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DTT Roll-out
Mr Gelfand Kausiyo (GK): GM: RBF last week jetted
off to Brazil as part of a Department of Communications'
(DoC) delegation to investigate the roll out of DTT
in that country. He will be sharing his experiences
from this investigative trip with the staff from Technology
at a function to be held later this month..
Above: The DoC's delegation was led by the Director
General (DG) Ms Mamodupi Mohlala. The DG is the one
in black, with books covering her head from the drizzling
rain they encountered. Gelfand Kausiyo is seen standing
in the background with other members of the DoC that
included the two Deputy DG's, the Chief Director and
the Minister of Communications' spokesperson.
Above: The delegation walked down the Stair-case
at the Electronics Valley in Sao Paulo, Brazil. RBF
GM, Gelfand Kausiyo is the one smiling at the camera.
Above: What the DTT Screen looks like in Brazil.
Note all the DTT interactive features on the screen.
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Above: Picture of the DTT Studio to Transmitter Link
(STL) at one of the TV Studios in Brazil.
RBF Challenge Workshops
As part of the RBF's ongoing drive to uplift and
support local musical talent, workshops were held
on Saturday mornings between 09:00 and 12:00 in one
of RBF's music studios in Johannesburg during February
and March 2010.
These workshops were free of charge and open to all
the bands, soloists and groups that participated
in the RBF Challenge during 2009.
Different topics will be discussed each week like:
1) a talk about the recording process and pre-production;
2) what it takes to perform overseas; 3) music publishing;
4) dealing with the press (press releases etc) and
PR; 5) the song writing process; 6) what SAMRO has
to offer bands.
ABOVE: Participants listening to Darryl Torr during
the RBF Challenge Workshops.
It is the year 2010
A year that holds a lot of
promises for all South Africans. We have all been
waiting in anticipation for it to arrive. It is the
year of the FIFA Soccer World cup to be hosted here
in South Africa. New stadiums have been built all
over South Africa, the hotel and transport industries
spent millions to be able to cater for the influx
of people to South Africa.
In Radio Broadcast Facilities
(RBF) it is no different. We have been planning for
this event since South Africa was announced as the
host for the FIFA Soccer World cup.
Some interesting facts about RBF's plans:
§ SABC holds the title of Official Broadcaster
§ SABC is a rights holding media organisation
§ A total of 64 matches will be played over
a period of 25 match days from 11 June to 11 July
in 9 Host cities
§ In SA, Radio is the only medium that millions
of people have access to
§ RBF endeavours to put technology in place
to enhance the TV viewing experience by “simulcasting”
radio signals with terrestrial SABC 1. This means
that viewers will be able to tune into their Radio
Stations and listen to the match in a language of
their choice whilst viewing it on terrestrial TV
§ A Technology Plan for Radio is in place to
meet the live production requirements of 11 PBS stations
(9 ALS, RSG and Radio 2000)
§ Radio 2000 will broadcast all 64 matches live
from the stadia
§ The other 10 stations will broadcast selected
matches from the stadia and the rest from the off-tube
commentary facility at Radiopark
§ RBF is responsible for equipping ALL the SABC
Radio stadia positions, the distribution of the crowd
effects as well as providing manpower to monitor these
positions.
§ In addition to the stadia, RBF is responsible
for equipping and manning the centralized off-tube
commentary facilities at Radiopark (RBC = Radio Broadcast
Centre)
§ All audio signals originate from the stadia
and are routed to the RBC. At the RBC the signals
are combined with the analysts and other audio contributions
before being sent to the respective regions via IP
for broadcast.
§ All the mentioned 11 PBS stations as well
as Metro FM, SAFM and TruFM will also be covering
events on a presentation basis from 47 PVAs (Public
Viewing Areas) and 10 FIFA Fan Fest Venues. Coverage
will be on a regional basis using the stations RBF
operated Broadcast Mobiles.
§ A total of 27 RBF technical producers will
assist the Radio Stations with all their stadia technical
requirements (Many of the other non-stadia RBF technical
producers will assist either at the RBC or on the
PVA / Fan Fest OB’s)
RBF and its staff will do more than its best to bring
the soccer action to all the radio listeners.
Above: A typical RBF Outside broadcasting set up
that was used during the SA-England cricket tour will
also be used for the Soccer World Cup
RBF Free-State
It was a busy year in the RBF facilities with M1 music
studio (and the newly revamped S5) successfully used
to complete various commercial projects. A few of
the highlights were:
A DVD recording for Cobus Potgieter; which was completed
over five days. Cobus is a Youtube drumming phenomenon
hailing from Bloemfontein. His Youtube account has
almost eighty-thousand subscribers with twenty-eight
million views of his video covers in total.
