Kerry-Anne Allerston
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I’ve been a radio presenter for just over 14 years and I love it. It’s still such a great platform in my opinion and I’m hoping it keeps going for a very long time. I remember going into the SABC as a young teenager a million years ago because my boyfriend’s band at the time was being featured on Barney Simon’s Night Zoo.
While the boys were setting up their gear, I went on a little mission through the maze of passageways and I remember thinking that this was all so cool and super exciting. People were still smoking in the studios back then and it was all very rock ’n’ roll. A few years later, when I got into artist management and started putting shows on here and there, I became friends with some pretty amazing DJs who were doing live stuff on the weekends.
Catherine Grenfell even put out a CD and did a whole bunch of cool things too, but by then I was attending as a friend, which felt pretty surreal after being there just a few years earlier as a teenage band girlfriend and a bit of an outsider. I never imagined that years later I’d end up on air myself, doing the same kind of thing these legends were doing way back when. Martin Bester, Matt Flax and Danny Painter as well as a few other great DJs are still getting bands on their shows and are still shining lights on local talent. Community stations like 919 and VOW and many others are behind our superstars in a big way too. Whoever you’re listening to and however you’re listening don’t forget to tune in, drop a little thank you now and then and don’t forget to request local.
What’s wild is how much the whole scene has changed. The DJs from the ’80s and ’90s were absolute superstars and almost untouchable. Record labels would pitch up at the stations with the latest music and a bottle of whiskey to sweeten the deal. The label reps were rockstars in their own right too and the stories I’ve heard over the years are completely insane. Dudes used to forget where they parked their cars and there were legendary long lunches in between meetings that often turned into all day adventures. There was a proper music scene happening and signing artists, booking tours and putting together massive events all felt larger than life. You could make an entire series about what happened back then and about all the characters who helped shape the industry. I feel very lucky to have heard so many of those stories from friends who lived through that crazy era of music and radio in South Africa.
Fun fact, the first commercial radio broadcast in the world is widely credited to station KDKA in Pittsburgh in 1920, while South Africa’s first regular radio broadcasts began in the early 1920s through stations in cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town before the SABC officially launched in 1936. Imagine that. More than a hundred years later and so many of us still climb into our cars, switch the radio on and immediately feel less alone. I still think radio connects people in such a special way and in many cases those DJs in your car become your friends and your company. Podcasts have obviously become massive and they’ve definitely changed the landscape a bit, but I still believe radio will be around in South Africa for many years to come.
I do wish there was slightly more freedom to rock the boat sometimes though, a bit like that movie The Boat That Rocked. I talk about it often, both here and on air, but that’s because of my passion for South African music and for keeping our artists performing and our live venues open. Putting shows together these days is no easy feat. Back then there was less competition from streaming platforms, fewer promoters and I think people felt a little safer travelling at night too. Radio was where you heard about the gigs, but you’d also find flyers under your windscreen wipers and posters glued to bridges all over town. It was just a different energy entirely. There were so many venues and you could catch a live band or a DJ almost any night of the week. People went out all the time and sometimes went straight from the jol to work the next morning. It definitely wasn’t uncommon and yes, I did it plenty too.
I still laugh thinking about five friends crammed into one little car on the way to a show while somebody’s mixed tape blasted through dodgy speakers. Making those tapes took effort too. You had to sit waiting for the DJ to stop talking so you could hit record at exactly the right second. Bands had residencies and there were loyal fans you’d see every single week. That’s why when some of the older legends reunite now, those shows still fill up. The loyalty never disappeared. The DJs who were championing local music twenty or thirty years ago are still doing it now, except today they’re competing with comfy couches, takeaways, streaming services and giant televisions. Getting a hundred people to a live show these days is a massive accomplishment and artists can barely survive without three side hustles or serious full time jobs alongside the music.
This little trip down memory lane isn’t meant to be sad and I’m definitely not being a moaning Myrtle. I just sometimes wonder what would happen if you could load a bus full of kids up and take them back to the scene for one weekend so they could see what it was all like. Everything has changed so much and maybe one day we really will be flying to work like The Jetsons, but I hope radio still radios and venues still venue. I hope promoters keep flying the flag even though it’s one of the toughest jobs around right now and I hope people keep showing up whenever they can. Life is expensive, traffic lights barely traffic light anymore and there’s a lot working against the scene, but music and laughter are still the best medicine and human connection matters so much. So get those steps in at a show. Buy the merch. Dress up. Read the ridiculous stuff written on the back of a toilet door. Request local music on your favourite station and keep supporting the arts because dancing for a few hours and singing your heart out can still make the world feel a little lighter, even if only for a while.