First Ever CSI Conference Goes Live on 919fm

In a bold ‘new-media’ move, Joburg’s leading ‘Feel Good’ broadcaster will be hosting a live conference on Wednesday 20 November 2024 in a three-hour focus on corporates who are doing good in South Africa. The host will be seasoned media professional, former presenter on SABC, e-tv and eNCA, founder of social-tv Samm Marshall.

Station manager for 919fm Caren du Preez explains the need for a conference of this nature: “The opportunity for business to share news of their CSI programmes has dwindled over the last few years, as ‘earned media’ - airtime on radio, television and editorial features in ever-thinning newspapers – has become one of the greatest challenges for the PR industry.”

?Du Preez continues: “In most instances, you would only find information related to a company on their website or on their social media pages, and CSI has, for the longest time, been relegated to Annual Reports. The South African public is hungry for good news, and often forms their brand loyalty or purchasing decisions, based on a business or brand’s reputation, more particularly so, their appetite for giving back and to contributing to the development agenda in communities.”

Referencing a report issued by Trialogue Consulting , du Preez says that South Africa invested around R10bn on CSI in the 2022 financial year across education, entrepreneurship, sport, tech, food security, healthcare, “yet very little is known or published about these programmes, so instead of creating knowledge-sharing platforms where we can start to benchmark best practice, this information is lost”.

It is this ‘information vacuum’, says du Preez, which led to 919fm collaborating with Social TV , SA’s only CSI-focused news platform in a drive to expand the reach of these ‘good news stories’.

Collectively, both social-tv and 919fm reflect a listenership and viewership of 2.5m every week and it is with this reach in mind that the Live Radio CSI Conference has extended an invitation to corporates and PR agencies across the country to showcase the social impact investments of brands they represent.

“This partnership means that the brands and businesses who participate in the CSI Conference will have a video clip of their conversation, a headline news story on Airports TV, a podcast on our site, and their stories featured on social-tv. These feel good stories need longevity, so we’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that well beyond our three hours on air, corporates will have news assets which they are able to share with their respective audiences in bite-size chunks over a long period of time.”

Every 30 minute slot will feature a combination of a 15-min and 8-min editorial segment, with a top and tail 30” radio ad or live read. The conference will be live-streamed and edited video content will be made available on 919fm and social-tv’s websites and social media platforms. Brands also have the option of securing a co-host position with Samm Marshall for the conference.

Marshall is excited about what this new conference format means for the future of South Africa’s media landscape: “In the past, the public was fed whatever news big media houses chose to focus on. At time when viewers, listeners and readers alike are choosing what news they consume, it is really encouraging to see that people are opting more and more for independent information sources that are not solely focused on the shock factor represented by news of crime or corruption.”

?He continues: “South Africans want to feel good about the country they live, they want to feel positive about the future and they are looking for news that affirms their hope”.

With only twelve (12) spots still available, corporates and PR agencies are encouraged to reserve their participation in the country’s first-ever live radio conference on 919fm by Friday 8 November 2024. For bookings or enquiries, please contact [email protected]

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Date???????????????? 28 October 2024

Issued by ???????Thando Pato

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On behalf of ??Caren du Preez – Station Manager 919fm

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