(Some
of the presenters and DYR team)
Durban Youth Radio has been broadcasting
from the BAT Centre since 2012. Its move to Florida Road in Morningside
symbolically marks the beginning of a new era for this tenacious, cutting edge
youth-focused station
One of the fastest-growing community radio
stations, DYR was founded in 1995 at the then University of Natal as a purely
campus radio station. In 2000 it became a self-standing Non Profit community
platform and can be heard on 105.1FM.
Durban Youth Radio has gone through a
seismic shift in the last 20 months. Now known as DYR105.1FM, the proudly
Durban brand has gone from strength to strength, quickly finding its feet as a
deliberately anti-format, slightly eclectic but already immensely popular local
radio station.
Two years ago it grew quickly with an
endless stream of great music aimed at the city’s youth. Much of its success
can be attributed to Kevin Minter-Brown and Cameron Claassens, both experienced
radio professionals, who joined the station to help turn it around, and more
importantly to comply with the community license regulations which, amongst
other things, stipulated that the station should have presenters, local news
and community information.
Within weeks, young Durban DJ-wannabe’s
were thrown into the deep end and given shows, and began training on the job.
It created quite a stir from the start - the moratorium to take young talent, train
them, put them on air and bring their knowledge and passion for the city, while
constantly learning the craft of radio has always been at the forefront.
Kevin Minter-Brown presents DYR Breakfast
every weekday from 06h00 to 09h00 and has been instrumental in developing the
DYR brand and orchestrating the station’s imminent move to brand new premises
in Florida Road. Cameron Claassens has championed the technical challenges of
DYR and built sales systems and almost single-handedly wired up the brand new
studios.
Tebogo Mashego, with over 15 years’
experience in community radio has worked countless hours to draft a
constitution and do all the administrative work and recruiting and fundamentals
that have kept the station running as it begins to find its feet.
DYR has featured hundreds of interviews
with Durban musicians, artists, scholars, bands, entrepreneurs and community
members, while following its music-focus format. DYR provides a valuable
platform for Durban music-makers. It prides itself in giving new undiscovered
musical talent a break by giving airtime for unsigned original artists. Its
playlist is quirky and brave, playing music by young artists – many of them
local - for young (and young at heart) listeners.
“We are thrilled to be making this move!”
says Minter-Brown. “We enjoyed our time at the BAT Centre and are hugely
grateful for their years of support. While we have enjoyed every minute of
being based in the picturesque harbour, we have outgrown our premises and the
need for new studios became an urgent matter. Our move to Florida Road
coincides with a considerable upgrade process and improved technical
infrastructure within Durban Youth Radio. We can’t wait to be operational in
our new studios with our new state of the art broadcast technology.”
Minter-Brown adds: “We met with Urban Lime,
a company heavily involved in regeneration of the city, and made plans to move
into their new Florida Road development. We have been relying on a lot of
Durban business to help us with our needs, and many have donated or sponsored
or traded the things and services we need – for which we are enormously
grateful!
“We are pleased to announce that our move
is scheduled for mid-March. As part of our migration from one studio to the
other, the good news is that we are installing a new state-of-the art
transmitter which will vastly improve our signal clarity, and ability to reach
far and wide throughout our city – so DYR will continue to grow with, and
reflect the sound of the 031,” said Minter-Brown.
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