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Radio RSA
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Radio RSA
Radio RSA: The Voice of South Africa was the international broadcasting service of the Republic of South Africa. Operated by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), it was formally launched on 1 May 1966 and broadcast on shortwave radio to audiences in Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East.
The service was created during the apartheid era to present the South African government's view of the country and to counter international criticism of apartheid. Its broadcasts combined news, commentary, magazine programmes, music, sport, religion and cultural features, but its news and political content reflected the positions of the South African government and the ruling National Party.
Radio RSA was discontinued in 1992, during South Africa's transition away from apartheid. The SABC subsequently replaced the service with Channel Africa, which was repositioned after the democratic transition of 1994 as the SABC's international radio service for Africa and the wider world.
South Africa's apartheid government faced growing international criticism after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, the banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, and the country's withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Nations in 1961. Radio became one of the instruments used by the state to address foreign audiences directly. Fortein describes Radio RSA as part of a wider "battle of the airwaves" in southern Africa, in which state-controlled and liberation-movement broadcasters competed to define South Africa's political reality for audiences inside and outside the country.
The launch of Radio RSA was announced in 1965, shortly before Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Somerville argues that the station's early broadcasts reflected South Africa's attempt to defend apartheid and "separate development", while also presenting the country as a stable, anti-communist and pro-Western power in southern Africa.
Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd described the proposed external service as a means of presenting a "faithful picture" of South Africa's way of life and of promoting goodwill, understanding and cooperation. Critics in Parliament, however, described the service as propaganda, and government supporters acknowledged that the broadcasts would include talks and commentary intended to counter international criticism of South Africa.
Radio RSA went on the air on 1 May 1966 from Johannesburg. The service was also known as Radio Republic of South Africa and used the slogan "The Voice of South Africa". It was broadcast only on shortwave and was aimed primarily at audiences outside South Africa.
The target areas initially included Africa, Europe, the United States, Canada and the Middle East. By the later 1960s, additional transmitters allowed the service to be heard across much of Africa, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and western Europe; Fortein states that reception was reported as far away as Japan.
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Radio RSA
Radio RSA: The Voice of South Africa was the international broadcasting service of the Republic of South Africa. Operated by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), it was formally launched on 1 May 1966 and broadcast on shortwave radio to audiences in Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East.
The service was created during the apartheid era to present the South African government's view of the country and to counter international criticism of apartheid. Its broadcasts combined news, commentary, magazine programmes, music, sport, religion and cultural features, but its news and political content reflected the positions of the South African government and the ruling National Party.
Radio RSA was discontinued in 1992, during South Africa's transition away from apartheid. The SABC subsequently replaced the service with Channel Africa, which was repositioned after the democratic transition of 1994 as the SABC's international radio service for Africa and the wider world.
South Africa's apartheid government faced growing international criticism after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, the banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, and the country's withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Nations in 1961. Radio became one of the instruments used by the state to address foreign audiences directly. Fortein describes Radio RSA as part of a wider "battle of the airwaves" in southern Africa, in which state-controlled and liberation-movement broadcasters competed to define South Africa's political reality for audiences inside and outside the country.
The launch of Radio RSA was announced in 1965, shortly before Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Somerville argues that the station's early broadcasts reflected South Africa's attempt to defend apartheid and "separate development", while also presenting the country as a stable, anti-communist and pro-Western power in southern Africa.
Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd described the proposed external service as a means of presenting a "faithful picture" of South Africa's way of life and of promoting goodwill, understanding and cooperation. Critics in Parliament, however, described the service as propaganda, and government supporters acknowledged that the broadcasts would include talks and commentary intended to counter international criticism of South Africa.
Radio RSA went on the air on 1 May 1966 from Johannesburg. The service was also known as Radio Republic of South Africa and used the slogan "The Voice of South Africa". It was broadcast only on shortwave and was aimed primarily at audiences outside South Africa.
The target areas initially included Africa, Europe, the United States, Canada and the Middle East. By the later 1960s, additional transmitters allowed the service to be heard across much of Africa, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and western Europe; Fortein states that reception was reported as far away as Japan.