by Paulo Dias (@therealptp) I consider myself a major radio nerd and anorak (incidentally, a term which was popularised by a UK radio presenter who used it in the early 1970s for fans of offshore radio, who would charter boats to come out to sea to visit the radio ships) but even I nerdgasmed hard at the Gareth Cliff-led audio-crossover event of recent memory.
Four of the Fired — T-Bo Touch, DJ Fresh, DJ Sbu and Robert Marawa — descended upon the CliffCentral studio for as good a piece of audio as I have heard in ages. Gareth Cliff played the role of Tony Stark bringing together these Radio Avengers (Revengers?), superhumans with superpowered personalities, for almost two hours of genre-defining conversation.
I started this article with the intention of talking about the key takeouts and interesting lines and quotes but I already had a full notepad after 10 minutes, so that idea didn’t pass go. Instead, I sat back as a fan and enjoyed the picture that each one of them painted.
Master storytellers
Master storytellers with a wealth of knowledge explored everything from the state of play at the national broadcaster, the suggestion that they lost their jobs for political rather than radio reasons, the lament that social-media pull is more valued than talent and every… and I mean EVERYTHING… in between.
At first glance, any audio that comes in at an hour and forty minutes makes you skeptical; I mean, for how long can a room of rich and successful men moan about their former employers? But I got none of that. The time flew by and, as with any good piece of audio, I was upset when it ended.
It’s as simple as this: if you are in the radio industry or have an interest in it, take a listen.
Legends
These men, legends in their own right, were shaped by the last generation of radio legends — who they talk about with reverence — and they, in turn, are shaping the next generation of legends. You would be hard-pressed to find a group more attuned, switched on and savvy about the current broadcast environment than this panel.
Paulo Dias (@therealptp) is the head of creative integration at Ultimate Media. He works closely with the programming teams at leading radio stations to help implement commercial messaging into their existing formats. He contributes the regular column, “Dear Radio”, looking at the changing radio landscape in South Africa, to MarkLives.com
— Sign up now for the MarkLives newsletter, including Ramify.biz headlines, emailed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday!