South Africa has announced the winners of its eleventh Radio Awards during a virtual awards ceremony on Friday, July 31.

The Radio Awards honors outstanding achievements in the South African radio industry and sets a benchmark for all radio stations and professionals to strive towards. It is managed by Arena Events. This year’s ceremony saw at least 80 winners from about 25 awards categories.

Jacaranda FM was named winner of the 2021 prestigious Station of the Year award, in the commercial radio category. Lotus FM won the public broadcast service category, Hot 91.9 FM, the community radio category, and Tuks FM 107.2 won the campus-based station category of the Station of the Year award.

While it marks Lotus FM’s debut win of the prestigious Station of the Year award, it also won five other awards across various PBS categories. Jacaranda FM’s win of five commercial category awards led to its second win of the Station of the Year title in the commercial category. However, Tuks FM 107.2 celebrated its seventh win of the award in the campus category, while Hot 91.9FM won it for the fifth consecutive time in the community radio category.

Winners of the Station of the Year award were determined by the number of times they appeared as a finalist across all general categories of The Radio Awards, for the broadcast period covering January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020.

Each of the finalists submitted a further motivation on the station’s innovation, audience growth, community outreach, general achievements, and their “X-factor”, which was scored by The Radio Awards advisory panel. This score accounted for the first half of a station’s final score, and the second half of the final score was determined by a station’s success in the other categories.

Announced as this year’s Bright Star Inductees were Annelu le Roux, Delucia Daniels, and J Sbu, while Alfie Jay, Brenda Sisane, Lance Rothschild, and Mark Pilgrim were inducted into the Hall of Fame for their remarkable contributions to the radio sector, for more than thirty years.

Thulani Mashiya was named winner of the Radio Bursary Award, while Pretoria FM and Hot FM 91.9 received the My Station award and The My Station: Loyal Listener Award, respectively, in the two listeners’ choice categories of the awards. This year marks Pretoria FM’s second win of the award, while it marks Hot FM’s third win.

Best Afternoon Drive Presenter: In the Afternoon Driver Presenter Awards went to Bollie Polisa of UJFM 95.4 in the Campus Radio category. Ruben Delmage of Groot FM in the community radio category; Lucky LTK Komanisi of Motsweding FM for public broadcast service (PBS), and Radio 702’s John Perlman for the commercial radio stations.

Also, in the Afternoon Drive Award category, the UJ FM Drive of UJ FM was named the winner for campus-based radio stations; Cruise Control on Radio Helderberg, for community radio stations; Amathunzi Afternoon Drive Show (AADS) on Ikwekwezi FM for PBS, and The Scenic Drive with Rain on Jacaranda FM for commercial radios.

Best Breakfast Show awards also went to Breakfast with Martin Bester on Jacaranda FM, for commercial radios; The Takeoff on Radio 2000, for PBS; Mansfield in the Morning on Hot 91.9, for community radios, and UJ FM Breakfast with Nick Explicit on UJ FM 95.4, for campus-based radios.

The best internet Radio Show in all radio categories combine was presented to Diamond Beard on East Coast Gold, while the Black Umbrellas Business Show on Tuks FM won the Best Business and Finance Radio Show of the Year Award, among others. Click here for the full award listing.

The head of Arena Events, Taryn Westoby which manages the SA Radio Awards recalled the achievement of radio in bringing together communities and kept them engaged, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, where innovation and expertise have become the precondition to succeed in the sector.

“The ongoing support and participation by radio stations in The Radio Awards has been overwhelming, and we congratulate all the winners and finalists who have played such an important part in keeping the nation informed and entertained with high-quality broadcasting,” Westoby said.