Dynamic and driven, Mangope described herself as “a broadcaster, a businesswoman and a world-changer” in 2014 in her address to introduce President Barack Obama at a Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders programme event.

She joined Massiv Metro as senior producer in May 2017, was soon promoted to head of programming and, this year, to station manager. She is an achiever and is well equipped for the task of managing the Massiv Metro radio station that will be “the biggest radio station in South Africa” in the not too distant future, she says.

Massiv Metro is a hybrid online and terrestrial radio station that reaches 672 000 listeners per six-day week, streaming live in eight Johannesburg taxi ranks and 800 taxis and online. Massiv Metro is the brainchild of DJ Sbu and Massiv Media.

Mangope, 31, came to Massiv Metro from an already illustrious career in broadcasting – both radio and television. She joined 702 perchance, while studying international relations and industrial psychology at Wits University.

She had accompanied a friend to an audition, auditioned and got a job. She started call-screening and was soon involved in producing shows while continuing her studies at Wits.

Mangope says, “My training at 702 had encouraged 40-something thinking, as had the life challenges I had dealt with. I needed to find the 'young me' to identify with the target audience at YFM. I was given a mandate by Kanthan Pillay, then head of YFM, to go and party and get to understand the youth market. I did – it was excellent, and I thrived in the YFM environment.”

She believes that Massiv Metro is doing just that, and is defining history. 

“I love this platform – it is innovation personified. When you are able to play in an online space, but as a terrestrial medium, you understand just how much innovation has gone into developing this initiative. We’re online, but we are in taxis, a captive audience at all times. This is where radio will be going – and we are in a position to set the benchmarks for it,” Mangope says.

Mangope contributes strong broadcasting experience and skills, leadership dynamism, a visionary entrepreneurial spirit and more to the Massiv Metro mix.

She says the future for the radio station is bright. “We have to be limitless in our thinking. By the end of the year, our commuter listenership will have grown to 1.5 million – and at this stage we are only in Gauteng."

"We plan to expand into all nine provinces, with local content and a local offering. We’re going to be the biggest radio station in South Africa. Once we have the South African market, there is nothing to stop us partnering with radio stations across the continent to be streamed into commuter transportation.”

For more information, visit massivmetro.com. You can also follow Massiv Metro on Facebook or on Twitter.