BREATH OF FRESH AIR ON 947
DJ Fresh ‘feels lighter and gets his life back’ after Metro FM saga
THE news is out – DJ Fresh (Thato Sikwane) is joining Joburg-based 947 as of August 1. He will be hosting Fresh on 947, between 3pm and 7pm, on weekdays.
Shortly after a 947 photoshoot on Saturday, Big Dawg stole some time, ahead of his next gig, to chat about the development.
He said: “Listen, it’s been a long time coming. I think we’ve been talking, myself and Ravi Naidoo (chief creative officer at 947) for probably the last ten years.
“Ravi’s been courting me. And it’s weird, we met late last year.
“We met at the beginning of this year. We met again a couple of months ago and, increasingly, it seemed like it was possible for this to eventually happen. So that’s how we got here.”
Reflecting on the past few tumultuous weeks after he was suspended, and eventually let go from Metro FM for using foul language on air, he admitted: “I put it to bed before it even started blowing up. When I saw the direction it was kind of taking, I figured I didn’t want to go back to that building, regardless of the outcome.”
On how he felt about how the situation played out, Fresh added: “As I said in my post, right at the end, one of the reasons I am happy of the way it turned out because I felt they were making everything punitive, as opposed to ‘how do we fix this and move forward’. So for me, it was, I felt, unfair labour practice, because if all you are doing as an employer is implementing punitive measures, versus corrective measures, then nobody is winning.”
That said, Fresh was moved by the support he received.
“I think the support was overwhelming. You kind of have an idea of the support you have but you have no idea until you really see it like this. It has literally been four weeks of almost cult-like support. I think they (SABC) were probably as surprised as I was to the social media response.
“As I said, I know I got supporters and fans out there, I didn’t know it was this feverish. It’s very humbling,” he added.
Of course, there were times where he had to call some fans to order on social media.
He explained: “Sometimes fans go overboard in the process, some started being offensive to the SABC or to my former colleagues and I don’t stand for any of that. So I had to reprimand some of them on social media, just to say ‘listen I appreciate your support but I’m not going to stand by and watch you lynch people on social media in my name. Let’s be angry but not offensive and hateful’.”
Fresh also took away some life lessons from the incident.
“That’s always been my dad’s thing. It doesn’t matter whether you are wrong or right, make sure you see what the lesson is. For me, the first lesson would probably be to listen to your gut because in March already, something said to me ‘don’t sign this contract’. And I didn’t do that. We had a perfectly hot show and management decided to dismantle it in March. They got rid of Mpho (Letsholonyane). We worked hard for two years to build that show. And it was solid and it had a lot of listeners. So that was my first lesson.
“Another lesson for me has to be that ‘it’s okay to have the courage of your convictions’ because a part of me said ‘I need a job so maybe let me bend over backwards and accede to everything they want’. But another voice said to me ‘if you strongly feel that this is unfair then you have to stay the course’.”
As the well-worn cliché goes, when one door closes, another opens – and Big Dawg is excited to be back on air and in a timeslot he’s familiar with.
“I was doing afternoons at 5FM. Then Gareth (Cliff) resigned and
I was bulldozed into doing the breakfast show. At the time, I felt I had a good three to four years of afternoon shows left.
“Even that inner voice said back then, ‘don’t do it’. But I didn’t listen to it,” he reflected.
“But I’m back in the afternoons in a Pop-40 format. The new show will be me and Mantsoe Pout. I’ve been a fan of hers since she did Ankle Tap on YFM. But there’s an opportunity to work with her and I think she’s a brilliant broadcaster. I love working with opinionated women. Working with someone like her was a no brainer. And then there is a new kid, his name is Shannon Leibach.
“The irony is, when we did Presenter Search for SABC3, Shannon was one of the kids we eliminated. I think he was in the Top 10 or Top 5. I eliminated him from a TV show and now he is part of my radio show. So it’s come full circle.”
The Fresh on 947 show will feature a mélange of music, comedy, social commentary and skits.
He added: “It’s generally a different audience to the audience at Metro FM.
“If anything, I’m reuniting with my 5FM afternoon drive listeners, who have since left the radio station for 947. I think, for a lot of them, I will be a familiar voice. And between 6pm and 7pm, we will be doing DJ mixes.”
Fresh continued: “Eventually, things work out is what I’m learning most.
“I feel much lighter and I can get my life back!”