Independent community radio station Voice of the Cape FM has bagged an award as the top community radio station in the Western Cape.
Ayesha Sidar, VOC FM’s sales and marketing manager, said it was a “privilege” to rank at the top of community radio stations in the province. She said this was the result of hardwork from the entire team at the station.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to be voted the number one community station in the Western Cape. A lot of hard work has gone into achieving this over the last few years. We’ve been pushing our limits and pushing our boundaries to ensure that the quality of our content is world-class.”
Launched in 1995 by the likes of Imam Noor Davids and Imam Gasan Solomon, VOC FM was the first Muslim community radio station in South Africa.
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Recipe for success of VOC FM
Although VOC FM remained largely focused on its Muslim audience, Sidar said it was conscious of multicultural diversity in the Western Cape. She said this played a role in bringing VOC FM to the top of the list.
“We are a community station with an Islamic ethos, but we also have a massive cultural community so we have shows geared towards attracting those listeners. We try to reach as much of the community as we can by aligning our shows with various elements within Cape Town as well as within the different cultures that we have within the Mother City,” she said.
She said the station offered a wide variety of content in their programming, which allowed them to reach a wider audience. It was about listening to their listeners.
“We are cutting edge from what we want to cover and targeting very key issues within [our shows]. Shafiq Morton tackles the international stuff as well as the local stuff. We also have other shows that touch on the cultural part of Western Cape,” she said.
To celebrate the station’s success, VOC FM will host a community festival in Athlone, Cape Town, between 1 and 4 December. Sidar said this would be an opportunity for the listeners to get together and celebrate the station’s achievements, as well as the difficult years we’ve come through.
