- OFM (South Africa)
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OFM Broadcast area Central South Africa Branding OFM Slogan The sound of your life Frequency 94–97 First air date 1986 Format Adult Contemporary Former callsigns Radio Oranje Webcast [1] Website www.ofm.co.za OFM is a commercial radio station based in Bloemfontein, with satellite offices in Potchefstroom South Africa.[1]
It was originally a split of Radio Highveld only broadcasting in the evenings, and began broadcasting under the name Radio Oranje (Radio Orange – after the Orange Free State, its home province) on the 1st of July, 1985.
In 1985, Radio Oranje started operating with a total staff of three people – Christo Olivier, the station manager, Albe Grobbelaar, the programme manager, and advertising manager, Bill Otto. The station initially only had three presenters – Manie Kitching, Johleen du Plessis (the first two full time presenters) and Jaco de Wet, a student who helped out on weekends.
Today, OFM has some of the country’s top presenters as part of their on air team. The Breakfast Club with Tim Thabethe is the number one morning show in Central South Africa. The show is hosted by presenter Tim Thabethe, weekday mornings from 06:00 – 09:00. After six years as midday or late afternoon presenter, Thabethe took over the breakfast show reigns in April 2010. Three other members are included in the breakfast team – Yvette Johnson who keeps audiences up to date on news related issues – locally and internationally, Leanne Nel delivers the latest sport news while Andre Kunz is responsible for producing the show.
The Christie Hansen show is the late morning weekday show from 09:00 to 12:00, presented by radio veteran Christie Hansen. His show consists of a mixture of laughter and informative & interactive entertainment.
For many listeners the new Mambo Jumbo show forms the highlight of their weekdays. The controversial radio and television presenter, Rian van Heerden can be heard from Mondays to Fridays from 15:00 to 18:00. Van Heerden joined the team in February 2009 and had since his appointment created quite a stir with the central South African audience. His Mambo Jumbo blog is listed as the number one blog for Marketing & Media in South Africa according to www.amatomu.com.
The station is very involved in their surrounding communities. In May 2009, the station hosted a radiothon in conjunction with the Solidarity Helping Hand Fund. The aim of the radiothon was to raise monies for the mine workers and their families of the Pamodzi mines in Welkom and Orkney. A whopping R1,1 million was pledged by listeners, community leaders and corporates. In 2010 the station raised over R300 000 for charity with their annual Chip for Charity with partners Shoprite Checkers, the annual Winter Warm up with various business partners and the annual Carols by Candlelight in partnership with SPAR attracted more than 22 000 people, donating thousands of toys and non perishable food to childrens home's across the broadcasting footprint.
According to the station a highlight on the 2010 calendar was the Bike Riders for Nelson Mandela, when presenters James Kilbourn and Rian van Heerden joined South African celebrities and renowned actor Morgan Freeman across the country on motorbikes – doing good deeds at various charity organisations in honor of Madiba. In February 2011 the station raised over R65 000 for the Agri Securitas Trust Fund when Tim Thabethe from the Breakfast Club challenged South African singer and activist Steve Hofmeyr to hitchhike with him to the U2 concert in Cape Town – all to create awareness around farm murders. Hofmeyr accepted the challenge and raised national interest in their venture.
The station is innovative and their listeners are brand loyal. They often deliver products and on-air content that is interactive and new to the media environment – their OFM Street Squad and Hit Mobiles is only two of their innovative success stories.
Contents
Target Audience
An LSM 7–10 audience, 25–49 years of age. An typical listener can be descriped as a 35 year old mother of two. Afrikaans is the first language of the majority (60%) of listeners, which is very interesting if you take in consideration that 49% of listeners are black and 51% white. Only 5% of listeners speaks English as their first language. Listeners are innovators; enjoy leisure activities, sport, and the outdoors. They are brand loyal – the station calls them "the most loyal audience in SA", and are not price sensitive.
Content
Adult Contemporary, interspersed with news and views from the station's team of on-air personalities. The community is strongly reflected. Exciting competitions form part of the station's day to day activities. In 2005 the station gave away a house to the value of R2 million! The main competition campaigns in 2009 and 2010 was the 10 second challenge where listerners could win R50 000 by identifying 10 songs in 10 seconds and the Pack your bags campaign – where an "ever-so" friendly customs official, Smiley du Plessis stood between listeners and R1 million! In January 2011 the station gave away a DTV Roadrunner to the value of R151 000 as part of their Sound of your Summer campaign.
Footprint
OFM covers three provinces – the Free State, the North West province, and the Northern Cape province. In 2005, it also commenced broadcasts into the Vaal Triangle area. It broadcasts in English and Afrikaans, in an adult contemporary format. Today the station currently has a listenership of 529 000 – RAMS 2011/1 and a 51/49 split on female and male listeners. Year on year the station has increased its core audience by four percent through quarterly promotions that are engaging and relevant to the lifestyles of its audience.
Ownership
It was privatised in 1996 after the South African Broadcasting Corporation decided to sell off its commercial regional stations. OFM was sold for R11 million. Current owners are African Media Entertainment (75.1%) and Kagiso Media. (24.9%).[2][3]
References
- ^ Fardon, Richard; Graham Furniss (2000). African Broadcast Cultures. James Currey Publishers. pp. p. 6. ISBN 9780852558287. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oxlJye3TKroC&pg=PA6&dq=OFM+%2Bbloemfontein+%2Bradio&num=100&client=firefox-a&sig=ACfU3U2798YlNyOQIx_wC_5bhzoUkBNWIg. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
- ^ "Snapshot – African Media Entertainment". Business Week. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=2465383. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ "Kagiso Media buys into Kaya and P4 (Durban and Cape Town)" (Press release). Kagiso Media. 18 October 2005. http://www.kagisomedia.co.za/index.php?Itemid=0&id=2&option=com_content&task=view. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
External links
Categories:- Adult contemporary radio stations
- Radio stations established in 1986
- Radio stations in Bloemfontein
- Afrikaans-language radio stations
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