the central Radio NewsDepartment. This situation is certainly a strongdisability to Current Affairs Live. The department hasto depend on reporters who are directed by those inmanagement positions. An attitude of dismay anddespondency seems to prevail among the producersof Current Affairs Live. Many complain about theunseen restrictions and limitations imposed on theirwork by bureaucratic manipulation. If this currentaffairs department wants to carry a news report on aparticular event that has not been investigated by thecentral Radio News Department, Charles Leonard hasto obtain the permission of various SABC newsmanagers in order to get a reporter to cover the story.This, according to Leonard, is a heavily bureaucraticprocess and a great deal of valuable time is wasted.The reporter who is sent out to cover the event is fromthe central Radio News Department. Current AffairsLive is therefore restricted in pursuing any specificcreative angle that they may want to take in reportingon an event. The producers continuously experience agreat deal of frustration as their professional creativeproduction autonomy therefore amounts to almostnothing. John Maytham expressed his anxiety aboutSABC Radio News reporters when he stated that theyeditorialise and are often too subjective in theirreporting. He sees this as the direct influence ofSABC policy makers. It seems as though thesereporters have been ideologically manipulated by thechannels of bureaucracy that govern the SABC.Cantor (1994:159) sums up this situation quiteadequately when she remarks:

If the intellectual becomes the hired man of aninformation industry, his general aims must, ofcourse, be set by the decisions of others rather thanhis own integrity. According to this formulation,therefore, both the creators and their publics arepowerless in a system where creativity is bureau-cratically controlled.

Caleb Thondhlana admits that as a public servicebroadcaster, SAfm had to be directed towards unitingthe nation through the influence of the government.He states that the nation cannot be allowed to moveinto a state of multilateral politics whereby thepopulation is largely divided among a variety ofpolitical interests. He states that it is the job of SAfmto make sure that this does not happen. Withoutgovernment direction for plans of liberation throughunity, the nature of public service broadcasting will belost in South Africa. This type of streamlined reason-

ing among those in managerial positions that actuallyprohibits the creative autonomy of the productionstaff. These sentiments also clearly violate the law ofimpartiality of the public service broadcaster.

2.2 Market strategies

The emerging target audience as expected by thepolicy makers of SAfm will be financially able andindependent people. At present this situation does notinclude the vast majority of South Africans. How canSAfm then call itself a true public service broadcaster?Ettema and Whitney (1994:4) state: The marketingstrategies of culture industries are intended not merelyto "know" audiences but to shape them intopredictable and manageable markets.' Marketingdocuments of the station classify SAfm as a consumerand business product:

As a consumer product the station could becategorised as a Convenience, Speciality andUnsought product. As a Business product SAfmcould be linked to Professional services as thestation does offer specialised business informationas well as being able to reach 'niche' or specialisedlistenership (Marketing Plan 1995/1996).

Could this 'niche' listenership be a market-drivenstrategy to target financially independent businessand professional groups in society that are of interestto advertisers? Andrew Unsworth points out that theFebruary/March AMPS established that over 50 percent of the station's listeners earn more than R4 000 amonth (undated article). This figure indicates thatmore than half the station's listeners are economicallyindependent. The libertarian press always reflectsopinions of the middle class in order to attractadvertisers as it is they who have spending power(Louw 1984:34). SAfm is certainly not directedspecifically towards a middle class, but the conceptthat Louw describes is definitely operational in thestation's marketing strategies. The economically activegroups in society are targeted through the marketingplans of the station.

