Jacaranda FM, previously known as Jacaranda 94.2, is a South African

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

station,

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

, with a footprint that covers

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

and the

North West Province North West is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre of Gauteng and south of Botswana. History North West was incorporated after the end of Apartheid in 1994, an ...

and boasts a listening audience of 2 million people a week and a digital community of more than 1,1 million people a month. The station's format is mainstream with programming constructed around a playlist of hit music from the 1980s, 1990s and now. According to the latest official numbers from the South African Advertising Research Foundation SAARF website
/ref> released in 2014, Jacaranda FM used to be the no. 1 station among Afrikaans home language consumers in Gauteng province, and one of the top 10 stations in the country. Jacaranda FM operates a regional transmitter split service from a studio in

Mbombela Mbombela (also known as Nelspruit) is a city in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. Located on the Crocodile River, Mbombela lies about by road west of the Mozambique border, east of Johannesburg and north ...

. It can be heard in most of the Capricorn, Bushveld and Lowveld regions of the Limpopo Province as well as in the Mpumalanga Lowveld, notably Mbombela and the Kruger National Park. Split broadcasts occur each weekday from 12:00-16:00 and on Saturdays from 10:00-14:00. Morning and afternoon drive time newscasts are also fed to the regional audience.

History

The station started broadcasting at midnight on 1 January 1986 during a special outside broadcast from a New Year's Eve ball in the Pretoria City Hall. Radio Jakaranda/Radio Jacaranda was established as a result of the restructuring of the

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

's regional radio portfolio following their decision to discontinue the popular

Springbok Radio Springbok Radio (spelled ''Springbokradio'' in Afrikaans, ) was a South African nationwide radio station that operated from 1950 to 1986. History SABC's decision in December 1945 to develop a commercial service was constrained by post-war financia ...

on 31 December 1985. The original three regional services, Radio Good Hope, Radio Port Natal and Radio Highveld were expanded with three new services - Radio Jacaranda,

Radio Oranje ''Radio Oranje'' (; Dutch: "Radio Orange") was a Dutch radio programme on the BBC European Service broadcast to the German-occupied Netherlands during World War II. It was transmitted from London and broadcast programmes of approximately 15 mi ...

and Radio Algoa. Jacaranda's transmitting signal was upgraded to stereo in 1990 - coupled with a name change to Jakaranda Stereo/Jacaranda Stereo. In 1994, the name was changed again to Jacaranda 94-97. The original location was Studio RS9 at SABC Northern Transvaal Broadcasting Services in Weavind Park, Pretoria until a move to a highly visible location next to the N1 Ben Schoeman Freeway on Samrand Avenue, Centurion, when the station was privatised in 1997 - and renamed "Jacaranda 94.2 - More Music, More Stars/Meer Musiek, Meer Sterre". In 1999, the payoff line changed to "Your Soothing Companion/Jou Streler Speler", and currently is "More Music You Love". Prominent past presenters of this radio station include: Maurice Carpede, Fanus Rautenbach, Willem Engelbrecht, Ben Theunissen, Helen Naudé, Theo Conradie, Tom Henderson, Alida Theron, Anelle Schotkamp-Hugo, Pierre Schnehage, Anton Schmidt, Derrich Gardner, Morné Zeelie, Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp, Kieno Kammies, Duncan Pollock, Clayton Robbertze, Darren Scott and Martin Bester. Jacaranda FM is part of

Kagiso Media Kagiso Media is the largest black-owned media corporation in South Africa. Its primary assets include: *Knowledge Factory * East Coast Radio *Jacaranda FM *JUTA publishing History On 29 October 2008, the Competition Tribunal The Competition Tribu ...

, South Africa's biggest black-owned media company. Jacaranda FM is the group's top performer and is currently South Africa's number 1 independent radio station by weekly audience figures (2,089,000 weekly listeners - RAMS June 2014)

Location

Jacaranda FM operates primarily from their studio offices in

Midrand Midrand is a former municipality in central Gauteng, South Africa. It is situated in-between Centurion and Sandton and now forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History Midrand was established as a municipality in 198 ...

, Johannesburg Region A. The address is: Jacaranda Broadcast Centre, 89 14th Road, Erand Gardens, Midrand, PO Box 11961, Centurion 0046. They also have a secondary studio in the

Montecasino Montecasino, popularly shortened to ''Monte'', is a leisure and casino complex in Fourways, Sandton in Gauteng, South Africa. It was designed by American company Creative Kingdom Inc. and built by South African architects Bentel Associates I ...

complex, Johannesburg. The regional split is broadcast from Mbombela, where another satellite studio can be found at Emnotweni Casino. The station moved into a new building in Midrand, in December 2012, approximately 6 km south of the previous location on Samrand Avenue, Kosmosdal.

Playout and transmission

Jacaranda FM utilises G-Selector music scheduling and Zetta playout software from

Radio Computing Services RCS, originally Radio Computing Services, is a provider of scheduling and broadcast software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built an ...

