Rhodes Music Radio
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rhodes Music Radio, or RMR as it is more commonly known, is the radio station of Rhodes University and one of South Africa's most respected campus broadcasters. In addition to its deeply impressive output of media professionals, many of whom have become household names in the world of radio and TV, it was also the first campus broadcaster in South Africa's history to be given an FM licence. The pioneering broadcasts of RMR's FESTIVAL FM were reported worldwide in 1991 as global media highlighted this 'first breaking' of the half-century monopoly on broadcasting exercised by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
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[edit] History
The station was formed in 1981, at which point in time it broadcast only across the Grahamstown's Rhodes University campus. One of the founding music presenters at the station, David O'Sullivan, is today one of South Africa's most respected radio talk show hosts as a presenter on Talk Radio 702. Another notable personality to emerge from RMR's early days includes South African television and radio personality Jeremy Mansfield.
More recently the station has produced a string of household names in South African television, radio and journalism including former CNN sports presenter Graeme Joffe, 5FM DJs Nicole Fox and Mlungisi Dikulu, SABC news and talk presenter Sherwin Bryce-Pease, Supersport presenter Leigh-Ann Paulick and Talk Radio 702 reporter Steven Grootes. Recently the station compiled a more complete list of its alumni, available on its website. [1]
[edit] Recent Events
In August 2006 the station marked its 25th birthday with the opening of its new R750,000 studio, office and production facilities, making it quite possibly the best equipped campus radio station in the country.[1]
The next month, as part of the 25th birthday celebrations, RMR breakfast DJ Robin Vember attempted to beat the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous radio broadcast. Vember broadcasted between 07h00 on Monday 18 September 2006 and 13h15 Saturday 23 September 2006, beating the previous record by just over an hour.[2][3][4][5]. The record attempt is yet to receive official confirmation by Guinness authorities.
