It has been a hectic couple of months at Bush Radio as we provided debates with all the political parties, encouraging listeners to vote, covering the voting stations and the results as they became available.
We would like to thank all the people involved in making sure we kept everyone up to speed on making their mark.
A special thank you to our listeners, volunteers, supporters and the Western Cape IEC team headed by Courtney Sampson and their media office, Trevor Davids and Olivia Nagan.
Bush Radio will continue our work to promote building democracy and expand on its “Democracy is not a spectator sport” philosophy.
Divided into 30 minute segments the 3 hour show now picks up the pace and tightly packs in the information to educate all who use our roads while keeping you entertained with anecdotes, quips and insights into what makes biking a popular pastime in the Mother City and beyond.
Guests from various parts of our motorcycling world – from motorcycle clubs to individual adventurers, activists and deserving charities and causes all join us to bring you their very special stories.
We get to the nuts and bolts of technical issues, discuss the day to day issues that bug you and we unpack the topics of relevance to road users and bikers in particular.
Music is provided by several resident DJs and it simply rocks!
Professional Road Safety advice and information coupled with traffic law insights and information rounded off with Bike/Rider safety issues around common errors when riding and defensive riding/driving practice all seek to keep us all alive and having fun.
As South Africa commemorates women’s month in August, we will give rise to a group of every day women with no previous radio or media experience, to take to the airwaves for the very first time. While the radio station is volunteer run and presenters are not remunerated for their services, the women will be given a platform to give a voice to the voiceless and various communities.
The programme, dubbed Ladies Night, was conceptualized on a WhatsApp group between seven friends and will become a reality on Thursday, 3 August 2017 from 7pm. The programme is developed, produced and presented by women and will cover various topics and issues faced by the women in their everyday lives while still being entertaining. The overarching theme is to connect and inspire like-minded people within the diverse communities of the Bush Radio footprint.
The group comprises of Adielah Jacobs, Megan Cookson, Merle Du Plessis, Jodi Gordon, Michele Pinto, Tracy Van Turha and Renee Bailey. The women all come from different backgrounds and are qualified professionals in their own right. Between them various areas are represented law, education, information technology and project management.
Ladies Night on Bush Radio 89.5FM will air for three hours every Thursday evening between 7pm and 10pm for the month of August. The style of the programme is highly conversational but casual and relatable at the same time. Each of the women come from different backgrounds and each brings a uniqueness to the show with their different characteristics.
According to Bush Radio Managing Director, Brenda Leonard: “As we celebrate 22 years of being on-air legally, we are very excited to have this programme. Ladies Night highlights how Bush Radio takes a holistic approach to creating innovative programming and works in collaboration with listeners and potential listeners to bring relevant content to the airwaves.”
The first radio show produced by bikers – presented by bikers – owned by bikers – for bikers and every other road user – launched in 2012 on Bush Radio is moving to a new time-slot.
The show will be broadcast every Monday evening from 7 to 10pm on 89.5FM and available via internet / mobile phone across the world).
The show will continue to have something for everyone – those to whom biking is a hobby; others who see it as a lifestyle and for those who believe biking is life itself!
This three-hour show will have weekly features on road safety, featured bike of the week; club of the week; general biker news; special guests and if it needs to be aired for debate, it will be dealt with on The Biker Show.
The past September school holidays saw Bush Radio host a very successful Media Kidocracy Konfrence (MKK2013) – 22 to 27 September 2013. This was the 13th conference which drew young people from Bontheheuwel to as far away as Germany, participating in various discussions and productions around the theme “the role of media in democracy“.
The conference took place at the beautiful Mizpah Conference Centre in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve near Grabouw.
Team 1 of the photography group dealt with sexism and sexist stereotypes
Besides plenary sessions which dealt with media literacy, gender and elections, the conference also included visits to various media outlets around Cape Town (radio, television, print and online) and a special “give back to the community” outreach session at Agape 2 – home for disabled and abandoned children. The conference also included lifeskill sessions on active citizenship and substance abuse as well as daily outside broadcasts from Grabouw.
Team 2 of the photography group dealt with nature and pollution
The conference programme closed with what delegates always consider a highlight; the intensive production workshops which this year again included: television, radio, online, print, photography as well as two new productions; t-shirt and poster printing and a stage drama.
A special thanks goes to all the Bush Radio Children’s Radio Education Workshop (CREW) facilitators and volunteers as well as the Bush Radio staff and trainees who provided the logistical support for the conference.
Bush Radio staff checking out “Media on the Move” – the newspaper produced by MKK2013 delegates
A big thank you to all the biker’s, clubs and individuals who came out to support the launch of the Bush Radio Biker Show Winter Charity drive this past weekend (27 April 2013). Almost 2 tonnes of non-perishable food as well and blankets and clothes were collected!
Please remember the giving does not stop – we will be posting information regarding more collection points in the near future.
Winter is approaching fast and to assist those who need help the Bush Radio Biker Show in association with the Wings Motorcycle Club will be launching the BIKER SHOW WINTER CHARITY DRIVE.
The drive will take place on the 27 of April 2013 (Freedom Day) at the Shawco Hall, 12th Avenue Kensington from 1pm to 7pm.
The aim of the Freedom Day event is two-fold: To get 1,000kg of tinned food and 1,000 blankets on the day and to launch the Biker Show Winter Charity Drive. Our ultimate target is 2,000kg of tin food and 2,000 blankets, and a bakkie-load of winter clothing.
