Spent a fruitful half hour this morning watching colleague Michael Appel’s excellent interview (click on image above) with Willie Spies, executive chairman of community radio station Pretoria FM. Spies, a talented storyteller, provides a rivetting tale of this David v Goliath clash.
For two decades, he explains, the plucky community station has been fighting court battles to provide Afrikaners with an alternative to the national broadcaster’s RSG. Spies, a lawyer, deserves huge credit for his perseverance. Pretoria FM’s finally won the battle earlier this month.
The story also exposes a cancer of SA-style ‘capitalism’ introduced after the ANC acquired political power in 1994. Radio licencing became one of the more obvious ways to reward loyal cadres. By restricting commercial radio licences, it created legislated monopolies with the highest profitability on earth (over 50% Ebitda margins).
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Most disgusting part is how Primedia and Kagiso, gifted 60% of SA radio advertising revenues, applied legal tricks to drain would-be competitors, including tiny LM Radio now in business rescue. Helped in this ugly quest by organs of State whose supposed role is to act as impartial referees.
And we wonder why capitalism has such a bad name in SA?
More for you to read today:
- Netflix Stock Price Drops 35%, Posting Biggest Fall Since 2004. For the second time this year, shares of streaming company fell sharply after it disappointed investors.
- Tesla Posts Record $3.3 Billion Quarterly Profit. Elon Musk predicts rapid recovery in vehicle production in China to drive strong growth in total output.
- Twitter’s Jack Dorsey Jabs the Board as Elon Musk Proposes Takeover. The co-founder of the social-media company is one of the only insiders chiming in on the fate of the company he helped create.
- Russian Offensive Bears Down on Donbas as West Races to Supply Ukraine With More Weapons. Ukraine is reinforcing units as it also counterattacks southeast of Kharkiv
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