Boni Mchunu

The power of radio – tuning into success for 25 years

East Coast Radio’s Managing Director, Boni Mchunu, shares what it takes for a station to achieve and maintain success for 25 years.

East Coast Radio (ECR) recently celebrated 25 years on South Africa’s airwaves. After two-and-a-half decades, the station is still thriving and remains one of KwaZulu-Natal’s favourites.

ECR currently has 1,256,000 engaged listeners (BRC RAMS AMPLIFY™, October 2021).

A strong and innovative team that works together is important for sustainability and success. Teamwork begins when you trust one another and work together to achieve a common goal. Our ability to work together as well as individually for the common objectives of making ECR the best media brand and place to work at has fuelled us to achieve great things.

To maintain a successful brand like East Coast Radio, leadership needs to focus on being deliberate:

• Deliberate about innovation;
• Deliberate about brand evolution; and
• Deliberate about acquiring and developing human capital and to constantly shape a

sustainable organisational culture.

If these three things are consistently done, the business remains on the path of success.

Radio has had some significant changes over the past twenty-five years. The media landscape has changed with the incorporation of digital-heavy platforms such as web, podcast, video, and social media into its ecosystem.

Radio is constantly evolving; it is relevant, relatable, reliable, current, and a credible source of information. The East Coast Radio evolution includes offering educational, informative, and entertaining content in all our ecosystems, which requires a lot of integrated thinking, adaptation, and application daily.

Implementing an audience-centric and client-centric strategy has also allowed the station to stay one step ahead of its competitors.

The biggest ECR achievement in the past 25 years has been centred around being a purpose led brand. A brand that knows the importance of its people – KZN listeners and our clients. Importantly, we pride ourselves as being KZN’s No.1 brand in everything that we do. Therefore, service is at the core of everything that we do. Everybody at ECR understands the importance of being client centric in all that we do.

Being at the helm of one of KwaZulu-Natal’s most well-known brands requires resilience and innovation. The past five years have been filled with many challenges and many lessons.

 There are two things that have been a struggle for me. The South African economy has been stagnant over the past five years. This has had a negative impact on all South African businesses, with 2020 being the worst impacted year.

The second struggle was COVID-19. Everything we did or experienced as a team was unprecedented. However, we worked together in changing the most challenging situation for the betterment of all our communities. Not only were we able to ensure the station continued to thrive in the pandemic, but we also assisted KZN families that were impacted by the pandemic and gave hope to destitute communities.

East Coast Radio has achieved a lot, not just during my tenure. The fact that the brand has been around for 25 years and has managed to maintain premiership over the years is an achievement on its own. We also recently celebrated 10 years of having Darren Maule as our Breakfast Show host, which is testament to the brand’s success. Having a host on air for 10 years in the breakfast spot shows consistency of the brand and our loyal listener’s love for the show.

In 2019, ECR launched the first streaming radio station, East Coast Gold, which targets the over 50s market. In 2021, ECR launched a first in SA radio, a one-stop shop 360-degree content production offering, which aims to give all our advertisers an integrated marketing approach across all our platforms. All these ventures are important in ensuring that we provide world class service and convenience for our clients.

Our successes prove that radio is formidable and is the sector that continues to show relevance over the years. Recently with COVID-19, radio was regarded as a trusted friend and a credible source of information for many communities. Radio has a loyal relationship with audiences, so when you use radio to communicate, people feel like they’re communicating with a friend.

There are many more growth opportunities and I am excited for the next 25 years of radio. As a leader, I also hope I will be able to pass on some of my wisdom to the next generation.

Generally, gender equality is still a challenge in South Africa, but it is reassuring to see that inroads are being made. It is my hope that will see significant changes in this lifetime.

As women we need to ensure that we take up the space and in return create space and opportunity for younger generations coming after us.