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CNN World Report

South African Radio Goes Digital

Aired April 08, 2001 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SHIHAB RATTANSI, CNN ANCHOR: A South African radio station has become a pioneer in merging media. Why a firm is the country's most popular destination on the radio dial.

ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But since it started broadcasting online, the station's Web address has also become a hot spot. In a story that won this year's African Journalist of the Year, E-Commerce Internet Award Category, South Africa's e.TV shows how this station, known for playing hit music, is using its popularity to get hits on the Web.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FAIZEL COOK, E.TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): YFM's DJ Fresh is one of a new generation of DJs. They are smart, loud, and they are online.

FRESH: We're going to be broadcasting live via the Internet soon. Just in terms of being global; I think that in of itself is a rush.

COOK: YFM clicked onto the idea of creating its own Web site.

It initially confounded critics by just staying on the air and then hitting the one million listener mark. Now, the Web site is on the way to becoming another commercial success. Visitors to the site click through 640,000 Web pages a month.

GERALD FOSTER, WEB-MASTER: Now that we have such a high profile, everybody has to jump on the bandwagon. We are getting calls on a weekly basis. People are like, what are your rates? Where can we go? Who do we call? Who has the money?

COOK: The audience is young and black. And the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is probably the best indicator that black South Africans are coming online in a big way.

At the Microsoft-sponsored Soweto Digital Village, a small fee gets you lessons and unlimited use of the Internet. Children as young as eight are trained to use the worldwide Web. For many, it's the only place they get to use a computer. Eleven-year old Raymond is now using the Internet to help with his schoolwork.

RAYMOND: I can find relevant information about teachers, animals, and science; everything about school.

COOK: Many of the hits on the YFM site come from community centers like this; most are from companies and schools, but a large number of black families are now getting the Internet in their homes.

Dieter Marasek has been running a small computer shop in Johannesburg for eight years. When black people started moving into the area around the mall a few years ago, the whites moved out. For a while business was bad. Now it's picking up again.

DIETER MARASEK, COMPUTER SHOP OWNER: The market become better. Indication of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) more education through the school, and also, more and more affordable in their homes. So, they are explaining how their own computers becomes also more and more increasing.

COOK: Fresh is determine to drag YFM into the global village using the Internet and the afternoon man wants to take his audience along for the ride.

Faizel Cook, e.News, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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