Channel Africa 50th Anniversary Celebration
2016 is the Jubilee year for Channel Africa, as the station celebrates 50 years of broadcasting in the African continent and beyond. Channel Africa is the SABC’s international public radio station whose primary audience is the entire African continent. The station’s secondary audience is the rest of the world, where we harvest our news and information.
Channel Africa’s vision is to be “The Voice of the African Renaissance”. According to the General Manager of Channel Africa, Mr Solly Phetoe, “this pay-off line refers to the regeneration, rebirth, and revitalization of Africans, both in the continent and in the diaspora.
Mr Phetoe, further, emphasises on the Renaissance as also contained in the station’s mission statement, which is to promote the regeneration, revival, and rejuvenation, of Africa, through the production and broadcast of dynamic, stimulating, and interesting programmes”. The highlights to mark this 50th anniversary include, special programmes reflecting the history of the stations flagship programmes.
“As the SABC’s international radio station, its core values subscribe to the highest journalistic ethics which find expression in fairness, accuracy, and impartiality.
Channel Africa is a platform through which Africa is engaged in debate with itself, and recognises South Africa as a role player in continental and international affairs.
Channel Africa broadcasts in six languages namely, English, Kiswahili, Portuguese, Chinyanja, French, and Silozi. The content ranges from news, current affairs, and informal knowledge building programming, economics, trade, industry, technology, political, social issues, education, training, environmental matters, wildlife, tourism, sports, Arts and Culture etc.
Channel Africa’s English language primary listenership spreads to as far as Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, and Mauritius.
The primary French listenership is across the DRC, Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Burundi, Madagascar, Seychelles, and Comoros.
The primary Ki-Swahili language audiences are mainly in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zanzibar, and Rwanda.
The primary Portuguese language audiences are mainly in Angola, Mozambique, Atlantic Ocean Islands, and West Africa.
SiLozi listeners are mainly in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Malawi, whilst the ChiNyanja audiences are in Zambia, Malawi, and northern Mozambique.
