In August 2015, representatives from Tuks FM attended an event held to hand over funds for local media houses. The event was hosted by the Mayor of Tshwane at the Sheraton Hotel in Arcadia. Tuks FM received a grant of R100 000 in support of its activities and an additional grant of R550 000 to fund a training programme that the station was to present to nine local community radio stations.

The course was hosted at the Protea Hotel in Centurion, conducted by Tuks FM and administered through the Continuing Education at the University of Pretoria (CE at UP) Trust. It took place over two weeks between 2 and 13 November 2015.

Dewald Noel van Niekerk, course lecturer and station manager of Tuks FM, covered topics such as content creation, radio basics and the future of radio. Patrick Maloyi, programme manager of Tuks FM, discussed how to work with radio personalities and how to optimise a radio team for specific shows.

The course was attended by 80 delegates from TUT FM, Bagaka Radio, Kangala FM, Moretele Radio, Mams FM, Sosha FM, Tuks FM, Pheli FM, Tshwane FM and Ga-Rankuwa FM. Van Niekerk said, ‘It was a great opportunity for community stations in Tshwane to come together, share knowledge and discuss how to develop the sector. I look forward to more collaborations in the future to strengthen community radio in Tshwane.’

Nkululeko Biya, technical and production coordinator at Tuks FM, attended the course and said, ‘I thoroughly enjoyed the course and the opportunity to interact with the other community radio stations in Tshwane. Dewald and Patrick have a lot of experience in the radio industry and I will use the techniques I learnt in my current job.’

For more information on the radio courses presented by Tuks FM via CE at UP, visit www.ce.up.ac.za or email Tuks FM at [email protected]. For more information on the City of Tshwane visit www.tshwane.gov.za.