Capital Radio 604 was a radio station that broadcast to listeners in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

from transmitters located in the Transkei using Medium Wave (AM) on 603 kHz. Founded by Martin Rattle, the station started transmitting on 26 December 1979 and was shut down in 1996, as it was no longer financially viable. Capital Radio 604 had often supported the anti-apartheid liberation struggle and many highlighted the irony; that it was under the very same government that Capital and its staff had fought for in the past that the station would have had to close down. Capital Radio 604 changed radio in

forever when it introduced listeners to great uncensored music, polished presenters, uncensored news, and great jingles. Previously, the state run radio stations (no private stations were allowed) were not allowed to tell the real news or play certain songs or music from certain bands. While this station is off the air now, an archive web site
Capital Radio 604
exists that contains many photos, video, jingles, and recent interviews with ex-604 personnel. There is also a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

which allows listeners to hear re-broadcasts of old shows which originally aired in the 1980s. Capital Radio 604 was an almost carbon copy of Capital Radio 194 (1548 kHz) in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(which later split to become Capital Gold and Capital FM). Capital Radio 194 operated on Medium Wave at 194 metres (hence the name) and veteran broadcasting executive Michael Bukht, Capital Radio London's first programme controller, acted as consultant to 604. Capital Radio 604 actually operated on 603 kHz, Medium Wave, but promoted a frequency to which the jingles would rhyme. Bill Mitchell returned to re-word the deep gravelly voice drop-ins and simply said 604 instead of 194. Many presenters were chosen because they sounded like presenters that were already on Capital 194. Finally the Capital 194 logo was slightly modified by changing 194's swallow to a seagull (as a symbol of freedom) and obviously changing the number to 604. Some of the household names who presented shows on Capital included Alan Mann, Dave Simons, Steve Smith, Darren Scott, John Berks, Jim Ellery, Tony Newman, Martin Bailie, Oscar Renzi, Kevin Savage, Tony Murrell, Alan Khan, Dave Guselli, Allan Pierce, Steve Crozier, Justice Ramahlola, Steve Bishop, Lee Downs, Barry Lambert, Wolfman Jack, Richard Jones, Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu, Kenny Maistry, Jeremy Mansfield, Tony Blewitt, Brian Oxley, Treasure Tshabalala and former Magic 1548 Liverpool presenter Richard Jardine, brother of ITV1

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

Tony Jardine Anthony Thomas Jardine (born 5 March 1952) is an English rally driver, motorsport pundit and former Formula One (F1) assistant team manager. He has done broadcasting work as an F1 pit lane reporter for the BBC and as a pundit for ITV in its tele ...

. 'Independent Radio News' on 603, based in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, was the first radio news service in South Africa not controlled by government although it conformed with South African media laws. The news department boasted a team of experienced radio journalists including Will Bernard, Gary Edwards, Julian Potter as well as Paddi Clay,

Gwen Lister Gwen Lister (born 5 December 1953 in East London, South Africa) is a Namibian journalist, publisher, anti-apartheid and press freedom activist. Early life Growing up under the apartheid system, Lister resolved to fight it as an adult, and c ...

, Michael Letellier, Mike Hanna, David O'Sullivan, James Lorimer, Manu Padayachee, Zahed Cachalia,

Nigel Wrench Stephen Wrench, known professionally as Nigel Wrench, is a British radio presenter and reporter. In the 1980s, he reported extensively from South Africa, and later in London enjoyed a successful 20-year career with the BBC. Wrench is the only jo ...

and Beatrice Hollyer. It later included Reuben Goldberg, Cassandra Moodley, Jeremy Thorpe, John Maytham, Andrew Bolton and Shaun Johnson

References

{{reflist

External links

Capital Radio 604 archives
*Sunday Independent 30th anniversary article: In Defiance of Thought Contro

*http://www.newsmonitor.co.za/newsmonitor/view/newsmonitor/en/page28457?oid=1206471&sn=Article%20Detail&pid=558&highlight= *https://web.archive.org/web/20130504082920/http://wildcoastradio.com/ Defunct radio stations in South Africa Defunct organisations based in South Africa Transkei