A new community radio station has taken to the air in the Free State town of Parys.
KSFM broadcasts on the 94.90 MHz waveband.
Koepel Stereo FM (KSFM) completed its 25th day of successful test transmissions, at
the time of writing.
KSFM is true community radio, where music is interrupted with announcements about a
calf blocking the road from Vredefort to Parys.
Loosely based on Talk Radio 702 the KSFM format has taken on an additional function
to promote awareness of the Vredefort Dome, a proposed world heritage site. It is the
oldest and largest impact site of an asteroid that crashed to earth about 2 000 million
years ago.
KSFM has been the dream of one man, Sakkie van der Schyff, who explains: “Radio has
always been my passion. In 1993 a friend from my national service days decided to start
a radio station in Koppies (a town near to Parys), where I had a farm.
“So I swapped sheep for an old valve transmitter and began to broadcast, albeit illegally.
The main purpose of Radio Koppies was to distribute information. With a mix of music
and candid debate it proved very popular with the locals who nicknamed it “Rebellion
Radio’.’
On 16 December 1993, Van der Schyff handed control over to Braam Viljoen, ex-SABC,
who had obtained a licence. Van der Schyff went back to farming.
Koppies Radio was taken over by Overvaal Stereo and now operates from Viljoenskroon.
KSFM is born
When Van der Schyff sold his farm in 2010 and moved to Parys, he decided to start a
legal radio station.
He found an office and installed his personal equipment – two Apple computers with
Pinnacle software, two microphones and a JV audio mixing desk. African Broadcast
Technologies in Cape Town lent him a transmitter.
Van der Schyff applied for a licence from the Independent Communications Authority of
South Africa (ICASA), which cost R3 000.
His next step was to approach parastatal signal distributor Sentech, which allocated the
94.90MHz frequency to KSFM after conducting tests. The once-off fee for tests and
distribution rights was R10 000.
“I managed to get Nashua Mobile to sponsor an ADSL line and cell phones. We started
test transmission on 1 February. Our only marketing was an article in local paper The
Gazette and word of mouth,’ he says.
Format and future
KSFM continues to develop its format and avoids mimicking big guns like OFM (Oranje
FM) and RSG (Radio Sonder Grense). Van der Schyff is open to suggestions from the
community.
The station has a mandate of 30% English to 70% Afrikaans, but this is flexible. Van
der Schyff was the only presenter at launch but now there are 20 volunteers doing
shows which cover all aspects of community living. On Saturdays Van der Schyff
broadcasts in English to promote the Dome and Parys activities to visitors.
KSFM aims to have reporters in the field to provide breaking news. Another plan is to
start streaming the station live over the web.
