Springbok Radio

Springbok Radio was a South African radio station that operated from 1950 to 1985.

A decision was made by the SABC in December 1945, to develop a commercial programming service as soon as possible but was constrained by post war financial issues. After almost 5 years of intense investigation by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and, after consultations with both Lord Reith of the BBC and the South African Government, it was decided to introduce commercial radio in South Africa to supplement the SABC's existing public service English and Afrikaans networks and help solve the SABC's financial problems. The SABC would build the equipment and facilities for the new service and would place them at the disposal of advertisers and their agencies at cost for productions and allow them to make use of SABC's production staff.

On 1 May 1950, the first commercial radio station in South Africa, Springbok Radio took to the airwaves broadcasting in both English and Afrikaans. The service started at 06:43 am with the music Vat Jou Goed en Trek, Ferreira. The first voice heard on the air that morning was that of Eric Egan. Eric would be well remembered for his daily "Corny Crack" and catch phrase "I Looooveee Yoouuu".

Many of the drama programmes during the 1950s were imported from Australia but as time moved on and more funding became available, Springbok Radio produced almost all of its programmes within South Africa through a network of independent production houses. By the end of 1950, thirty percent of all Springbok Radio shows were produced by South Africans talent or material and independent productions were sold to sponsors through the organisations sales team. At the same time all air time had been sold or used up and the transmission times was extended. By the end of 1950 the revenue contribution of Springbok Radio was ₤205,439, in 1961 it had grown to over two million Rand and by 1970 had reached R6.5 million.

However, in the 1980s the SABC ended up killing off many of these independent production houses when Springbok Radio closed down. If it was not for these production houses, Springbok Radio would not have survived. Almost 90% of programming came from them.

In 1976 television was launched in South Africa and this was followed by television commercials in 1978. Commercial TV was the major factor in the demise of Springbok Radio, which was very much dependent on advertising revenue. Springbok Radio stopped operating on December 3 1985.

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Wikipedia