(RCS). The FM signal is beamed via

STL STL may refer to: Communications * Standard telegraph level *Studio/transmitter link International law *Special Tribunal for Lebanon The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), also referred to as the Lebanon Tribunal or the Hariri Tribunal, is a ...

from the Jacaranda Broadcast Centre in Centurion and carried on 22 transmitters broadcasting on frequencies ranging from 93.9 - 97.1

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

. These transmitters are operated by South Africa's state-owned broadcast signal distributor

Sentech Sentech is the signal distributor for the South African broadcasting sector. Background Sentech began operations in 1992 as the signal distributor of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Sentech's mandate also included providi ...

. In addition to the conventional over-the-air FM broadcast, Jacaranda FM is also available on the

DStv Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, ...

audio bouquet (Channel 158). The DStv IS-7 K_u band satellite footprint blankets the whole of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the southern half of Malawi. Live worldwide

audio streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

is hosted on its website.

List of analogue terrestrial (FM) transmitters

GAUTENG *94.2 MHz - Pretoria-Gelukskroon *95.3 MHz - Menlo Park LIMPOPO *93.9 MHz -

Louis Trichardt Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

*94.6 MHz -

Potgietersrus Mokopane, also known as Potgietersrus, is a town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town name was changed to Mokopane in 2003 in honour of a local Northern Ndebele people, Ma Nrebele leader, King Mghombane Gheghana , who ruled the area ...

-Sugarloaf Hill *95.1 MHz -

Thabazimbi Thabazimbi is an iron mining town in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The town is at the feet of the Ysterberg and is surrounded by the Witfonteinrand and Boshofberg with the majestic Kransberg in the background. The name Thabazimbi mean ...

-Kransberg *95.2 MHz -

Hoedspruit Hoedspruit (Afrikaans for ''Hat Creek'') is a town situated at the foot of the Klein Drakensberg (Afrikaans for "Small Dragon Mountains" range), in the Limpopo province of South Africa, on the railway line from Tzaneen to Kaapmuiden. Economy The ...

-Mariepskop *95.5 MHz - Blouberg-Addney *95.8 MHz -

Tzaneen Tzaneen () is a large tropical garden town situated in the Mopani District Municipality of the Limpopo province in South Africa. It is situated in a high rainfall fertile region with tropical and subtropical agriculture taking place in a region. ...

-Houtbosdorp-Pypkop *96.1 MHz -

Nylstroom Modimolle, also known as Nylstroom, is a town located near the southern edge of the Waterberg Massif in Limpopo province, South Africa. It is a medium-sized town that focuses primarily on agriculture and farming (citrus, grapes and cattle) as well ...

-Ruskloof MPUMALANGA *94.0 MHz -

Dullstroom Dullstroom, also known as Emnothweni, is a small town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. The town lies north of Belfast and some south-west of Lydenburg on the R540 road. Dullstroom lies on the Highveld platea that is found in South Africa, ...

-Mareskop *95.0 MHz -

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

-Elandspruit *95.3 MHz -

Piet Retief Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a ''Voortrekker'' leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent ...

-Goedetrouw *95.7 MHz -

-Spitskop *95.8 MHz -

Volksrust Volksrust is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa near the KwaZulu-Natal provincial border, some 240 km southeast of Johannesburg, 53 km north of Newcastle and 80 km southeast of Standerton. History The town was laid ...

*96.0 MHz -

Lydenburg Lydenburg, officially known as Mashishing, is a town in Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, on the Mpumalanga highveld, South Africa. It is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the Lepelle River at the summit of the Long Tom Pass. ...

*96.2 MHz - Carolina-Pittville *96.7 MHz - Davel-Spioenkop *97.1 MHz -

Sabie Sabie is a forestry town situated on the banks of the Sabie River in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The name Sabie is derived from the siSwati word "Ulusaba" which means "fearful river" because the river was once teeming with dangerous Nile crocodile. ...

-Klein-Spitskop NORTH WEST *93.9 MHz -

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a city at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West province, South Africa (549,575 in 2011 and 626,522 in the 2016 census). In 2017 ...

-Ishufi *94.8 MHz - Enzelsberg-Derdepoort *95.5 MHz -

Groot Marico Groot Marico is a hamlet in the North West Province (South Africa), North West Province of South Africa. The economy relies heavily on agriculture, mining and tourism. Groot Marico is named after the Marico River. Description The topography compri ...

*95.8 MHz -

Zeerust Zeerust is a commercial town situated in Ngaka Modiri Molema district North West Province, South Africa. It lies in the Marico valley, approximately 240 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg. It lies on the N4, the main road link between South ...

-Ottoshoop

Broadcast time

*24/7

Listenership figures

References

External links

www.jacarandafm.com
- Jacaranda FM consumer website {{coord, 25.9274, S, 28.1436, E, display=title Radio stations in Johannesburg Afrikaans-language radio stations Johannesburg Region A