The Sunday News
Kudzai Mpangi, Sunday Life Reporter
BULAWAYO’S first commercial radio station, Skyz Metro FM is working on a strategic plan for 2018 and it promises to be a good sophomore year for the hugely popular station.
2017 was a fairly successful year for the radio station in its first year of operations and the strategic plan for 2018 is intended to harness this success and propel the company forward in the New Year.
Speaking on the sidelines of a strategic planning session between senior and junior staffers at The Vista Bar and Restaurant last Tuesday, Skyz Metro FM chief executive officer Qhubani Moyo said even though most of this year’s work was still at planning stage, they had already made what they believe to be positive changes at the radio station.
He said the company has made a couple of key appointments while also creating new programming.
“Today we are having a strategic retreat with all staffers, be it senior or junior so that everyone has an input into what we are going to be doing this year.
“While this is happening, however, we made some key appointments and tweaked the programming a bit to reflect our ambition to not just be an entertainment station, but also a useful information resource,” Moyo told Sunday Life last week.
Moyo acknowledged that as a station they need to strengthen their various departments which is why the organisation decided to give senior staffers such as Babongile Sikhonjwa and Lee Mangena added responsibilities in 2018.
“Going into 2018 we are not going to relax and celebrate a first year of success. Instead we are using it as a bench mark of doing better in that regard and we are strengthening our departments and creating new ones. For example, we now have a fully fledged events department headed by Babongile Sikhonjwa,” Moyo said.
“We have also strengthened the news department with the appointment of Lee Mangena to head the desk and to spearhead our vision of being a true reflection of what is happening in our Bulawayo community.”
While Skyz Metro has been applauded for bringing Bulawayo entertainment to the fore, the radio station now seeks to redefine itself by adding more informative and topical value to its entertainment portfolio.
“Our approach in 2018 is that radio should not just be about entertainment but must also be a tool that is used to positively transform people’s lives hence our approach of including communities in our programming,” Moyo said.
The radio station has also planned for the forthcoming elections. They already have a programme which has challenged Members of Parliament and councillors to account for their work via live appearances at the station to discuss their constituencies and wards.
“As we are heading towards elections which are going to take place this year as a Skyz Metro we also started a programme that dwells on accountability of politicians. We are challenging elected MPs and councillors to account for what they have done in the past five years. We want to enable residents to engage them as a way of improving service delivery in their communities,” Moyo said.
After only one year of operations, Skyz Metro FM has fast become the preferred choice for most of listeners and advertisers in Bulawayo.
“We acknowledge that within a year our station has become the station of choice for most listeners and advertisers in Bulawayo. And this growth has been because of the strong culture of corporate governance and a perceptory approach to our programming where communities play an important role in the programmes,” he said.