Bhudaza Mapafane recorded his third studio album in
2009 and the whole project was completed in the M1
and S5 studios. His first single ‘Babelasi’
is receiving extensive airplay on local and national
stations.
‘Die Straatligkinders’ used the M1 to
record drums for their new album; the M1’s Amek
Rembrandt Console and its range of vintage Neumann
K100 microphones played a big role in dialing the
sound that engineer Ewald Janse van Rensburg (ex-guitarist
Soul Proxy) was looking for.
RBF Free-State successfully hosted a training program
that saw eight prospective engineers take part in
training in M1 music studio, S5 and Drama facilities.
These individuals are now equipped to complete a production
from pre-production to basic mastering utilizing the
RBF facilities. As part of the training, in conjunction
with Lesedi FM, each student was given a complete
recording and production assignment. These songs are
to receive airplay on Lesedi FM as part of their community
responsibility program.
The 13th annual RBF Challenge
drew to a close this year when the finals took place
at Theatre of Marcellus, Emperors Palace on Sunday
the 4th of October 2009.
This year saw the most diverse musical line up of
all time with bands performing - pop, rock, hardcore,
metal, acoustic, jazz as well as hip hop mixed with
jazz/rock and soul. Bands played their best two songs
on the fantastic live music stage of Theatre of Marcellus
which was designed for big sound and big lights.
Bands in action on the day were:
Cry Out Riot; Sunburn; Morrison; Still Sung; Break
My Fall; Acoustic Liquid; Die the Betrayer; The Action
Thrillers; Octanium; Sonsteek; Scarlet Street; Erand
is Blomme; Travellin Blak; One Way Avenue; The Stella’s;
El Koi; Black Jacket; Hour of Blight; One Days Notice;
New Beginnings; Avenge the Angels; Die Brandwag (Klerksdorp);
Colour Blind (Bloem); Red Light Stereo (Durban); Checked
Zebras (Cape Town).
And the winning band on the day were Sonsteek (pictured
below). Sonsteek rose to the occassion performing
to a packed Theatre of Marcellus at Emperors Palace
during the national finals of the 13th RBF Challenge.
On the day 25 bands were in action but it was Sonsteek
that impressed the judges the most playing themselves
to winning recording time courtesy of Radio Broadcast
Facilities (RBF) at the SABC.
RBF Gauteng
region rewards staff for excellence.
In the picture above is a group of
RBF staff in the Gauteng region who received awards
for excellence at a funtion that was held on 2 September
2009. Awards ranged from continious dedication to
their work, doing more than was expected of them during
Election 2009 to specific awards for radio dramas
and other broadcasts. In front on the left is the
the proud Manager of RBF in the Gauteng region, Louis
Janse van Rensburg and on the right in front is the
GM of RBF, Gelfand Kausiyo.
Congratulations to
all the recipients for job well done.
We are proud to have you as our colleagues.
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GALLO SPECIAL
PROJECTS AND THE SABC BRINGS THE SHUNNED MUSIC OF
THE POLITICAL ERA BACK TO LIFE WITH ‘AVOID’.
The South African apartheid era saw
many laws that censored or stifled the South African
public and creative expression - the music industry
was no exception. The SABC Media Library initiated
this project to celebrate music that was seldom heard,
if at all, over the airwaves due to its content.
The SABC and Gallo Special Projects,
a division of Gallo Record Company, is proud to announce
the release of the compilation ‘Avoid’
– a collection of banned songs from the apartheid
era that were instantly stamped with the words ‘Avoid’
on first listen by the SABC’s Record Acceptance
Committee
The songs were banned due to their
politically outspoken content amongst other reasons
such as reference to sex, drugs, blasphemy, religion,
profanity or violence.
The only way of knowing if a song was banned was by
a small sticker being placed next to the song –
with the word ‘Avoid’. To prevent DJ’s
or compilers to give the song airtime, the relevant
tracks on the vinyl record (LP) were physically scratched
and damaged with a special nail. No explanations were
given, no correspondence was entered into, nor were
the artists informed.
In the countries tumultuous past,
many musicians spoke out against the horrors of apartheid
and naturally the songs were immediately banned by
the committee, never to be given the airplay they
deserved.
In 1996 the committee was disbanded.
This collection of songs celebrates
banned tracks and artists from the Apartheid era,
mostly for their political agendas or references.
These songs, carefully selected by the SABC Media
Library, were initially not given the playlisting
they deserved in their time, and are platformed here
for one and all.
Some of the tracks on the compilation
include:
MzwakheMbuli – Pitoli, Miriam Makeba –
West Wind, Peter Gabriel – Biko, Brenda Fassie
– Black President, SiphoHotstixMabusa –
Chant Of The Marching, and many others.
For more information: Pauline Mkhize
on (011) 713-3000 or paulinem@gallo.co.za
