“Voice of the Cape community radio has attempted, for 18 years, to regain the footprint it was granted when it first went on air in January 1995,” says Judy Milne, director of The Media Connection, one of Africa’s leading community radio advertising and brand activation specialists.

“The station will soon move to 91.3fm, with a signal that’s five times louder than its previous output. The frequency has been reclassified for use by VOC and will cover much of the same footprint as its previous 100.4fm frequency, but will have a much larger penetration,” she adds.

Broadcast areas include the Cape Town CBD, Bo-kaap, Goodwood, Woodstock, Parow, Bellville, Athlone, Mitchells Plain, Belhar, Strandfontein, Pelican Heights, Wynberg areas and Boland areas like Strand and surroundings.

“At the same time, the 95.8fm (Paarl and Worcester), 90.9fm (Houtbay) and 89.8fm (Fishoek and Simons Town) will continue to serve as gap-filler frequencies to cover outlying areas as mentioned above,” says Milne.

“Listeners shouldn’t change their dials just yet, but wait for VOC to announce when its new frequency will go live,” says chairperson of the Muslim Broadcasting Corporation Management Board, Achmat Jacobs.

“It has always been VOC's intention to have its own frequency. Now, 18 years later, Almighty Allah has granted us this opportunity to broadcast in the Cape Metropole on a daily 24/7 basis,” he adds.

VOC first went on air in Ramadan (January) 1995 for five days. The first Muslim community radio station in the country was so well received that between 80 000 and 100 000 Muslims were mobilised at the V&A Waterfront on the final night of broadcast to sign petitions calling for a permanent broadcasting license.

Various applications were made and high level meetings were held between various Muslim groups to arrive at a sustainable solution. Eventually, this led to two Muslim radio stations being approved – on the same frequency. However, the then Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) saw no reason why community radio stations serving the same niche audience required separate frequencies. This led to VOC having to share the 100.4fm frequency on an alternate day basis.

According to VOC station manager, Moegsin Khan, one of the biggest advantages of the new frequency is the consistency that it will bring to listeners daily and the added advantage of a stronger signal strength. “91.3fm was a commercial frequency which normally operates at 1 kilowatt or more. With the frequency now being reassigned to VOC as a community broadcaster, it will operate at 500 watt, but this is still be five times stronger than our current output on 100.4fm which is only at a 100 watt. So our listeners will be able to listen to us with ease."

The smaller frequencies will remain in use. "We applied for the 95.8fm, 90.9fm and 89.8fm frequencies because ours is a community of interest that is scattered all over the Western Cape. Due to the topography of the Cape Peninsula and surrounding areas, our broadcast could not reach our community of interest on one frequency. We needed gap fillers to reach all our constituent members. The new frequency replaces 100.4 only, and all our gap-filler frequencies remain the same," says Khan.

VOC is in talks with all of its structures and service providers to finalise when everything will be in place for the switch. “All indications are that it will be by the 19 June 2013, well before Ramadan,” says Khan.

“I've been in the broadcasting industry for over 30 years and have experienced many highlights and achieved many accolades, but this achievement by the VOC team has to be the greatest achievement yet, where the Muslim community of Cape Town will benefit on a daily basis. This independent frequency will further establish VOC as a dynamic, proficient broadcaster Insha Allah (God Willing),” he concludes.

For more information, phone The Media Connection on 086 137 2346 or visit www.themediaconnection.co.za.