DYR is reaching out to a larger audience with its own new transmitter, numerous applications per day for trainees as well as expansion on the cards at its premises in trendy Florida Road.
Marketing manager and head of training, Kevin Minter-Brown, head of technical and sales manager, Cameron Claassens and programming manager, JD Mdu are taking the station forward after a short hiatus mid-year.
“We had some issues with our signal in May and June this year. As as a community radio we only have one transmitter. We had issues with our service provider and went off air for a period, but in July we were granted a 10 year licence with ICASA for our own transmitter and we are now more independent and can control our signal,” said Kevin.
Cameron said the station’s signal at 105.1FM has now vastly improved in Pinetown, Hillcrest, Umlazi and the South Coast, although Durban North and Umhlanga were problem areas, which they were aware of, and were working on.
“Our transmitter site has moved to Queensburgh, and the transmission is more powerful as it is at a more elevated site. We are now able to customise and optimise settings and the signal strength overall is better. We are working on solutions for our problem areas,” said Cameron.
Kevin, Cameron and JD Mdu run the station on a day-to-day basis and their mandate is to train the youth. The station receives up to 10 applications a day for trainees.“Our trainees start off here and move on to bigger mainstream stations and become success stories, and the youth come here en masse for training,” said Kevin.
ALSO READ: DYR105.1 broadcasts live from the heart of Florida Road
Cameron and Kevin took over the station, then known as Durban Youth Radio, in 2016 when it was based at the Bat Centre and moved with the station to Florida Road in 2018. As the 35+ age group audience was the fastest growing, the title of a youth radio was dropped.
It is exciting times for the team as the station is expanding. They have hired the floor in the building above the station in Florida Road which they plann to convert into offices as well as a conference room and new training centre to enable them take on more trainees.
“It is exciting as at the moment we have to turn people away, and we could be letting at least one person a day who would be gold at the job slip through our fingers as we don’t have the space to take more people on. We are working on funding to build upstairs,” he said.
The men said the station’s catch line was ‘Your music, your station,’ and their vision was to play more unsigned local music, as they were passionate about the talent of the ‘031’.
“Every day we try feature youngsters who are writing their own music, young entrepreneurs, those who run their own community groups or drives, and anyone who has a story to tell. We are proud of our Durban roots and are active in representing anything that is going on in our community and in developing and nurturing young talent. As we grow and expand we want to become an even bigger platform,” said Kevin.
Cameron said the station would soon be launching its own fundraising platform through Patrion.com, which looks for people to act as patrons to give back to the community by supporting the station in the form of crowdfunding. People will be able to contribute monthly. “We will be putting a campaign out for support to enable us to grow, and support local talent and uplift the youth even more. At the end of the day, this is a training facility, and we do this work at no charge,” he said.
People can also stream the station at www.dyr1051.co.za and on the Tune In App, search DYR.
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