[PARTNER CONTENT] Nick Grubb, CEO of Kagiso Media: Radio, has been recognised as one of the top minds shaping South Africa’s media industry.
Grubb recently received an alumni award from the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies (JMS). He was honoured as part of the university’s JMS50 celebrations, which recognises the career excellence of its top 50 alumni in its 50-year history.
Grubb was recognised alongside the likes of David O’Sullivan, Lizeka Mda, Paula Fray, Karyn Maughan, and Angela Quintal. The alumni were credited with helping shape journalism and the media industry as whole.
The list of alumni included “recent graduates who in their short careers have already made their mark”.
For Grubb, who turned 50 in 2022, receiving the award was a full circle moment. He began his studies at Rhodes in 1992 and completed his BJourn in 1995. It was at the university that Grubb’s passion for radio was born.
He worked at Rhodes Music Radio and went on to become a Programme Manager at stations such as Algoa FM and 5FM, before heading up Kagiso Media’s radio division.
His current portfolio at Kagiso Media Radio includes Jacaranda FM, East Coast Radio, a digital services team, and SoundInsights – a first-party radio listener data collection service.
Grubb praised Rhodes for giving him an amazing academic grounding for his career.
“The journalism school is well positioned for an incredible next 50 years. We’re in a lot of shifting sands in the media environment. It’s an evolving landscape, as everyone is aware. There’s a lot of work that us as media practitioners and the academic community around journalism need to do to maintain the credibility of the profession,” he said.
The future of journalism
With digital advancements constantly changing consumer behaviour, the next generation of leaders in the media industry need to be more open minded.
“We want people who fundamentally are dedicated in the pursuit of truth. But the evolution of media means that the people who are in the pursuit of truth need to also be open minded to packaging that truth in different ways. It may not always be in serious, hardcore journalism. It may be taking the core of that hardcore journalism approach and applying it and wrapping it in different media formats that might be more relevant to the changing consumption habits of the consumers of today,” he said.
That’s going to be a big challenge for Rhodes to embrace as it looks to produce the media practitioners of tomorrow, according to Grubb.
“It’s also important for those graduates to have an eye on the commercial and practical realities of media, because it is those commercial models that are impacting our ability to thrive and for the profession to thrive.”
Read more about Nick Grubb’s career highlights here or follow him on LinkedIn.
