The Western Cape’s number one community radio station, Voice of the Cape (VOC) has just levelled up with state-of-the-art upgrades to its Cape Town studio. The exciting upgrades come as the station gears to enter a new era.
“We cannot wait to showcase it to the rest of Cape Town and to the rest of the world,” said a jubilant Goolam Fakier, station manager at VOC, in an interview on Salaamedia. “We’re really happy to see that Voice of the Cape, after 28 years, is able to showcase a studio of this magnitude.”
The top-rated community station launched its brand-new studios on Sunday. Under the theme “Through the Ages”, listeners were invited to celebrate this milestone in the station’s 28 years of existence. Prominent members of the community were also present.
SMread: Former COPE members joining Al Jama-ah a show of confidence, says Amad
Upgrades
The VOC, said Fakier, will continue to broadcast from its Salt River premises. The exciting upgrades enable them to expand their reach across more platforms, including YouTube.
“We’ve moved from an analogue to a digital space. That means we are basically able to do almost everything that we can think of. If we want to do a live broadcast with an international minister or a politician or Islamic speaker, we can simultaneously broadcast on YouTube, our frequencies (of which we’ve got four) that cover the entire Western Cape,” he said.
Fakier said the upgrades meant staff would have to be empowered to use the new technology. This was not an issue, however, as the station had placed much focus on empowering staff over the years.
“From an empowerment perspective, something as small as getting a Code 10 driver’s licence is something that Voice of the Cape prides itself in; wanting to empower our staff. While we want to increase our staff complement, charity begins at home and it starts with us empowering our current staff,” he said.
What next for VOC? Fakier said, after the upgrades, they hoped to move in a direction towards more cutting-edge content.
“There’s no excuse as to why we cannot tackle certain things anymore. There’s no excuse as to why we cannot get hold of certain guests anymore. There’s absolutely no excuse as to why we cannot create great radio!”
