Behind the Lesedi FM 2025 song of the year furore

The 2025 song of the year on Lesedi FM has sparked a furore. The accolade for the song of the year is supposed to go to the track that has the highest rotation on SABC music radio stations.

Lesedi FM’s choice of Ya Itshepelang Modimo by Oufadafada, raised concern among listeners and quite rightly so. The song doesn’t feature anywhere near the top five songs played on the station over the 2025 year.

Data taken from AFSTEREO Music Data, an independent media content monitoring company, shows that the top five tracks rotated by Lesedi FM during 2025 were:

Across all the SABC ALS Stations combined, the top 5 tracks were:

So, if Ya Itshepelang Modimo by Oufadafada didn’t feature amongst the top five at all, then how come it was the Track of the Year and received the top spot on the station’s honour roll?

Something is not right

Something is not right with the way that the song was chosen.  A recent article in the Sunday World highlights the disappointed reaction from many of Lesedi’s faithful listeners.

It appears that there was internal influence brought to bear on station staff regarding the song of the year and at the centre of the controversy are popular presenter Thuso Motaung and his wife Mamontha, who is the station’s business manager.

I am astounded at the way some individuals are prepared to push their own agenda at the expense of brand goodwill and loyalty, doing untold harm to the brand’s integrity and credibility along the way. It’s disrespectful to the listeners, and to the team at Lesedi FM to impose personal preferences on a much-anticipated station feature.

Listener outcry

The outcry from listeners shows how committed and invested listeners to the station are. The loyal listener sees himself/herself as an “emotional stakeholder”, with a strong sense of “ownership” of the brand. This is a relationship that stations should strive to foster and need to nurture.

Taking this relationship for granted by dictating your personal preference (for whatever reason), breaks down the fabric of the relationship with the listener, and trust, once betrayed, is very hard to regain.

It’s too late for Lesedi FM to repair the damage done, but one hopes that they learn from this experience and use credible measurement methodology for their song of the year in the future.

Lance Rothschild is a radio and media consultant.