2.2.1 The market versus public service

John Maythem states that it is impossible for thestation to completely fulfil its public service mandatewhereby everybody's interests are served and make aprofit. In practice the station has to attract someadvertising revenue. This is perhaps why the 'niche'listenership is targeted through the station's program-ming. If this is the situation at SAfm, then objectivityin production is certainly at stake. A public servicebroadcaster is supposed to remain fully objective.How can this occur if the values of objectivity arecompromised with market-driven strategies? This is anissue of great tension among the producers of CurrentAffairs Live. Thoraya Pandy, an acting senior producerof AM Live, said that producers of Current Affairs Liveare continually leaving the station because theirjournalistic ethic of objectivity is often rejected byadministrators who favour administrative and market-

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driven broadcasts rather than following the publicservice mandate. This strategy, as understood byChristians (1993), is a process of moving from anobjective view of human nature to statistical analysisand detachment. It is interesting that Pandy alsostated that the corporation as a whole favoursadministrators and those in management positionsover the actual production staff in terms of salary andpromotion opportunities.

2.3 Contextualisation of communication

2.3.1 Public relations

The programming content of SAfm attempts to drawon all sectors of society. News, current affairs andnumerous talk shows draw strongly on issues ofpolitics and economics. Magazine programmes focusprimarily on subjects of entertainment and novelty. Onthe surface it seems that the programming content ofthe station caters for all South Africans. On closerinspection, it becomes clearly evident that theprogramming content is actually structured in a veryhierarchical 'top-down' manner. George Mazarakis(1995:5) states: 'Broadcast journalism has a role toplay in making officials accountable. Instead, we see ittoo often as a PR mouthpiece. There is a lack ofcritical journalism and that again is not much differentfrom what has happened in the past.' It is certainlytrue that SAfm gives itself excellent public relations asa public service broadcaster attempting to recogniseall groups in society.

2.3.2 Confronting reality

The station is also very weak in terms of the actualcontextualisation of programming matter and oftenimposes opinions on various subjects rather thangathering opinions from the public that are placed in avariety of contexts. The programming lacks criticalresponse to circumstances and events (Mazarakis1995:5). There is very little or no provision for directdebate between people of opposing opinions on thecurrent affairs shows. Ferial Haffagee, senior producerof Current Affairs Live, commented that the disadvan-tage of radio news is that it does not fill listeners in onthe processes behind a story. The issues reported onhave very little relation to confronting reality. The realsituations of the greater majority of the South Africanpublic are ignored. Part of the reason is that activedebate could actually motivate members of the publicto become critically aware and challenge the stationand corporation over its hierarchical structure ofcontrol and imposition of audience needs. Those inpositions of management, such as Thondhlana,propagate a system of public service broadcastingwhereby all sectors of life must be seen in a nationalcontext. Decisions regarding the welfare of the stateand its citizens must be made from a centralisedauthority. This is then passed onto the public throughthe public service broadcaster. The hierarchy ofdecision making that exists at the SABC prohibitscritical reporting by the production staff.

2.3.3 Centralisation

SAfm seems to be highly focused on decision makersin the country. This is evident in the current affairs,magazine and talk shows programmes, AM and PMLive utilise opinions on issues almost exclusively fromprominent social, economic and political leaders.There is very little feedback on regional news. Thetalk shows are directed towards issues that are ofnational interest. The majority of South Africans haveproblems that need to be dealt with on a regionalbasis before they can understand the wider implica-tions of national issues. Teer-Tomaselli (1995:592)comments that the SABC has always been inclined tofollow the agendas of politicians rather than forcethem to face the real issues confronting the public. Itis the duty of a public service broadcaster such asSAfm to make leaders accountable to the public. Thisis something that SAfm needs to address in itsprogramming.

2.3.4 National versus local

Public service broadcasting ought to consider operat-ing through a system of horizontal communication orat grassroots level where communication can becomea tool for fostering autonomy and development(Raboy 1995:10). Thondhlana believes that SAfmcannot afford to waste its time on regional leaders andevents. National leaders need to be given moreprominence as their decisions have national andinternational impact on South Africans and theinternational community. Regional or local leadersdo not have the interest of the whole nation at heartand are therefore of no use to SAfm. These intentionsare evident in the programming schedules of AM andPM Live. Both programmes feature specially compiledreports on national business, science, engineering andlabour issues. This type of specialised programmingpolicy alienates the larger groups in society. Thegreater majority of South Africans do not have themeans of fully comprehending, for example, howspecialised scientific information has an impact ontheir lives. Production staff at Current Affairs Liveexpress a strong desire to get involved in news thathas more of the 'human element' and is not detachedfrom the real circumstances of people in the public atlarge. In contrast to the specialised knowledge beingenforced on listeners, it is most interesting to noteRichard Peterson's example of how a local situationgrew to have national consequences. Peterson(1994:176) tells how a music producer, Ralf Peer,agreed to record music that had been composed by alocal Atlanta citizen. The citizen was a white working-class fiddle player. Peterson states:

Though Peer thought the recording soundedawful, he agreed to release it in the Atlanta areaonly on the insistence of the local record dis-tributer. The original pressing was sold out in a fewdays, and in the process a national demand formusic by working-class whites was discovered.

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2.3.5 Geographical hierarchy

Caleb Thondhlana of Programming at SAfm statesthat since SAfm is a national public service broad-caster, local stories must be subordinated to nationalstories. He maintains that Johannesburg has moresignificance than any other city regarding the state ofthe nation. Johannesburg is the political and eco-nomic hub of South Africa and anything that happensthere has great consequences for the rest of thecountry. Local and regional events and issues do notgenerally have larger national concerns. Thondhlanaseems to be forgetting that SAfm is a public servicebroadcaster, which means that its fundamental task isthat of development and empowerment of all people.A country can only truly develop and grow tounderstand empowerment and autonomy if develop-ment is fostered from local perspectives. The manage-ment and administrative staff at SAfm seem to favourdevelopment from a position of enforcing hierarchicalgeographic perspectives on the public.

2.3.6 'Process journalism'

Production staff at SAfm express great despondencyat not being able to freely incorporate stories andideas of local interest. John Maythem of CurrentAffairs Live expressed his desire to go beyond theopinions of decision makers and root out the opinionsof actual people in real predicaments. Thoraya Pandystated that the administrators of the SABC do notacknowledge people with experience in the field ofcommunity broadcasting, and local reporting is there-fore usually rejected. Apartheid prevented the devel-opment of a homogeneous audience in terms of mediaconsumption in South Africa. Taking this into ac-count, it is almost imperative then that a public servicebroadcaster should situate its broadcasting content,especially in the field of news and current affairs,within different social, economic, cultural and politicalperspectives. This type of journalism is referred to as'process journalism' (Teer-Tomaselli et al 1994). Thismeans that the history and development of thesituation need to be drawn out in proper contextrather than providing a short synopsis of the event outof context. Ferial Haffagee avers that radio news at theSABC is disadvantaged in that it has no sense ofprocess' behind the reports that will allow for any

type of contextual understanding. News reportsprovided by the current affairs programmes are there-fore susceptible to inaccuracy. The programmes AMand PM Live at SAfm are gulity of neglecting the'processors' surrounding their news stories. Thisactually leads in the long term to listeners falling intoa state of ignorance of the wider social changes thathave a direct influence on their lives. Listeners aretherefore being deceived by the information they arenot provided with. Mazarakis (1995) has accused thepresenters of AM Live of not knowing any back-ground and context to the stories they present(Mazarakis 1995:5). In response to this, Maythemreplied that the reasons for these deficiencies in newsprogrammes are historical. Producers are not givenproper training by the SABC and a vast amount of his

time is spent on re-writing news stories for presenta-tion. The scripts that he is presented with often haveincorrect information and are written in poor English.The time for research to situate a story in its propercontext is therefore restricted. There is also a seriousshortage of staff at Current Affairs Live. This is whythe presenters of AM Live, according to JohnMaythem, cannot fully embrace an item of news in aholistic manner. Brett Davidson, a presenter on PMLive expressed similar sentiments. He maintains thatbecause of the lack of research facilities and shortageof staff, PM Live is suffering severely in terms ofproducing quality programming. All these factorsactually contribute to the creation of news pro-grammes that lack any real clash and conflict in ideas,and fall into an uncritical and conformist mode ofoperation. There are no thorough research facilities forSABC radio stations. This fact is a great disability,especially to a current affairs department of a publicservice broadcaster like SAfm. Proper research facil-ities are of great importance in projecting an objectiveand holistic perspective of public events and situa-tions.