Biker’s and non-bikers are welcome to support this event.
Collection points will be pubs, shops, restaurants, churches, etc – are in the process of being identified.
Kensington / Factreton Meals on Wheels Organisation is an organisation that deals with caring for the home-based senior citizens and children. It includes nutritional support, healthcare and general wellbeing.
The Bush Radio Biker Show will also broadcast live from the event.
For more information or to get involved contact Trevor Davids on 074 475 2082
The Bush Radio Biker Show was broadcast live from the 2013 Steppies Rally in Hawston this past weekend. Joing the crew for the first time was Bushradionews intern Athenkosi Mvane. We asked him to give us his take on being at a rally for the first time.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase “biker rally”?
For me, honestly; bad mannered, long-bearded, baseball bat carrying, chain-wielding angry men.
Saturday would have been the day that would have given me concrete evidence that my stereotypes learned from bad-boy movies were true.
I had little sleep the previous night, fantasies of watching tyre burn-outs and drag racing on a long stretch of road had me tossing and turning like a rider on a hair pin bend.
The trip from Cape Town to Hawston felt longer than it was; my eagerness to reach my christening into the forbidden world of two wheelers got the better of me. The picturesque scenery on the drive gave little amusement to my yearning.
Upon our arrival at the Hawston resort, we were signed in by members of the rally hosts, the Stepchildren Motorcycle Club, who showed us the centre of the event and stage.
It was tent next to tent, motorbike after motorbike, braai-stand smoke breathing life into the sea-breeze that whispered relief from the scorching sun that illuminated.
There were high spirits in the main tent as the bikers raved the heat away.
The Bush Radio technical team set up the stage in preparation for the Biker Show’s broadcast from the rally.
This was my first experience of being present during an outside broadcast in my four months with the Bush family.
With the equipment prepared, I headed out into unfamiliar territory and joined the biking community.
Each of the clubs had set up banners displaying their colours and logos, proudly wearing their cuts* adorned with various rally badges.
*A cut-off, also known as a kutte is a type of vest or jacket which originated in the biker subculture
I met club bikers, freelancers and non-bike affiliated supporters of the fraternity.
Richard Appel of Gaansbaai said rallies brought him together with friends from different places who don’t meet for long periods of time.
From the Ikon Cycle Club, Bradley Bruinders said the fellowship of the bikers was a time to be around people who share the same vision and bond. One of their biking team-mates had been biking for 28 years.
Alec Abrahams of Athlone, who has been biking since 1982, said the fellowship of the different clans is what brings him to rallies. “It is something that grew on me since the first time I saw a motorcycle”.
Cuan Edick said his way through biking was unplanned, as he had given a friend some money to buy him a car, and when he had returned home from work, he found a bike instead. “I couldn’t even ride a bike back then” he said.
Jacqui De Doncker said her reason for being at the rally was purely to have fun and to support her biking friends. “The biking community is friendly and they know how to have fun.”
From Atlantis, Cindy Samuels had come to support the hosts Stepchildren, because she found their work in the community amazing. She said, “It makes people see that biking is not about only partying, but about giving back.”
Emile Fredericks from the Claw Riders Club said the biking fraternity is misunderstood by the general public. Their club supports a community crèche with everything the children need; from blankets, to toys and anything that would be of assistance. He boasted that when the Bush Radio Biker Show was started, the Claws were the first club to be invited for an interview.
To my surprise I encountered a club named Friends in Uniform who are police officers. Chantell Mutt chairs the club and said the rallies are one of the ways a cop can relax and have a good time. “The rally is fun, its tons of adrenaline from the sounds of the engines and just being in the company of good friends” Mutt said.
The experience for me was incredible. I got to a first-hand experience in the presence of the “meanies” and realised they are often misjudged by those who don’t understand the brother and sisterhood that exists between riders. They are not the movies’ portrayal of aggression; they are a crowd with big hearts too.
I learnt that there is a body that watches over and holds the clubs accountable which is the Motorcycle Association Western Cape. Under the MAWC registered clubs must adopt a charity of their choice to support.
I learnt that, like in any other group there are rivalries but under the MAWC, clubs that transgress the code of conduct (in which respect for other clubs is part of) are subject to penalties.
I saw no forms of anti-social behaviour at the rally but witnessed an immense amount of friendship, bonding and respect. Although we had to leave while the festivities were still underway I could not have asked for a better way to spend a working Saturday afternoon.
I may have no intention of joining a club soon, but I am converted to the rider lifestyle. Friendship, bikes and rock ‘n roll were the flavour of the day and what happened in Hawston will stay in my mind for a long time.
I want to congratulate the Stepchildren Motorcycle Club on a well-organised and spirited event. I hope this will not be the last time I experience a ride on the wild side.
After intense planning and a busy week the 12th Annual Media Kidocracy Konfrence (MKK2012) came to an end on Friday, the 14th of December 2012.
About 80 youth delegates (aged 12 – 21) drawn from all over the country, SADC and as far away as Northern Ireland attended MKK.
Below are the “products” which showcase how the young people interpreted the various themes outlined for this year. For a large percentage of the delegates this was the first time they had been directly involved in the production of media. A strong element of all the MKK conferences have been linking a practical implementation of ideas generated in the various intensive panel discussions and workshop groups.
This year’s theme was Youth Participation in Democracy, with sub-themes being:
Youth Rights and Civic Participation – Human Rights
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