Amanzimtoti on air in new era
We cannot thank the community enough for their support.
Out of the restrictions of lockdown, a new sensation has been born to take Toti into a new age. ChatSapphire, started by Thyrza Price, is an internet talk radio station. With no music being played, content consists of interviews and one-way contributions from field correspondents. It plays out as a radio station and not as a podcast. It is audio streaming, so data use is minimal and listeners don’t download anything.
“I’ve always had media in my blood. I grew up in Toti and my dad’s hobby was home movies. We made many foley tracks (sound effects) and were always busy with microphones, recording something. We would use all sorts of items to re-create either the sound of a stage coach or gun shots, depending on what movie we were making. It taught me the power of audio,” said Thyrza.
“When I got married, my husband was also in the media and event business. Together, we’ve worked in various formats of radio and vision production and many live events. I’ve done voice-over work and event announcing for many years. We ran a fully accredited media school under two SETAS, for radio and television production and live event sound and lighting for three years, until the economy dictated a change in direction.”
With business under total lockdown, the idea of starting the radio station was born. “I shared it with my family on the first Saturday night of lockdown and by the Monday I had a studio. My husband never sold all his equipment and I had a fully operational studio within hours.” Two days later Thyrza had her logo, website, station back-end and other business peripherals in place and by the end of the week, had two interviews recorded, ready to launch.
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“It just felt right that the Sapphire Coast would be the ‘handle’. It is our community and I thought that having a platform that promotes positive input, networking and community spirit in a different way might become something special that everyone from Athlone Park to Scottburgh can tap into. That’s why we decided on the name ChatSapphire.”
The station has celebrated its 12th episode since the first broadcast on 4 April. Anton van der Berg of the Warnadoone Ski Boat Club, Casper Els of Amanzimtoti Rugby Club, ward 97 councillor, Andre Beetge and Tracey Girling of Toti SPCA have all featured on the radio to date.
“Our aim is to tell local stories as well as include material with universal appeal. Once tourism gets the green light, we hope to play a key role in promoting the Sapphire Coast. We believe the mix of bringing universal content to the local community and community content to the global potential listener is exciting and allows for greater networking and dialogue.”
ChatSapphire has partnered with a couple of key contributors such as the CCPO and on Tuesdays broadcast the Crime beat, where board members George Snodey, Paul O’Neill and Rob Mills provide an update of incidents, arrests and important information.
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On Fridays, Toti reptile expert Caitlin Hunt runs a weekly animal rescue and snake education series and Kirk Holdsworth, the local Parkrun events director, has a regular segment. Another exciting new development is a legal segment with Albert Swart, where listeners can send in legal questions, relating to Covid-19 or other matters.
Kuswag Skool and Amanzimtoti High School are using the medium to connect with learners, as well as a few churches. Programmes are less than one hour and new ones play out on Tuesdays and Fridays at 10am. These programmes then loop every hour on the hour, from Tuesday to Friday and from Friday to Tuesday. That means nobody needs to miss the content if they are not able to listen on those days.
“We hope to make ChatSapphire a place where listeners will be entertained and inspired without controversy. We invite potential guests and anyone wanting to make a contribution such as photos to email to contact@chatsapphire.co.za. Photos can also be sent to us on WhatsApp on 071-271-4104.
Finally, we’d appreciate support of our social media platforms, especially Facebook, but also Instagram, with likes, follows and happy banter. Our website will start carrying some of our past inserts, so guests can use the links if they need the content.
“We cannot thank the community enough for their support. Every guest that we’ve had has helped us get another guest and so we have slowly been growing our support base and listeners. Because we’re young, we still have limited material, so it is quite a challenge to find participants and also find diverse content. We’d like folk to listen to ChatSapphire when they sit down for coffee, or while making supper or folding washing. As long as they can go online where they do this.”
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