3 THE QUESTION OF DIVERSITY

3.1 Nation building and alienation

Senior members of production staff such as CalebThondhlana at SAfm are convinced that the stationwill fulfil its role as a public service broadcaster byuniting the nation in a unison of voices. Thondhlanabelieves that this can happen by fostering nationalpolicies and rights through the station's programming.He states that diversity cannot be tolerated as it is aninstrument that divides the nation. At this point Iwould like to draw on Teer-Tomaselli and Tomaselli(1994:7), who state that the social, cultural, politicaland economic history of South Africa is such thatpeople are in reality deeply divided. Since this is thecase, different people from different groups in societywill therefore have different needs and aspirations.There is no national homogeneous listenership inSouth Africa. 'If a public service broadcaster is to playa part in national reconstruction it must do so in thecontext of its contribution to the local, regional andspecific language requirements of the country' (Teer-Tomaselli & Tomaselli 1994:16). It is the duty of apublic service broadcaster to recognise and cater forthe needs of diverse groups in a nation. In this way

development in all sectors of life can be promoted aspeople in different contexts become empowered totake charge of their lives. Programme producers suchas John Maythem of AM Live agree that it isimpossible for SAfm to fulfil its mandate as a nation-building station that will bridge all the differences ofthe public. The Alyce Chavunduka show is aprogramme that attempts to do this and in the processalienates everybody. Teer-Tomaselli (1989:6) statesthat the process of transferring cultural forms from onesociety to another leads to the alienation of anaudience. This is quite an ironic situation as the endresult of trying to bridge the nation through aprogramme results in alienating the nation.

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3.2 Standardisation

Listeners are constantly being alienated through themusic industry. Teer-Tomaselli states that the musicindustry is directed towards quantity, speed andmarketability rather than the quality of a professionalproduct. It is heavily reliant on a large base oflisteners. The industry does not usually supportunconventional musicians and the taste of sophisti-cated minorities. There is therefore an inevitable drivetowards standardised commercial music. This leads toworsening the audience taste in music and thealienation of the audience. Creativity in music isdenied, as the more conventional form of music ispreferred (Gallagher 1982:164). In an attempt toarrive at a large base of common listenership, SAfm ismotivated towards an imposed standardisation in itsprogramming.This is typical of the Alyce Chavundukashow, which tries to encompass a wide range ofcommercial music interests in the hope of capturing a'common' listenership. This is an alienating experienceas listeners' interests and needs are being standar-dised. This sense of standardisation is directed inreality towards a largely hypothetical audience.

3.3 Imposed stereotyping

In his discussion of the music industry, Peterson(1994:177) declares that because a distinction be-tween categories of music has been established,musicians are almost forced to shape their musicalong the lines of different categories in order tobecome commercially successful. Musicians oftencomplain that their music becomes distorted when ithas to fit a category. This is exactly the sameexperience that the producers of Current Affairs Livehave. Their professional autonomy and creativity areconstantly being interfered with by bureaucrats whoinsist upon streamlining the production output ofcurrent affairs programmes. The stereotyping ofmusical categories which Peterson describes is typicalof the stereotyped ideas of audience needs and tastesby SAfm policy makers. Through this type ofcategorisation and stereotyping, different forms ofcultural expression are constrained. Murdock andGolding (1986:15) maintain that often subordinategroups in society are meant to adopt the socialknowledge of the dominant groups in society. Thesedominant ideas are prevalent in the programming ofSAfm and are extracted from bureaucratic sources.How are the rest of the South African public supposedto truly identify with these dominant ideas? Theimposition of dominant ideologies are actually asource of alienation to the public. Creativity, diversityand originality of ideas are stifled. There is no room fordebate and cultural interaction. Any prevailing socialantagonisms in society are not confronted in a criticaland rational manner. In an attempt to reconcile thequestion of diversity regarding the public service,broadcaster John Ellis states that while it is 'no longeran agent of national unity, the public service broad-caster can provide the forum within which theemerging culture of multiple identities can negotiateits antagonisms' (in Raboy 1995:9). Ellis is making

