Financial cuts have caused SABC to deliver poor, redundant content
.................. 031 308 2332 .............................. Yogas Nair .. Philani Mazibuko ...... Kamini Padayachee .......... Se-Anne Koopman ......................... Glenn Schouw THE SABC has admitted that the public broadcaster is in a financial crisis, and so I begrudgingly contend that is sufficient reason for long-suffering television viewers to be patient and tolerate the awful programming on the SABC 1, 2 and 3 bouquet, hoping that the new board will sooner rather than later turn things around, and be able to purchase a range of quality, watchable shows.
With the exception of a handful of shows the current TV fare is abysmal and has never been worse. It’s an insult to our intelligence. But we live in hope of an improvement.
C-Grade movies are repeated so often that we get to know the dialogues off by heart. Even the news is repeated ad nauseam in the late night slot. And if you don’t want to watch late night repeated newscasts you are subjected to an all night music rave called Base 3.
Doesn’t SABC think that insomniac and night shift viewers warrant some reasonable shows to watch? The programming deficiencies are too numerous to mention in ............... 031 308 2004 ................... 080 020 4711 .......................................... 031 308 2022 ................ mercnews@inl.co.za www.facebook.com/themercurysa www.twitter.com/themercurysa a short critique. Sadly there seems to have been zero dialogue with the public by way of market surveys to ascertain the needs and dislikes of their target audience.
Maybe they don’t even know what their target audience is?
We hope that the malaise is basically due to a lack of financing, and it is not just pure incompetence and unprofessionalism. The general broadcasting malaise is now being replicated on SAfm Talk Radio format. The SAfm management has just foisted draconian new programme changes on its listeners.
The carnage began with one of South Africa’s best radio hosts Sakina Kamwendo being taken off air midway through a live broadcast when she had the temerity to complain that there had been no interaction from management with staff concerning the impending programme changes. Many pensioners like myself, living on a fixed income, rely on talk radio as virtually our sole form of entertainment, and it provides a reasonable alternative.
The new weekend programming starts fairly promisingly with the ebullient Michelle Constant, who, thank goodness, has not been ditched. But then it’s steeply downhill all the way. Listeners are subjected to a continuance of ultra boring shows throughout the day and into the evening.
Each consecutive show varies little in style and are dominated by dreary music and a minuscule smattering of gormless talk topics seemingly aimed at an undiscerning geriatric audience.
Topics that would make watching paint dry seem exciting. Commercial stations like Radio 702 and Power FM have all dumped talk format on weekends and resorted to wall-to-wall music format.
SAfm was previously the only station which provided a zesty weekend range of exhilarating chat and sport shows, and now they have succumbed. So the question that they should answer is why should one want to listen to excessive music on their station when there is a whole gamut of even better music across the radio dial?
There is a glaring dearth of content that would appeal to the younger generation and young in spirit who make up the bulk of the population.
SAfm was the only talk radio station providing quality Saturday and Sunday afternoon shows for avid South African sport fans, hosted by the inimitable Jon Gericke. His shows also prominently covered many fringe sports. The sport show was a boon for the many South Africans who cannot afford the excessive contract TV subscriptions.
Veteran presenter Karen Keys hosted superb community service shows featuring legal and medical experts giving invaluable advice to the public. She was so conscientious that she pre-recorded her shows for broadcasting on public holidays.
Surely that type of consumer service broadcasting is what should be paramount on an official national broadcaster ?
And Nancy Richards hosted a wonderful Sunday Book Show which was a national broadcasting treasure. Given the notoriously poor standard of literacy among many of our school children, one would also think that reading would be a priority on SAfm?
However, sadly, both of those presenters were summarily ejected in the new line-up.
Ashraf Garda’s super advertising show on Sunday mornings also got the jackboot exit. The carnage can best be described as a senseless “dumbing down”.
The SAfm management claimed that changes were necessary due to low listenership ratings. Change is certainly good and often imperative, but it must be change that is a definite improvement on the status quo. If a show is dropping in popularity, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, improve that format.
The SABC seems to be spending a considerable amount of money, they said they did not have, on rejuvenating the news department. But it’s entertainment that most long suffering viewers and listeners crave. If SABC management honchos aren’t responsive to their audiences’ needs then they should be locked into a room for a weekend, and forced to listen to their new excruciating programmes.
Advertisers will flock back to Aunty SABC if they adopt the simple formula of attracting back lost audiences with quality stimulating radio and TV shows, instead of this current cheap, bargain basement offering. PATRICIA PLEASANCE Northmead, Benoni