“Cleverly capitalising on all these natural advantages is Whale Coast 96FM, a community radio station broadcasting to the entire Overstrand region, including much-loved holiday destinations such as Hermanus, Betty's Bay, Kleinmond, Caledon, Stanford, Gansbaai and Pearly Beach,” says Judy Milne, director of The Media Connection, one of South Africa’s leading community radio advertising specialists.

“The Overstrand itself is a diverse community, and Whale Coast 96FM offers a range of programming designed to not only entertain, but also inform and educate,” she adds.

The station started broadcasting on Tuesday, 22 September 2009, and has grown considerably since those first days. Boasting a current listenership in excess of 20 500, Whale Coast 96FM enjoys widespread support from within the community, and serves to promote the interests of the people in its footprint area.

Daytime programming focuses on informing and entertaining a majority Afrikaans listenership, indicative of the majority language in the area, but great care is also taken to interact with and uplift local under-privileged areas such as Masakhane, Overhills, Zwelihle and other informal settlements. “The station offers a refreshing and entertaining alternative to local commercial content, and given the average age of the middle-to-upper LSM listeners (35+), Whale Coast 96FM's music choices range from 1940 and ’50 classics to all-time favourite hits and popular present-day offerings,” says Philip Gordon, sales and marketing manager of Whale Coast Media.

“Evening and weekend speciality programming offers everyone's favourite genres, from traditional isiXhosa music to reggae and the latest Top 30 hits, just the thing when you get to live the holiday,” he adds.

Given its section 21 status, the station is supported by valued sponsors, but also seeks to be self-sustaining. Recent developments have seen the station's marketing and advertising services being expanded to include social media management, website design and content maintenance, and street-level activations. These are over and above traditional generic campaigns, and other offerings such as outside broadcasts, live crossings and competitions.

“A commitment to sound strategy and high service levels has seen the growth of long-term partnerships with local and national advertisers who understand the unique power of community radio's intimate knowledge of the markets they serve. Steady growth in revenue and a spirit of consultation and solutions provision have seen recent developments such as new premises, custom-built on-air and production studios and exciting partnerships become a reality,” says Gordon.

“New dedicated recording facilities have also seen the station undertake projects such as boutique audio and video production, which sets Whale Coast 96FM apart as a multi-media service provider in the Overstrand,” he adds.

Media partnerships with the internationally acclaimed Kalfiefees in 2012 and 2013, and coverage of local events and news, has seen Whale Coast 96FM become an integral part of the Overstrand community and a true representative of the voices of its people.

A recent CSI initiative, the 2013 High Five campaign, entailed a week-long fund-raising telethon in the form of an outside broadcast at Gateway Centre, one of the largest retail precincts in the area. The campaign sought to draw attention to the good work done by five key partner NGOs in the area. Partnerships such as these bring home a smaller-town sentiment ? one of co-operation and support. Another successful outreach initiative held in both 2012 and 2013 was the Blanket Drive in aid of the Hermanus Rainbow Trust, an NGO with a strong focus on feeding schemes, basic adult education and parenting education.

Whale Coast 96FM offers an alternative to prospective clients nationwide, offering advertising platforms with low wastage, in proven media, and to a captive audience whose lifestyles and rhythms are intimately understood.

For more information, phone the team on 028 312 2314, or visit www.whalecoastfm.co.za.