room for the democratic right of citizens to voice theircultural differences. This type of cross-cultural inter-action promotes the understanding of who reallyconstitutes the South African public. It is therefore ofgreat importance that a public service broadcaster likeSAfm instil in its policy the need to service culturaldiversity.

3.4 The 'omnivore' and 'univore'

An excellent metaphor for the professional who is incharge of formulating social and cultural program-ming is provided by Peterson (1994:180), who refersto this character as the 'omnivore'. The omnivore is aperson who knows not only about the traditional elitebut also about the wider range of people in society.The omnivore takes account of everybody but is finallydiscriminating against those outside his/her socialcontext. Peterson also points out the existence of the'univore'. Univores are those people who belong tothe various discrete taste groups and they all claimsuperiority over the other groups around them, yetthey recognise the cultural superiority of the omni-vore. I would suggest that this is exactly the case withSAfm. The policy makers and the production staff to acertain extent belong to the omnivore group. They dounderstand that since the station is a public servicebroadcaster it has to recognise the whole of the SouthAfrican public. But their knowledge of the SouthAfrican public is not complete and they cannot placedifferent groups of people in their correct contexts.Knowledge of various univore groups comes ulti-mately from their own subjective understanding ofthese people. The univore groups in society do notactively realise the power the omnivores have overthem in determining social knowledge. They havebeen delivered into a state of passivity and feel thatthey have no control over those who determinebroadcast policy. This is especially true in terms oflistener feedback at SAfm, of which there is very little,especially from South Africans who are based outsidethe Gauteng region. This is a great pity, especiallysince a public service broadcaster is supposed toproject a fair and real representation of the variousgroups in society. The great quantity of knowledgepossessed by those who create policy at SAfm iscertainly not appropriate when applied without a realsense of the differences and contexts of variousgroups.

4 CONCLUSION

4.1 The predicament of public servicebroadcasting

The predicament that SAfm finds itself in is notuncommon to public service broadcasters around theworld. New technologies and the rapid growth oftelevision and radio stations have made it very difficultfor public service broadcasters to attract large audi-ences. The concept of a mass audience no longerseems to exist as people are increasingly beingdirected towards different sources of the media thatcater for their specialised interests. SAfm's marketing

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plan states that it caters for a broadbased audienceand reflects the cultures of most South African peoplewhose first, second and third language is English. Ibelieve that these English-speaking South Africansfind it more convenient to listen to other radio stationsthat cater for their specific needs and interests. Thecurrent affairs programmes lack a holistic context or'process' behind their reporting. This makes theprogrammes seem abstract and therefore not easilyidentifiable with the larger South African public.Magazine and entertainment programmes focus onprominent personalities who are largely removed fromthe everyday realities. The station is therefore notsought after by the greater public, as are most publicservice broadcasters now around the world.

4.2 Transformation without preparation

In order to survive in a South African society whichentered a state of democracy after the 1994 election,SAfm had to quickly change its targeted audience andprogramming schedules. This was the only way itcould prove itself as a legitimate public servicebroadcaster which catered for the needs of all SouthAfricans. I would argue that this transformation tookplace so rapidly that the station did not have anopportunity to make adequate preparation to deter-mine who actually constitute the South Africanpublic. This is why the station has imposed listeningneeds on the public. This imposition is determined bypolicy makers and comes from selective ideologicalpositions. This is certainly not in keeping with thetenets of democracy, which promote the impartialavailability of information.

