Bob Mabena: His Passion For Radio Was His Sycamore Tree

LLOYD NEDOHE

KEY to the apartheid grand architecture was the garbled design intended to provide the delusion of functional, quasi-states with own educational institutions, and broadcast media.

Aided by the geospatial spread of the TBVC homelands, Pretoria allowed them to self-provision broadcast media ecosystems (newspapers, radio, and to a lesser extent TV), whilst big brother tightfistedly locked away the means of production (radio frequencies).

Unless you harboured a death wish, content could not be at variance with the fundamental outcomes of homogenization, manipulation, and suppression of public opinion. 

Parallel to the SABC African language stations, TBVC states could establish English medium platforms, the most emergent of which were Bophuthatswana Broadcasting, Radio Ciskei, Radio Thohoyandou, and homeland-based commercial stations like Radio 702 and Capital Radio 604; all of which shared the barely audible quality of Medium Wave (MW) frequencies.

The MW band stations grew phenomenally and made superstars, household names of