Power FM is a

Zimbabwean Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

state owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public owners ...

urban music radio station that broadcasts nationwide on FM. It was previously known as Radio 3 and later 3FM. The station was set up soon after the country got its independence in 1980 to cater for the urban youth. When it launched, it was broadcasting for 19 hours a day. It became a 24 hour station in the late 90s. The station was renamed to Power FM in 2004, at the time when it was broadcasting 100% Zimbabwean music, a law that was enforced by the former Zimbabwe's Information and Broadcasting minister,

Jonathan Moyo Jonathan Nathaniel Mlevu Moyo (born 12 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean politician who served in the government of Zimbabwe as Minister of Higher Education from 2015 to 2017. He was previously Minister of Information and Publicity from 2000 to 2005 ...

. Many Zimbabweans still criticise the former minister for dismantling the station and changing the format and names of all 4 national radio stations and the country's only

TV station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

at the time. The sudden change of policies, which took place in 2002 saw the departure of many of Zimbabwe's finest broadcasting talents in all ZBC's stations. Some Power FM legends like Kudzi 'Mr Cool' Marudza, Witness 'Chuman' Matema and Kennedy 'Kaycee The Gig Master' Masawi returned to the national broadcaster, but on the sister station

Classic 263 Classic 263, formerly Radio 1, and later Spot FM/SFM, is a Zimbabwean talk radio station that is owned by the country's national broadcaster. It broadcasts mainly in English, in addition to Ndebele Ndebele may refer to: *Southern Ndebele people ...

. Other legends like Kelvin Sifelani, George Munetsi, the late great Peter 'The Radio Driver' Johns and many others never returned. On May 2, 2020, history was made in Zimbabwe when the 3 national urban radio stations, Star FM,

ZiFM Stereo ZiFM Stereo is a Zimbabwean private commercial radio station that is based in the country's capital, Harare. It broadcasts throughout the country on FM. It began broadcasting on 15 August 2012. It is Zimbabwe's first free to air radio station t ...

and Power FM multicasted the tribute to the late veteran broadcaster, Peter Johns, The Radio Driver. Power FM was the home of Johns before he relocated to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, UK is 2002. It broadcasts mainly from the country's capital,

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its ...

as well as the country's second capital,

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

. It is accessible throughout the country on

Frequency Modulation Frequency modulation (FM) is the encoding of information in a carrier wave by varying the instantaneous frequency of the wave. The technology is used in telecommunications, radio broadcasting, signal processing, and Run-length limited#FM: .280. ...

, and across the world via online streaming on various platforms. It is notable for pioneering the local music genre known as Urban Grooves, which is the country's local youth orientated pop music. The station's main target audience is the urban youth, and its music library consists of a mixture of urban Zimbabwean genres and music from across the globe. Most popular music genres found in the station include

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

, old school,

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Ro ...

and most notably the local Urban Grooves and Zim Dancehall.

References

{{Reflist Radio stations in Zimbabwe