4.3 Hypothetical audience

Policy makers have worked in isolation from realaudience needs and interests in formulating the newmandate and policies of SAfm. The result is thatproduction staff are coerced by management toidentify its targeted audience as a mass group ofpeople who are the newly liberated South Africans ofall colours, living an economically active and pro-gressive life. In reality, there is no such mass group oflisteners in South Africa. In an obvious attempt to bepolitically correct and progressive, the SABC can beaccused of imposing the new ideology of 'rain-bowism' on the public. This ideology exists only in ahypothetical state and cannot be said to be true ofSouth African society. In his discussion of the SABC'stransformation after the 1994 election, George Ma-zarakis (1995) stated: 'A commitment to nation-building and "rainbowism" is inhibiting investigativeor critical journalism' (Rhodes Review 1995:6).

4.4 The myth of nation building

SAfm seems to be too dedicated to nation buildingand in the process the station is not fulfilling itsobjectivity and impartiality ethic. The notion of nationbuilding as manifested in the station's policies andarticulated by those in management, such as Thondh-lana, comes from a highly selective perspective.

Nation building is a cultural issue that demands theright of every group in society to be fairly represented.This falls in line with one of the central tenets ofdemocracy which promotes freedom of expressionand representation. Audiences of SAfm are beingalienated as their specific diverse values and attitudesare not being taken into account by those in charge ofprogramming and producing. It is important thatprofessionals realise that SAfm cannot undertake toact as a station that will build national cohesionthrough the imposition of selective ideologies.

5 RECOMMENDATIONS

• The Drama Department at SAfm is in a state ofserious crisis because of lack of funding by theSABC. I believe that this department is of sig-nificant importance to the station as it is throughdrama production that diverse stories can be toldabout South Africans from all contexts. Throughthe process of listening to the enactment ofdifferent characters we come to understand SouthAfricans from various groups and contexts. Pater-son (1994) identifies this type of broadcasting asbuilding a plural South African culture (Paterson1994:23). As a public service broadcaster it is therole of SAfm to encourage this type of diverse,highly contextualised account of the lives ofdifferent South Africans. The Drama Departmenttherefore requires more funds in order to stay aliveand increase the content of drama to the program-ming of the station. It must also commissioncontemporary local radio dramas from all overSouth Africa. This process will not only help tosupport and cultivate the field of arts and culturebut it will also promote creative diversity.

• SAfm needs to make the leaders and prominantpeople that it features on current affairs andmagazine programmes more accountable to thepublic. This is the duty of a public service broad-caster. This can be done through thorough yetimpartial questioning and listener interaction withthese various political and social leaders.

• There needs to be a serious decentralisation ofproduction from Gauteng. As it stands, there is fartoo much influence from media professionals andcitizens based there. Almost all of the feedback inthe form of letters, faxes and emails received byCurrent Affairs Live and the various talk showscomes from sources in Gauteng. If SAfm is a publicservice broadcaster, it must be accountable to allSouth Africans. The station therefore needs tofoster other regional interests and needs into itsprogramming. This system of distribution will thenbe of greater relevance to South Africans outsideGauteng. Public service broadcasting, after all, isabout empowering people to understand their owncontexts and thus take charge of their own lives.Local journalists and correspondents from varioussections of society must be empowered with thetask of providing regular feedback to centralinformation collection points.

• The biggest problem that SAfm faces at the

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moment is audience identification. It is wrong for apublic service broadcaster to assume and impose astandardised stereotypical model of its audienceneeds and aspirations. Serious research needs to beundertaken to identify the listening needs of SouthAfricans so that information of the greatest relev-ence can be diseminated to various sectors ofsociety. Audience research also needs to investigatethe best possible ways of empowering people fromdifferent social and cultural contexts with informa-tion, education and entertainment.

REFERENCES

More staff need to be recruited from a variety of

contexts in order to contribute to a more holistic

research capacity that places great importance on

proper contextualisation of the various needs and

aspirations of radio listeners. Research needs to be

carried out on an on-going basis. Staff should be

exposed to continuous in-house training and

workshops in order to cope with the diverse needs

and aspirations of South Africans.

