MPs urge Lotus FM to rebuild after the carnage of the local content quota
Members of Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications travelled to Durban this week, where they met staff and management of embattled SABC-owned Lotus FM and Ukhozi FM, and encouraged them to focus on the job of reviving the fortunes of the two stations. This follows the decision in May by the SABC’s interim board to scrap the 90%-10% local-international music quota, imposed on the public broadcaster by former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng in the middle of 2016. The decree had a calamitous effect on SABC radio stations, many of which lost millions in revenue and listenership. Lotus FM — the Durban-based national station that has an Indian listenership — lost about 130,000 listeners in just four months. Listenership fell from an average of 390,000 a day to 260,000. On the other hand, Ukhozi FM — which is among the biggest radio stations in the world — has continued to grow. Listenership now stands at 7.7-million people.
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