By Jabulile Mbatha
A uniquely designed radio station strives to share primarily good news and purposefully choosing to move away from negative news reporting dominating news media platforms. Naveen Singh is the current programme manager at Smile FM, a Cape Town based community and commercial radio station which is the only radio station producing content positive news more than negative news.
The radio broadcasting environment is highly competitive and many of its elements are repetitive. Singh highlights that Smile FM prides itself in being different.
The station is run entirely by journalists who produce their own content, with its news programming beginning with good news and ending off with good news.
Singh explains his analysis of the psychology of news, noting that negative events are more memorable and emotionally impactful, yet what he aimed to do with news, was not to neglect bad news entirely, but use negative news to inspire positive events.
The philosophy of Smile FM is concentrated on the deliberate intention of putting smiles on the faces of Cape Townians. According to Smile FM, good news spread way faster than bad news because of its cheerful and hopeful nature.
The driving factors behind the station brand values stem from; critically questioning information received to maintain reliability and producing independently produced news. Positive wording and the tone of the delivery of news is another brand value which makes the station unique.
Singh concludes saying that this bilingual station does not share news for its unique value proposition, but to share a more positive form of journalism which not only benefits people’s well-being, but also engages societies.
Edited by Bridget Lepere