Qhubani Moyo on life behind the scenes

IN 2015, Qhubani Moyo was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Skyz Metro FM, Bulawayo's first independent commercial radio station.

Moyo has long been associated with radio, having been part of Radio Dialogue from its inception. He currently holds several key executive positions.

As he nears his three-year anniversary in his position, Moyo recently spoke with Sunday Life about business trends, political dollars, and events, how he's putting his touch on the radio platform and why he attends pretty much every Skyz Metro FM event.

You've been running Fairtalk and a local radio for almost three years now. How is it going so far?

The first year as CEO was about conceptualisation of the idea of how the new radio stations should operate, the second year was about setting up of the stations and it was the most hectic and most demanding. The third year was about putting the signal on air for both stations and working with station management teams to create winning combinations in terms of presenters.

Many people will note that we made so many changes as we tried to align combinations and programmes and the public expectations as well as the expectation of the business. We are happy that we have found the right combinations and so it's all systems go in 2018 and beyond!

In all essence while the company is three years old, our radio stations Skyz Metro FM in Bulawayo and Breeze FM in Victoria Falls have been on air for one year and have done wonders in that year!

In the first year of the radio station's operations we managed to win the following accolades:

-Won BBA awards for best Media House 2017
-ZNCC regional SME of the year 2017
-ZNCC SME of the year nominee 2017

How has been the acceptance of the stations by the listeners?

The stations have grown amazingly fast, even faster than our own projections. The listeners in Bulawayo and Victoria Falls have taken ownership of the station and we are happy it has all gone that way. The secret to the acceptance has been our approach which encourages community participation in programming. Our radio stations are not just contracted to produce sound, they were created to encourage and be part of the transformation of communities and lives of people for the better.

Our approach is that radio for the sake of sound only is not radio at all, we believe that radio should be revolutionary in that it should ensure that communities interact and transform for the best. Skyz and Breeze are there catalysts and change agents of people's lives and we do it by making people those agents of transformation. We are therefore on cloud nine that we have a huge listenership which we will not disappoint.

How has been the response from the market?

It has been growing steadily and we are fairly happy with the response of the Bulawayo businesses. They have come on board and have made this dream a reality. We have also attracted lots of bigger corporates who know our huge following and know of the gains of advertising with Skyz and Breeze. Remember business follows listeners and listeners follow good programmes. There is no magic to it. So we have been able to produce excellent programmes, which have made us have a huge listenership and business is advertising to harvest on this listenership. We are therefore not complaining as our figures are fair in the context of a harsh economic environment and given hope that is coming with the new dispensation, the future looks bright!

How do you measure whether what you are doing is working?

Our yardstick is how communities interact with us on programmes. We also measure via the number of gadgets that get hooked to our radio stations. Furthermore we measure through public responses to our live events and most importantly we measure by the advertisers who have come and told us of how the acceptance of their products have improved in the market since they started advertising with us.

We have had four public events which will be permanent features in our calendar; these are the Gospel Festival, Annual Schools Public Speaking, annual Skyz Celebration "umcimbi wabantu" and the Skyz Metro Music Awards. All these events have been oversubscribed in a clear endorsement of the activities of the station. We have basically become the only radio stations of choice in Bulawayo and Victoria Falls.

You're a pioneer activist for the opening of the airwaves to independent players. Would you say your work in this regard has paid off?

My satisfaction is derived from seeing and hearing celebrations of a people who have been unable to have adequate space for celebration of their language, culture, songs identity and news. It is not so much about personal satisfaction. The acceptance of the stations and the discovery of latent talent that was not getting airplay satisfy me as having been able to contribute in my small way to the communities.

Hearing young and old people of different ethnic backgrounds ululating in celebration of their diversity through our stations is a milestone bigger than getting personal glory. I believe that I am just an agent of the community and never do these things for myself; I do it for the people. In that regard I can safely say that I've been playing my part and still has more do so in community transformation.

Since your appointment, what challenges have you faced in developing what has now become a top radio station in the country?

The biggest challenge was how to come up with acceptable programmes and be a winning radio station. It was crucial to make sure that the radio station has acceptance with the communities of Matabeleland. I understand the sensitivities of our people because "abafuni bumbulu". So coming up with a style that is acceptable to them was crucial and never an easy walk in the park.

The second major challenge was constructing a winning team. Our approach was getting people from our areas of operation, especially young talented people who had not been able to get space on radio. It took us some time to finally come up with winning combinations but I am glad that today we have the right teams at the right positions.

The third challenge was how to get resources and equipment into the country in an environment that was not liquid, with cash shortages and lack of support on nostro accounts to pay to suppliers. It was a huge headache but we were finally able to get past it though it delayed us going on air.

The final challenge was how to penetrate the market and convince them that we have the huge following warranting. I'm glad we have overcome all the challenges and we have become the only stations of choice this side of the country.

What has made our stations succeed is presence of a professional board that ensures excellent corporate governance. It's those people that you don't see every day but the team ably led by the board chairman Zwelibanzi Ndlovu has been the key driver of policy success behind the scenes!!

In today's Zimbabwe where there's pressure to cut staff, how have you managed your organisation and resisted this impulse?

Our approach in staff recruitment was to create a family. We have a team that we started with when there was no hope and we all grew collectively glued to the station. We became as attached as only family members can be to each other and as such any departure of a team member for whatever reason was always very painful. The environment however, demanded that we sometimes had to part ways but we remain close and attached to them even after they are no longer part of us corporately. We place a priceless value to their contributions towards the birth of the station. In some cases it slowed down our performance but we have been able to evolve into this gentle giant.

How big a political bump are you expecting this year?

We have been running a series on public accountability in which we invite elected pubic officials namely councillors and MPs to account to the communities what they have done in their tenure of office. This programme, run on Vuka Vuka Breakfast by Skhonjwa, Donna and Master E has been very interactive and highly productive on how to shape the developmental trajectory. We look forward to a more meaningful engagement as we move closer to the elections as we will be running election series debates. It our hope that providing space to candidates will help citizens make informed choices on who to entrust with their vote.

How much revenues come from political advertising?

So far we have no yet had any revenues for that stream but we do look forward to providing all candidates with equal chance and opportunities to interact with voters. We will also be running political campaign advertising on a commercial basis as long as they are well balanced and not insulting other candidates. However, while we are a commercial station our election approach is that people need to be well informed on what is on offer so that they can make the most informed decisions.

Anything you think radio people should be more focused on?

We have revamped our programming for 2018 and created new programmes that meet the expectations of our communities. We are also preparing for elections engagement series and we encourage people to be ready and well prepared to engage with candidates in a robust manner. We are conceptualising how we can expand further and we are watching closely the digitisation process which will open new television channels as we see a window of opportunity in that direction.

Is there anything that worries you?

No worries my brother, I am aware that in the process of building such a media institution there will always be those who see things in a different dimension and would have wanted things done in a certain way. We embrace that diversity of views and criticism and we take valuable ones and convert it to capital. So no worries!

Who is your favourite presenter?

It is the public that phones and contributes to our programmes. They are my favourite because they show us that we are reaching out to the people!

This was a conversation between Sunday Life Correspondent, Allan Foti and Fairtalk Communications Chief Executive Officer Qhubani Moyo.