BROADCASTERS ON THE RISE
What the rise of community radio stations means for the mainstream
Community radio stations have proliferated in SA and are drawing big audiences, but advertisers are sticking with the big players
The number of community radio stations has risen significantly in recent years, with some already having a bigger audience than larger commercial stations. However, industry experts say it will take a while before they make significant inroads and draw advertising revenue and audiences away from commercial and public radio stations. There are more than 200 community radio stations in SA from about 150 four years ago. The biggest is Jozi FM with more than 500,000 listeners. The MediaShop group MD, Chris Botha, says individual community radio stations are "for now still too small to have a detrimental impact on the big radio stations." Community radio stations focus on a variety of issues affecting a particular community they are targeting. Botha believes that as a result they "carry massive credibility".
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