5FM

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5FM

Broadcast area	South Africa Broadcast Nationwide (via, repeaters)
Frequency	Various Nationwide, 98.0 FM in Johannesburg
Programming
Format	CHR (Contemporary hit radio)
Ownership
Owner	SABC
History
First air date	13 October 1975 (1975-10-13)
Links
Webcast	Listen live
Website	www.5fm.co.za

5FM is a South African FM radio station forming part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), South Africa's public broadcaster. 5FM follows a Top 40 music format aimed at a youth market, together with news and sports coverage.

Originally named Radio 5, the station was re-branded as "5FM" in 1992, and has as its current logo a red "5" and superscripted "FM" within a circle and the words "The Power of" inscribed along the upper periphery of the circle.

The station is currently managed by Masixole Mdingane,Business Unit Manager of the PCS Combo (Good Hope FM & 5FM).

Formerly known as "Radio 5", the station developed from a commercial station, LM Radio, which had been broadcasting to a South African youth audience from Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in neighbouring Mozambique.^[1] When LM Radio was shut down by the incoming Frelimo government after Mozambique gained its independence, the South African government instructed the SABC to take over the staff and the service.^{[citation needed]} The station was renamed Radio 5, and former LM Radio presenter Nick Megans presented the first live show starting at 05:00 on 13 October 1975^[2] from SABC Broadcast House in Commissioner Street. Radio 5 broadcast in the medium wave band from transmitters at Welgedacht, Maraisburg, Pietersburg, Durban, Bloemfontein, Brackenfell, Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown. Broadcasting was later moved to the basement of the Broadcast Centre, Auckland Park in Johannesburg.

The name Radio 5 indicated that it was the SABC's fifth national radio channel at that time, after Radio Suid-Afrika, Radio South Africa, Springbok Radio and Radio Bantu.

Initially the government-controlled SABC required Radio 5 to be bilingual with an equal weighting of English and Afrikaans. Music content was strictly controlled and censored. Radio 5 competed with the independent Channel 702 (later renamed to Radio 702) broadcasting from Bophuthatswana and Capital 604 from the Transkei. Radio 702 changed its music format to a Top 40 format, on the advice of an American consultant, Bob Hennaberry, and head hunted the former Radio LM presenter John Berks from Radio 5. Within a year 702 claimed nearly a million listeners from the PWV area (now Gauteng) while the nationwide Radio 5 had less than 150,000.

Malcolm Russell, a former Rhodesian TV and radio host, who hosted host the new Radio 5 Breakfast Show, was appointed Programme Director and initiated a mandate to improve the station, with the support of Riaan Eksteen who became Director General of the SABC in 1984. English became the primary broadcast language and commercial scheduling was overhauled to be less intrusive. Presenters were re-engaged on an annual freelance contract with shows named for and designed by them.

New evening shows were launched to compete with television one of them being Chris Prior - the "Rock Professor". FM stereo was introduced nationally, and broadcasts extended to 24/7. The Chuckle and Chat, a live phone-in show interspersed with music, was introduced as the first talk show on a South African music station, presented by David Blood and Tony Sanderson. It became the most popular programme with listenership peaking at around 1 million nightly.

Russell made the presenters responsible for their own success or failure with the promise that, when their year's contract expired, they would be free to renegotiate based on the audience the shows delivered. However, Russell remained on salary and sought to negotiate the same performance-based contract for himself. Senior management rejected the proposal and Russell resigned to begin his own company, the Broadcast Development Group, and was later contracted to assist Radio 702 with its repositioning and transition to 702 Talk Radio.

• Mark Gillman
• Alex Jay
• Kevin Savage
• Brian Oxley
• Martin Bailey
• Rafe Lavine
• Tony Blewitt
• Tich Mataz
• Ian F (Also Hosted the 5fm Top 40 with Sasha Martinengo)
• Darren Scott (Drive time with John Walland, Ray White and Leigh-Ann Mol (née Van der Stadt))
• Mark Pilgrim with Ray White (Weekend Breakfast Show)
• Cleone Cassidy
• Ursula Stapelfeldt (Host of the World Chart Show)
• Sami Sabiti (Host of the World Chart Show)
• Koula (Host of the World Chart Show)
• Nicole Fox
• Zuraida Jardine
• Gareth Cliff
• Derek the Bandit
• Keith Lindsay
• Barney Simon^[3]
• Phil Wright
• Christina Knight (Knight School The Really Early Morning Show on Weekends)
• Roger Goode
• Thando Thabethe
• Ms Cosmo
• DJ Fresh
• Minnie Ntuli

The Mark Gillman show was hosted by Mark Gillman and supported by Kevin Fine and Reuben Goldberg, Catherine Strydom (Grenfell) and stuntman "DangerBoy".^[4] Gillman was known for his loud personality and his slogan "I Love it in the Mornings".

