Good Hope FM has announced the winner of its Campus Presenter Search following a live final event in the SABC Sea Point Auditorium.
The final, hosted live on The Great Drive with Kyeezi, saw five finalists — three from packed, live campus auditions and two from a flurry of online auditions, according to the station.
Each received a branded Good Hope FM Campus Presenter Search laptop bag and headphones for making it to the final. The finalists then went head-to-head for the training programme with Good Hope FM, as well as R5 000 (US$ 278.24) in cash, the station adds.
The five included Naledi Kedimotse, from Cape Peninsula University of Technology in District 6; Amber Eland, from Northlink Tygerberg Campus; Mihle Ngxishe, from the University of the Western Cape; Zenande Bholoti, from the University of the Western Cape, and Kezia Lategan from AFDA Cape Town.
According to the station, the finalists all strutted their stuff behind the mic to impress the Good Hope FM judging panel. The judges included, among others, Good Hope FM’s programme manager Gerard Muller as well as award-winning creator, writer, actress, comedian, and producer Shimmy Isaacs.
The station says that ultimately, the young talent who impressed them the most and received a golden ticket start in the world of radio was the 20-year-old Mihle Ngxishe, a third-year LLB student from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
“I was nervous, but very excited. This is something I have wanted for the longest time. Behind the scenes, there was good, healthy competition, and all of us were encouraging each other. My biggest support in my brother and friend were here, praying with me the whole time. I just needed to focus and remind myself by saying, ‘Girl, you’ve got this,” Ngxishe said.
“When the announcement was made, it took some time to settle in! I was first screaming at the top of my lungs, then just absorbing the amazing energy that everyone around me was giving off. From the activation at my campus to the final, it was vibrant, it was diverse, it was everything. I always knew I wanted to be in broadcasting. One Christmas when I was about five years old, my grandma bought me a toy radio of sorts. I would play with it all the time. As I grew older, everyone said that I have a voice for radio, but I didn’t want to go at it with just the voice and not that love, so I spent time developing that love, and radio is where I felt at home.”
She added, she’s most looking forward to expanding herself as a brand at Cape Town’s original and absorbing as much knowledge as she can while bringing the voice and relatability of the everyday person to the airwaves — focusing on things that ordinary South Africans feel passionately about.