If you know me well, you know I used to be a radio presenter and loving it like nothing else… so here we go, some radio love from Cape Town, South Africa.

Capetonian radio presenter Grant Jansen adds his two cents about the province‘s stations

Do you listen to 5fm every morning and crack up about what Gareth Cliff has to say? Or are you even more local and tune into Bush Radio? We talked to Capetonian radio presenter Grant Jansen – a guy that knows the radio scene quite well – he’s worked for KFM and Cape Talk, but left commercial radio and decided to explore the brave new world of online radio. Grant, of course objectively, tells us what he thinks about South African radio stations and speaks about his own new radio venture, ‘The Taxi’.

National radio stations

5fm
“One of the few stations who’ve moved on from what they were and developed a cutting edge brand that caters for their audience, whether you’re ‘a youth’ or young at heart.”

Metro FM
“Not sure what’s going on here…but they still have some moments of greatness, just not sure at what times.”

Radio 2000
“Look, I’m not sure about 2000, but the one great thing about this station is that you can be sure if there’s a big sports game going down, they‘ll broadcast it.”

Radio Sonder Grense
“It may not be my thing, but these folks know how to produce good radio, you can’t take that away from them.”

SAfm
“Sjoe! It’s a pity that you have a news and information station on the FM frequency, with aspirations of doing talk radio, but with one thing missing… I’m not going to insult anyone, so take a listen to the morning show yourself.”

Cape Town radio stations

567 Cape Talk
“It’s Primedia Broadcasting, it doesn’t get better than this, oh sorry, I forgot I don’t work for them anymore…”

Bush Radio 89.5fm
“Great community radio station, wide variety of shows, voices and music – reflecting the community it finds itself in. Every now and then I channel hop to their breakfast show with Victor J.”

Fine Music Radio
“Not only classical, but some great jazz shows as well. These two genres are so deeply rooted in the Cape, I wish they’d consider changing, even a little bit, to move away from their current image and become more accessible to more people, they are a community radio station after all, many people don’t know this and they themselves forget this.”

Good Hope FM
“Started listening again to this frequency, some really happening shows on this station – love the content especially in the evening shows, not for everyone, but definitely speaks to a younger Cape audience.”

Heart 104.9
“This station has become rather controversial, but when most radio stations play similar music, and their hosts do and say similar things, I’d rather have a different kind of radio served up.”

94.5 KFM
“If hit music is your thing and by that I’m not too sure what that means anyway, and you enjoy repeated play-listed tunes (after 1 week you’ll know the lyrics) and you don’t want the host to engage with you on a human level… Oh I forgot to mention, all the great giveaways (which is why you listen, right?) then I highly recommend KFM 94.5, oops, they’ve officially changed the name to 94.5 Kfm, don’t forget that.”

Online Cape Town radio stations

2oceansvibe Radio
“Big up to the leaders of the pack in Cape Town. Seth scored himself a decent breakfast show anchor, Ex-Kfm host, Richard Hardiman. If you love the Mother City’s high life or aspire to that, then join the holiday.”

The Taxi Radio
“We’re an online radio community, parading as a radio station. Jump on Cape Town’s Taxi for a thrilling broadcast trip. The Taxi is bound to take fans of the Mother City on an unforgettable journey right from their desk tops. This online radio offering, spearheaded by entertainer and talk radio host Soli Philander, epitomises the spirit of the city and is setting out to build a global community of listeners who share the same positive view on life that Cape Town stands for.”

Operating from Wynberg, Cape Town, The Taxi will take listeners on an authentic journey encapsulating a mix of lifestyle, current affairs, arts and culture. As with a trip in a taxi, listeners with become audio passengers and will have no option but to go with the flow in a ride that is unexpected and exciting, totally different to the usual format of radio stations in South Africa.

Regulars on The Taxi include radio personality (ex-FMR, ex-KFM, ex-Capetalk, broadcaster, producer, marketing graduate) Grant Jansen, ‘The iReverend’ Colin Jones – ex-dean of St. George’s Cathedral, struggle activist, ex-CEO of Spier Wine Estates, board member of the Tallberg Foundation in Sweden, violinist, writer and still sometime preacher, music industry expert Tim Hill, sports fanatic Martin Myers and Egon Seconds, socialite and television personality Dalen Lance,  and editor of The Daily Maverick Phillip de Wet.

Join the The Taxi ride. The station broadcasts from live from 9am to 1pm (SAST/UTC/GMT +2hrs) with repeats of the show broadcast throughout the day and night.

Radio is cool, but live music is cooler. Check out Cape Town’s jazz clubs and live jazz venues to keep on rocking.

by Antonia Heil

Other Cape Town radio stations to tune into

CCFM (Christian)
Lotus FM (English, Indian music, news, current affairs, interviews and entertainment)
MFM 92.6 (Afrikaans, Stellenbosch area)
Radio 786 (Muslim)
Radio Voice of the Cape (Muslim)
Radio Tygerberg (Afrikaans, Christian)
UCT Radio (University of Cape Town)
Umhlobo Wenene FM (isiXhosa)
Radio Helderberg
Radio KC
Radio Namakwaland
Radio West Coast
Radio Zibondele
Valley FM
Voice of the Cape
Radio Eden FM

I wrote this piece for www.capetownmagazine.com