South Africa Radio Live — Free Online Stations

South African radio has served two opposite causes. For decades it was one of the most powerful tools of apartheid, broadcasting separate stations for separate groups. At the same time, a liberation movement broadcast from exile to keep hope alive. After 1994 the dial was rebuilt almost from scratch. That history explains the diversity you find when you search for South African radio live or want to listen to South African radio online.

18 December 1923: a voice from the railway headquarters

Radio in South Africa began with an experimental broadcast from the South African Railways headquarters in Johannesburg on 18 December 1923, featuring a woman's voice. Regular stations opened in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in 1924, run by local associations, and in 1927 they were brought together under a private company, the African Broadcasting Company.

1936: the SABC and the Springbok era

On 1 August 1936 the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, was created by an Act of Parliament and took over the company's staff and assets. It broadcast in English and Afrikaans, and on 1 May 1950 launched Springbok Radio, a bilingual commercial service that became a national favourite, with soap operas, quiz shows and comedies. Springbok Radio closed on 31 December 1985, by then losing listeners to television.

Radio under apartheid

As apartheid deepened, the SABC built separate radio services in African languages, which later grew into stations such as Ukhozi FM in Zulu and Umhlobo Wenene in Xhosa. These stations were designed to support the policy of separate development, but they also preserved languages, music and storytelling, and they built enormous audiences. In 1966 the SABC launched Radio RSA, an external service in several languages.

Radio Freedom: the voice from exile

Against this, the African National Congress ran Radio Freedom, broadcasting into South Africa from neighbouring countries. Listening was dangerous, and people tuned in quietly at night to hear news of the struggle and speeches from leaders in exile. Radio Freedom is often described as one of the oldest liberation stations in Africa.

The homeland loophole

The SABC held a monopoly inside South Africa until the end of the 1970s. Then two commercial stations used the so-called independent homelands as a loophole: Capital Radio 604 broadcast from Transkei from December 1979, and Radio 702, registered in Bophuthatswana, began in 1980. Radio 702 moved to a talk format in 1988 and became one of the few places where political debate could be heard more freely.

1994: a new dial for a new democracy

Broadcasting was the first sector reformed in the transition to democracy. The Independent Broadcasting Authority was created by law in 1993, the SABC was restructured to serve all South Africans, and licences were opened to private and community stations. Community radio began in 1994 and has grown to hundreds of stations, broadcasting in local languages on local issues.

Eleven languages, one country

Today the SABC runs stations in all of South Africa's official languages, and Ukhozi FM is among the most listened-to radio stations on the continent. Commercial stations such as 94.7, Kaya FM and YFM serve urban audiences, Radio 702 and CapeTalk lead in talk, and the country is a leading producer of kwaito, amapiano and gospel. Below you can play the South African radio stations online we index, free in your browser.