FYI, this excerpt from a column in the South African paper, Business Report,
may be of interest... Don
OPINION/ ANALYSIS
Anglo's Carroll is ready to put money behind growth talk
May 3, 2007
By Quentin Wray
...
AFRICAN LANGUAGE RADIO Wouldn't it be fantastic if non-English speakers
could listen to a radio station of the quality of Kaya FM or YFM in their
own vernacular language?
Last week the Independent Communications Authority of SA licensed three
regional commercial stations, which will broadcast mainly in English despite
the fact that their main audiences will be black people from the smaller
towns and rural areas of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West. Seemingly,
the stations will operate like Gauteng's YFM and Kaya FM, and Durban's
iGagasi and Jacaranda.
With the domination of English language radio stations, which mainly target
the middle- to higher-end market, it is not surprising that young people are
losing touch with their mother tongues.
Radio is a powerful medium and the market for good-quality vernacular radio
is just waiting to be exploited. At the moment, all that is on offer are the
SABC's mediocre offerings and some fairly lame community-based broadcasters.
Some will argue that the booming economy and the growth of the emerging
middle class have changed lifestyles. But this should not mean radio
stations should have to broadcast in English to be hip.
In 2005 it was estimated there were 37 million black Africans in the
country. Despite the fact that English is recognised as the language of
commerce and science and dominates the national airwaves, it was spoken by
only 8.2 percent of South Africans at home in 2001, according to Statistics
SA's census that year.
Nearly a quarter of the population said isiZulu was their home language.
This is more than the combined 19 percent for the five least spoken official
home languages (Sesotho, Xitsonga, siSwati, Tshivenda and isiNdebele).
...
* With contributions by Ingi Salgado and Thabiso Mochiko
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