Audio: Nelson Mandela’s first official press conference after his release in 1990

source: Festival Karsh Ottawa

!!SPECIAL FROM THE BUSH RADIO ARCHIVES!!

Audio from the first Nelson Mandela press conference held at Bishop Court after his release (12 February 1990).

This is an edited version of a Bushblog post: Nelson Mandela speaks

67 more minutes of activism #Mandeladay

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Some of the Bush Radio trainees and volunteers joined in on the 67 minutes of community activism protest at Parliament, calling for a stop to necklacing and asking parliamentarians to help address the issues of poverty in our communities – an underlying cause of crime.

Related:

Making every minute count – #madiba67

Nelson Mandela speaks

What are they doing now? – (Foreign interns)

We contacted a few of our former foreign interns to give us an update on what they have been up to after they left Bush Radio. (click on the picture below to see their stories)

If you would like more information on Bush Radio’s Foreign intern programme click here.

Help keep us on air

The signage that greets you on arrival at the Bush Radio offices

Dear Friend,

For more than two decades Bush Radio has been at the forefront of broadcasting in South Africa, playing an integral part in the development and advancement of both the industry and individuals in the local broadcasting landscape.

Over the past three years, however, this pioneering radio station and training centre has been hit hard by the current economic climate, recently resulting in Bush Radio having to re-evaluate its operations in order to remain sustainable and influential in this fast-changing and exciting environment.

From campaigning against the apartheid government for a free and independent broadcasting authority, to being present on Cape Town’s Grand Parade when Nelson Mandela addressed the nation as a free man, Bush Radio has played an indelible part in the shaping of the history of the new South Africa.

Tragically, this institution and symbol of media freedom is teetering on the brink of closure unless it can find a substantial amount of cash to cover rent, transmission and other running costs.

Watch a video clip of some of the training done at Bush Radio (click here):

Our landlord has given us until the 31 August to come with a tangible proposal, and we have decided to use this time to try and raise this money. The total cost we are trying to raise is R300,000 = Euro 30,000 = US $ 43,000.

Bush Radio provides a valuable, relevant and much-needed service in the communities of the Western Cape. Our legacy of assisting and being supported by communities all around the Cape is extensively documented, and due to our role as the pioneer of community radio in South Africa, we feel that our work is not yet done.

Bush Radio provides broadcast training to individuals, radio stations and media institutions in Africa, with a special focus in all the countries of Southern Africa. Bush Radio also has partnerships with organisations such as Public Achievement in Northern Island, which focuses on youth development and civic participation.

We hereby request you to assist us in this fundraising venture by making a donation, requesting your friends and colleagues to make a donation, or asking your company to make a donation.

All donations, irrespective of size, are welcome.

Donations can be paid directly into Bush Radio’s bank accounts and the details are:

Name of Account : Bush Radio
Name of bank : Standard Bank
Branch name : Mowbray
Branch code : 02-4909
Account number : 07 122 0194
Swift code (for foreign transfers): SBZA ZA JJ
Address: 37 – 39 Main Road, Mowbray, South Africa, 7705

For more information, contact Brenda Leonard or Sharon Salies or Adrian Louw on  +27 21 – 448 5450.

Related:

* Bush Radio urgently needs financial support

* Watch the Richard Wicksteed documentary: Partial Eclipse – The Struggle to launch Community Radio

* Download our request letter

Making every minute count – #madiba67

Bush Radio staff and interns devoted their 67 minutes of work for Mandela Day to St Anne’s Homes on Monday the 18th July 2011. The team spent the morning face painting, story-telling and playing. The children also received soup (kindly donated by Cyrildene Fisher) and party packets at the end of the morning.

The team enjoyed themselves, and have signed on to to arrange even more of these activities in future.

Related posts: Lending a helping hand

All pictures: A.Louw

From the archive: Jay Naidoo

In 1997 Bush Radio moved from Queenspark Avenue (where Voice of the Cape is now) to our current premises at 330 Victoria Road. It took a long hard slog to turn the building from an open plan warehouse into broadcasting studios but we managed to do it.

Just after the move we invited the then Minister of Telecommunications, Post and Broadcasting, Jay Naidoo to officially open our studio.

Some info on Jay Naidoo (source: The Just Cause)

Jay Naidoo was the founding General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the country’s largest federation of unions, which played a leading role in the struggle for freedom in South Africa. He served two successive terms before forming part of South Africa’s first democratic government. From 1994 to 1999, he was Minister in the President’s Office responsible for the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) and later Minister of Telecommunications, Post and Broadcasting in Nelson Mandela’s cabinet.

Video DIDN’T kill the radio star

What do; Jack Parow, Illuminati Getuies, Byron Clarke, Zaki Ibrahim, Kesivan Naidoo, Tutu Puoane, Taxi Violence and Katherine Traut all have in common?

They are just some of the artists you can listen to and watch on the Bush Radio Zoopy site.

For the past while we have been documenting some of the artists who have come up the stairs to the station and have been willing to throw in a performance or two.

We have been putting up things like of our public service announcements or anything that we thought may make good visuals like our Buy Nothing Day advert or Shiraaz’s adventures with a duck.  We’ve also put up some audio like Nelson Mandela’s first press conference after his release.

Remember to keep coming back and checking out what we have been up to at the station

!!! You can check out the videos on your cellphone by going to the mobi version here. !!!

If you would like to share any of your videos with us, please mail ideas@bushradio.co.za

Nelson Mandela speaks

source: Festival Karsh Ottawa

Today Bush Radio celebrates with the rest of the world the 20th anniversary of the release of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela from prison. This morning Victor and Shiraaz paid tribute to him and we also managed to find his first press conference audio in our archives (See below).

Listen to a clip from the breakfast show – CLICK HERE

!!SPECIAL FROM THE BUSH RADIO ARCHIVES!!

Audio from the first Nelson Mandela press conference held at Bishop Court after his release (12 February 1990).