Briefly… DStv error takes eNews off air; Eight bright candles on seventeen SA’s birthday cake; BBC World Service expands its FM presence in Madagascar; Media and advertising industry make ABF Comedy Evening a roaring success; Go to Facebook and ‘Come back a better person’ with STA Travel
DStv error takes eNews off air
eNews has apologised to viewers after being off air for 47 minutes on DStv on Monday, 24 October 2011. This comes after a signal failure to DStv occurred at approximately 2:08pm, which resulted in a freeze frame on air.
“A second redundant line to DStv was operational, but engineers at DStv were unable to switch over immediately. Usually the switch over to the second signal would take only a few seconds, or minutes at most. DStv regrettably took longer than expected to switch over,” said Rob Brown, head of technical operations for eNews Channel.
Group Head of News, Patrick Conroy, says “We are very disappointed that the switch over took so long. We have redundancy lines in place for just this kind of problem and should never have been off air. We have received numerous complaints from viewers, which is entirely understandable.” A full report is being drawn up by eNews and e.tv engineers ahead of the matter being raised with DStv’s management.
Eight bright candles on seventeen SA’s birthday cake
This November, smart and sassy seventeen Magazine South Africa celebrates its eighth birthday with bright young celebs, bold summer fashions, and a brand new editor. The colour-packed November issue is the first from newly appointed editor Janine Jellars, who at the age of 27, has both youthful spirit and serious media credentials.
Seventeen’s birthday gift to its readers is a summer read to linger over, bundled with a bright tube of lip-gloss in sizzling hot shades of pink, red and orange. The November issue is an intro to summer and all its pleasures. Its fashion pages are filled with all the latest summer trends.
Jellars has seen her dreams come true with her appointment to seventeen. She comes most recently from ELLE Magazine, where she was a senior features writer, but has also been on staff in editorial positions at FAIRLADY, MY24, The Witness, True Love and MFM Radio Station.
“Janine brings fantastic energy as well as real in-the-trenches experience to seventeen,” Melanie Fortuin-Durr, Associate Publisher of seventeen Magazine. “She has already proven her great insight into the magazine’s audience with her first issue, and we are delighted to have her steering seventeen into its ninth year.”
BBC World Service expands its FM presence in Madagascar
BBC has expanded the BBC’s outreach across Madagascar with the launch of two FM relay stations. BBC 89.8 FM in Fianarantsoa and Toamasina add to the existing BBC 89.2 FM in the capital Antananarivo. From Monday 24 October, a week of special programming from the island state will explore the country’s realities from an international perspective. All three stations carry the BBC Afrique schedule as well as BBC World Service’s English-language programming.
Head of Business Development – Africa, BBC World Service, Joachim Harris, says: “As Africa’s second most populous francophone country, Madagascar is an important market for BBC World Service’s French for Africa service, BBC Afrique. We are delighted that with the launch of these two BBC FM stations in Fianarantsoa and Toamasina we can further expand our listener base, giving them the opportunity to enjoy our programming on FM. We are looking forward to forging closer connections with our listeners in Madagascar through the new BBC FM stations.”
To mark the launch, BBC Afrique has mounted a week of programming from Madagascar. Editor, BBC Afrique – London, Venuste Nshimiyimana, who will be reporting from Madagascar, comments: “Our series of reports from across the island bring the realities of Madagascar closer to listeners across francophone Africa, putting the issues that matter to them in the wider regional and global context.”
The Madagascar special airs on BBC Afrique throughout the week, from Monday 24 October, culminating in a special edition of Afrique en direct on Saturday 29 October.
Media industry make ABF Comedy Evening a roaring success
The ABF’s fundraiser comedy evening, held last week at Joe Parkers in Montecasino, was a well attended event with over 300 people from the media and advertising industry supporting a good cause.
“Joe Parkers is a wonderful venue and the support they continually offer the ABF Vital Support Fund is outstanding,” says Sharlene Vallance, executive committee member. “We were very lucky to have Edith Venter among our valued guests as well as Andy Rice from Radio 702’s popular AdFeature programme.”
Odette van der Haar, CEO at the Association for Communication and Advertising also attended. “Well done to the ABF for an awesome comedy evening and the much needed laughter. 10/10. It was fantastic. Thank you for all your hard work, dedication and commitment to the ABF. The evening was absolutely superb, our guests thoroughly enjoyed it,” she said.
“On final calculation it seems that we raised more money than we expected,” says Riana Stander, Treasurer for the ABF. “These much needed funds will pay for the student bursary initiative. We also need to again say thank you to our valued sponsors – without them the ABF would not be able to function.”
Go to Facebook and ‘Come back a better person’ with STA Travel
In STA Travel South Africa’s latest Facebook challenge, ‘Come back a better person’, people under 35 who yearn to broaden their horizons on a journey of self-discovery can an unforgettable trip for themselves and a friend to visit the Golden Triangle of India.
This compact Indian journey will introduce a lucky young traveller to three very different northern cities and the colourful rural life of Rajasthan. The winner will experience the hectic pace of Delhi, with its bustling markets, magnificent monuments and colonial past and then travel by private transport to Agra to be mesmerised by the beauty of the Taj Mahal – truly one of the wonders of the world. They will discover why Jaipur is called the ‘Pink City’, and get a taste of village life in Abhaneri with its magnificent stepwells.
“There are so many diverse travel opportunities available to young people and we aim to highlight these through our Facebook competitions, which are hugely successful and offer amazing experiential travel prizes,” says Liezl Gericke, General Manager of STA Travel South Africa. “Previous competitions have challenged people to show pride for our beautiful nation to win some incredible local tours and profess undying devotion to Britney Spears to win a trip to London to see her live. Now we feel it is now the right time to encourage a bit of deep soul-searching, with an epic trip to experience just some of what fascinating India has to offer.”
Entry into the competition can only be done via the STA Travel South Africa Facebook page. Entrants are required to enter via the ‘Like it & Live it’ tab and enter their details on the Facebook site between now and December 31, 2011. Gericke says there will be a second round including a challenge to narrow contestants down, which is still to be announced. “We’re not revealing this yet, but it will certainly kick-start your journey of self discovery!”
The winners will be announced in the first week of January and the prize includes two trips to India each for one person and their friend.
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STATravelSouthAfrica
