Kaya 959, the Joburg adult and contemporary radio station formerly known as Kaya FM has changed its sounds, imaging and tagline from ‘Home of the Afropolitans’ to On ‘Air and on the Streets’.
We used to know the station as the Home of Afropolitans, meaning a destination where upper and influential black people resides.
According to me, the messaging about Afropolitans was a unique selling proposition (USP) and spot-on from a marketing standpoint and easy to sell to radio advertisers and brands.
From radio sales marketing standpoint… If you’re a brand and you like to speak to black power brokers and captains of industry, Kaya FM was the place to be. They knew that market segment very well, on what was all about in terms of where they live, hang-out, how and where they spent their money and consume brands.
Here’s another point, Kaya was no longer a radio station but a Content Curator and Lifestyle Platform that used radio as a gateway entry into the market. The Afropolitans messaging was great when it comes to leveraging new media and social platforms. After all, we live in the digital age where the internet is borderless and you can reach anyone across the world.
To prove my point that the Afropolitan messaging and the formula was working, the station was winning awards nonstop and collaborating with big brands on major campaigns across the city of Joburg and beyond the borders of the African continent (Radio Beyond Borders).
Unlike trying to appeal to everyone as you know the story, you end up pleasing no one unfortunately.
Anyway, these are my thoughts and observation. My point is you can’t just change the winning formula just because you don’t like or get along with the previous management… then you go and create a new mandate hoping you will win, it doesn’t work that way.
In conclusion, I have been thinking about what led the station to change its messaging and its image. I am left with unanswered questions on what the move was all about. Perhaps they were tired with speaking to the black elite and they want to cater for everyone or create something completely different.
Writes Rethabile Mohlala
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