After a brief stint as the host of the drive-time show, Gareth Cliff replaced Gillman as 5fm's Breakfast Show host. With Cliff as the host, the show was supported by Leigh-Ann Mol on News, Mabale Moloi on traffic & Sias DuPlessis on Sport, with the production team featuring Damon Kalvari (Assistant to the Producer), and Thabo Modisane (Executive Producer). The show ended in 2014 when Cliff began an online radio platform, to which all of his team, save DuPlessis & Modisane, followed him.^[5]

Following Cliff's departure in 2014, DJ Fresh took over the morning show, having hosted the drive-time show since 2003. He was joined by Carmen Reddy on News, Duran Collett on Sports News, Sol Phenduka (and later Nonala Tose) on Traffic. On 31 March 2017, Fresh left 5FM for sister station, Metro FM.

He was replaced by Roger Goode, who hosted the show alongside Robbie Kruse on Sports, Sureshnie Rieder on News and Zanele Potelwa (nicknamed 'Young Boomerang') on traffic.

Dan Corder assumed the role of host on the Breakfast Show in April 2021, accompanied by Thabo Baloyi delivering the latest news updates, Xoli Zondo covering sports, and Marli van Eeden providing traffic reports. However, in April 2024, just a month after signing his contract for the 2024/2025 lineup, Corder announced his departure from the show.^[6]

As of now,^[when?] the replacement for the breakfast show presenter has yet to be announced.

5FM weekday mid-morning presenters include Rob Vember, Poppy Ntshongwana and prior to their Drive Shows, Thando Thabethe & Nick Hamman.

In May 2020, Msizi James and Stephanie Be paired up to present the Mid Mornings on 5 show during the brunchtime slot. Upon James’ departure for Johannesburg-based rival station 947, Stephanie hosts the brunchtime show alone.

Rob Forbes and Fix Moeti hosted the Forbes&Fix show during the lunchtime slot, with Kim Schulze on news. In 2021, they left radio, and the lunchtime show was taken over by Zanele Potelwa, with Yanga Mjoli on News.

Until 2014, DJ Fresh hosted "The Fresh Drive" alongside Catherine Grenfell, Poppy Ntshongwana, Duran Collett & Carmen Reddy. They were replaced by Roger Goode, Ms Cosmo, Sureshnie Rieder and Sias du Plessis, who was later replaced by Robbie Kruse.

In 2017, Thando Thabethe became the station's first woman to host the Drive Time show. "The Thabooty Drive" featured Durbanite Msizi James as the co-host, Sibaphiwe Matiyela (and later, Nadia Romanos) on News and Duran Collett on Sports.

In May 2020, Nick Hamman, who had previously hosted the Hamman Time show during the mid-morning slot, took over as the host of 5Drive with producer Mad Money Mike, Nadia Romanos on news, Yonaka Theledi on traffic and Jude van Wyk on sports.^[7]

The evening show, 5Nights is hosted by Karabo Ntshweng from 19:00 - 22:00 Monday to Thursday. This is a fresh show with genre-specific charts each day highlighting the best local indie, pop, hip hop and dance songs.

The late-night show, 5 After Hours is hosted by Leah Jazz, which offers risqué-themed content every night.

Before 2019, the Weekend Breakfast show, A Cuppa JT was hosted by Justin Toerien, with Nadia Romanos & Jude van Wyk on News & Sports respectively.

In April 2019, Nicole da Silva took over the reins of the weekend morning slot, naming the show 5FM Xtra Loud Mornings. She is joined by Sibaphiwe Matiyela on News and Duran Collett on Sports.

As of May 2022 KwaZulu-Natal born Minnie Ntuli from East Coast Radio joined the national youth radio station to anchor with Monique De Villiers on News and Aaron Masemola on Sports. A 2023-line up change saw Retshepile Seakamela take over the reins of 5Weekend Breakfast, retaining Aaron Masemola on the sports desk and introducing Palesa Lemeke as a Newsreader.

Weekend music shows are hosted by the 5FM 'Weekender5', a collective of specialist music show hosts including Kid Fonque, Das kapital and Kyle Cassim among others.

Nick Archibald anchors the 5FM Top 40 Chart show every Saturday. Jodelle Tantij hosts 5 Takeover show on Sundays.

The rest of the weekend show offering is made up of the afternoon slot, anchored by Boipelo Mooketsi, who hosts the show alongside newsreader Karabo Hobo, while the weekend night offering is covered by Harrison Mkhize.^[8]

Until 2021, 5FM had round-the-clock broadcasting. The station is now automated with music between 01:00 and 04:00 daily. The only early morning programming exists with the station's Early Breakfast shows, hosted by Monique de Villiers between Monday and Friday between 04:00 and 06:00, and with the weekend shows, 5Weekend Early Mornings hosted by UCT Radio alumni Thomas Hele & Mtha Agbiriogu on Saturdays, and Tshepang Moji on Sundays between 04:00 and 07:00.

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2019)

• 5FM Website

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