Sometimes you need to take a time out and Rush!

At Bush Radio we deal with very serious issues everyday and an important part of what we do is also individual development (you need to be learning something to be part of Bush). So every Wednesday at the station we host a Staff Development session – normally we gather around “The Big Table” to discuss, debate, watch and learn.

Sometimes we have a chance to get out of the office for some fun. This time Rush hosted us for a fun session, where we could blow off some steam.

Disrupting the media and honouring our roots

Honestly it gets better as you get closer #tastetest

With all the fish, both pickled and otherwise going around because of Easter we thought we’d introduce some of the Bush staff and trainees to the West Coast delicacy, Bokkoms.

Bokkoms (or Bokkems) is whole, salted and dried mullet (more specifically the Southern mullet, Liza richardsonii, a type of fish commonly known in the Western Cape of South Africa as “harders”, and is a well-known delicacy from the West Coast region of South Africa. This salted fish is dried in the sun and wind and is eaten after peeling off the skin. In some cases it is also smoked. It is sometimes referred to as “fish biltong”. – source: Wikipedia

 

Local and International support for Bush Radio

We have been really grateful to all the people who have given and shared goodwill with us to help keep the station going. The support has been amazing, from Aunty Val who dropped off sugar and tea, to singers Lira and Thandiswa Mazwai who recorded messages of support for us.

Appeals have also gone international; former interns have donated and our friends at Public Acheivement* in Northern Ireland have put together a screening of the Academy Award winning film Tsotsi this Sunday the 6th November 2011.

You can lend your financial support to Bush Radio by donating (CLICK HERE) or supporting us with your advertising.

* Public Achievement is Northern Ireland’s leading youth-focussed civic education organisation, and over the last 9 years they have been a partner with Bush Radio in a variety of projects including a youth project addressing violence as experienced by young people.

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

Zimbabweans invade the airwaves

Over the past two weeks five members of Radio Dialogue in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe have been interning at Bush Radio’s studios.

This training is a continuation of  Bush Radio and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s (FES) assistance to the development of the community radio sector in Southern Africa.

Rosie Chauke and Thandazani Nkomo checking the local papers

The visit comes after we conducted station based training in Bulawayo. (see story here) The five interns have been placed in different departments in order to enhance the skills they already have.

Radio Dialogue is a community radio station which aims to give people of Bulawayo a voice. At the moment it does not have a broadcasting licence but has managed to engage the people of Bulawayo in its activities.

Bush Radio's Denisia Adams with Radio Dialogue's Munya Gova in studio

The radio station is in touch with the community through recorded broadcasts, road shows and focus group meetings which all aim to give people a platform to air their views on issues affecting them.

Rosie Chauke, a youth coordinator from Radio Dialogue says her duties include working on various projects. “We have activities such as debate camps, drama competitions, talk shows and public speaking competitions for those youth that are still at school,” said Chauke.

Sakhisizwe's Busisiwe Mtabane (front) with Sanele Njini from Bulawayo

Chauke, who was based in the Bush Radio Newsroom, says through this training she expecting to get a better feel for broadcasting.

“It has been my greatest wish to do this and now I have finally got a chance to do this and I’m so excited, though at first I had cold feet and was very nervous,” added Chauke.

She concluded that being in the newsroom is an experience, because at their station she only read the news, whereas at Bush Radio she got to do compiling and conduct interviews.

Emmanuel Nkomo from Radio Dialogue selecting music with the help of Victor J

Thandazani Nkomo who is also based in the Bush Radio Newsroom added; “It’s been a nice experience for me being at Bush Radio. We had an opportunity of going on air. It is a dream we hope to realise in Zimbabwe soon.”

Bush Radio will be conducting follow-up training again in Zimbabwe to see the progress of the interns and to see what they have implemented from their stay at our little station.

Emmanuel (centre) hosted a staff development session on drumming

*The Radio Dialogue interns can be heard on Bush Radio 89.5 FM or online between 09h00 – 16h00 and will conduct a special on-air programme on Friday the 27 November between 14h00 – 16h00.

Cute and Feathery

For the past two days, online and mobile social media community site Zoopy.com (Update: Zoopy no longer does user generated content and we’ve switch to a YouTube Channel) has featured two videos featuring Shiraaz Ismail . Shiraaz hosts the breakfast show on Bush Radio with Victor J. CLICK ON PICS TO WATCH THE VIDEOS.

We are not sure why, but we think the cute and funny factor may help. On a serious note Shiraaz wanted to highlight that many young people need to learn the national anthem.

Bush Radio uses zoopy.com YouTube.com to promote the work of artists as well as some of the video productions it is involved in, like the work of the CREW , during the annual Media Kidocracy Konfrence. It is also a way in which the interns at the station get to experience the intergration of media.