Ang, I 1991. Desperately seeking the audience. London: Routledge.Balfour, S 1995. 'The money box. What is the future of public service broadcasting in South Africa?' Leadership (14)1:68-73.Cantor, M G 1994. The role of the audience in the production of culture'. In Ettema, J & Whitney, D (eds). Audiencemaking:

how the media create the audience. New Delhi: Sage.Christians, Clifford et al 1993. Good news: social ethics and the press. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Ettema, J S & Whitney, D C 1994. 'The money arrow: an introduction'. In Ettema, J S & Whitney, D C (eds). Audiencemaking:

how the media create the audience. New Delhi: Sage.Gallagher, M 1982. 'Negotiation of control in media organisations and occupation'. In Curran, J & Gurevich, M (eds). Mass

media and society. London: Arnold.Louw, E 1984. 'The libertarian theory of the press: how appropriate in the South African context?' Communicatio, 10(1 ):1—37.McQuail, D 1987. Mass communication theory. London: Sage.Mazarakis, G 1995. What's wrong with radio? Rhodes Review, July 1995:5.Murdock, G & Golding, P 1986. Mass communication and society. London: Arnold.Murdock, G 1982. Large corporations and control of the communications industries'. In Curren, J & Gurevich, M (eds). Mass

communication and society. London: Arnold.Paterson, C 1994. 'Broadcasting for national development in the New South Africa'. Unpublished paper presented to the

International Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Atlanta.Peterson, R 1994. The production and consumption of music'. In Ettema, J & Whitney, D (eds). Audiencemaking: how the

media create the audience. New Delhi: Sage.Raboy, M 1995. The World Situation of Public Service Broadcasting: Overview and Analysis, paper presented to International

Roundtable on Cultural and Educational Functions of Public Service Broadcasting, July 1995 Paris: Unesco.Reddy, G 1995. Colonial nostalgia dear to the hearts of white listeners. Business Day 1 April 1995:8.Stenhouse, M 1995. Consumers, markets and audiences. Redefining segmentation in radio's listenership: a case study of SAfm.

Unpublished dissertation. Durban: University of Natal.Teer-Tomaselli, R 1995. 'Moving towards democracy: The South African Broadcasting Corporation and the 1994 election'.

Media, Culture and Society. London: Sage.Teer-Tomaselli, R E & Tomaselli, K 1994. 'Reconstituting public service broadcasting: media and democracy during transition in

South Africa'. In Communicare, 13(2).Teer-Tomaselli, R E 1989. 'Broadcasting in the era of information capitalism'.Tomaselli et al 1989. Currents of power: state broadcasting in South Africa. Cape: Anthropos.Unsworth, A The kettle is back on the boil at SAfm's trenches' (undated article).White, R 1994. The process of national liberation'. Seminar, Centre for Cultural and Media Studies. Durban: University of Natal.White, R 1991. 'Democratization of communication: normative theory and sociopolitical process'. In Greenberg, K (ed).

Conversations in communication ethics. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

ADDITIONAL SOURCE

SAfm Marketing Plan, 1995/1996.

PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH SAFM STAFF MEMBERS

Caleb Thondhlana, assistant to manager of programmes at SAfm. 26 July 1996, SABC Auckland Park.Charles Leonard, executive producer of Current Affair Live. 10 July 1996, SABC Auckland Park.John Maythem, presenter and producer of AM Live. 17 July 1996, SABC Auckland Park.Ferial Haffagee, senior producer of Current Affairs Live. 23 July 1996, SABC Auckland Park.Thoraya Pandy, acting senior producer of AM Live. 16 July 1996, SABC Auckland Park.George Hill, student who has completed a one-year internship at Current Affairs Live. 12 July 1996, SABC Auckland Park.Brett Davidson, presenter and producer at PM Live. 24 July 1996, SABC Auckland Park.

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