Southside FM still unable to ride airwaves

WHILE umhlanga-based radio station Megazone Bollywood is scheduled to go on air via FM frequency soon, plans to launch Southside FM remain grounded.

October will mark 10 years since a committee was formed to launch Southside FM, a station that would cater specifically for Tamil and Telugu speaking audiences.

Chairperson of the committee, Sally Padayachie, said the delay related to the allocation of a frequency.

This was in stark contrast to Megazone Media receiving their licence within two years.

Megazone’s chief executive, Vishal Maharaj, said recently his station was operating online before their licence was secured.

The decade-old long wait to get Southside FM off the ground began with political activist Swaminathan Gounden, cultural leader Balan Gounden and journalist Subry Govender spearheading the initiative.

In 2011, the committee was granted a fiveyear community radio licence by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

But this licence was never issued to them because they had not obtained a frequency.

Icasa spokesperson, Paseka Maleka said: “Icasa granted a five-year community radio licence to Southside FM but the licence was not issued because there is no frequency that the radio station can use to provide a broadcasting service. There have been discussions to see if the station can be assisted, however, to this end, no frequency has been found to license or assign to Southside FM.”

Icasa controls the use of the radio frequency spectrum.

The station was granted frequencies according to Govender’s blog, clashed other frequencies.

In January this year, the group met again with Icasa officials.

South African Tamil Federation president, Dr Mickey Chetty, was part of the delegation representing Southside FM.

He said: “It was clearly illustrated that, presently, no frequency was available but would continue to be pursued once the digital migration programme was completed in 2019. Mr Philemon Molefe and Ms Leah Mayine (managers at Icasa) said that in the interim they would check whether they could help Southside with a frequency in the Phoenix, North Coast and Chatsworth areas.”

The Southside FM committee has meanwhile assured that monies raised during a fund-raising dinner in Merebank on February 25, 2012, have not been used.

According to Govender’s blog, after Southside FM had been granted a broadcasting licence, a cultural evening fund-raiser was hosted where over 500 supporters pledged a combined R1 million.

When asked about these funds during a telephonic interview on Tuesday, Govender was angered and used abusive language to express his contempt at being questioned about the money before the interview had to be ended.

Padayachie said none of the monies that was collected during the fundraiser had been used.

“We have been representing Southside FM at our own expense,” she said. that, with