SHOCK AS SABC SHUTS DOWN ‘TUESDAY NIGHT’

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Following the closure of Wrapped magazine this week, the Tuesday Night Show – the only dedicated gay and lesbian national radio show on the continent of Africa – has gone off the air. The final show will be broadcast tonight, Tuesday 16 August, at 8pm on Radio 2000.

This comes after a revised agreement was presented by SABC Airtime Sales, on behalf of SABC’s Radio 2000, to the Tuesday Night Show management demanding a 100% increase in fees. It’s a move by the public broadcaster – mandated to be representative in its content – that seems aimed at crippling the show.

Says Maciek Mazur, the Tuesday Night Show Executive Producer, “It is unfortunate that we’ve reached a situation wherein there seems to be no purpose to pursue a relationship with the Public Broadcaster. It is impossible for us to meet its suggested contractual terms of 100% increase in fees payable to Radio 2000 and being moved to a later time slot: 22:00 – 24:00. Additionally, we are precluded from approaching any of the SABC’s clients for sponsorship or advertising”.

The Tuesday Night Show went on air in November last year in the 8 to 10pm timeslot on Radio 2000 every Tuesday night, and has since grown a following as a social companion to many gay and lesbian people around the country with its healthy mix of programme content.

According to Mazur, based on listeners’ response, the programme seems to have grown a faithful following, also among listeners outside of the major metropolitan areas around the country.

He believes that this is a temporary hurdle and intends to revive the efforts of the Show’s community service with other interested partners.

“We see this as an opportunity to look at long-term prospects with various other broadcast operators who support our call for real service to a marginalised community who have a need for its own radio programming. This is only the end of the Tuesday Night Show as we know it. Our aim is to reinvent the Show as a new offering with commercial and corporate support,” concluded Mazur.

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