here . for other uses see sabc disambiguation . south african broadcasting corporation type terrestrial television and radio broadcast network country south africa availability south africa botswana lesotho mozambique namibia zimbabwe swaziland founded 1936 by the government of south africa slogan this is your sabc . vuka sizwe nation arise broadcast area south africa owner government of south africa key people ben ngubane 1 chairman solly mokoetle 1 ceo launch date 1936 radio 1976 television digital channel 576p television sabc 1 television sabc 2 television sabc 3 official website www.sabc.co.za sabc headquarters in uitsaaisentrum johannesburg sabc offices in sea point cape town . the south african broadcasting corporation sabc is the state broadcaster in south africa and provides 19 radio stations am fm as well as 4 television broadcasts to the general public . 2 it was also known officially in afrikaans as suid afrikaanse uitsaaikorporasie sauk but this term is now only used by the sabc when referring to the corporation in the spoken word on sabc2 s afrikaans tv news and on the afrikaans radio station radio sonder grense . 3 however the afrikaans newscasts on sabc2 use sabc nuus instead of sauk nuus . 4 the term is still used by other afrikaans language media . 5 opposition politicians and civil society have often levelled criticism at the sabc accusing it of being mouthpiece for the ruling african national congress ; during apartheid it was accused of playing the same role for the previous national party government . 6 contents 1 company history 1.1 early years 1.2 recent history 2 radio 2.1 establishment 2.2 springbok radio 2.3 sabc news service 2.4 sabc symphony orchestra 2.5 regional radio 2.6 popular music 2.7 1996 restructuring 2.8 programming policy 2.9 station list 3 television 3.1 early history 1975 1995 3.2 competition and restructuring 3.3 new services 4 reception outside south africa 4.1 botswana lesotho and swaziland 4.2 namibia 5 international services 6 criticisms 6.1 accusations of pro anc bias 6.2 accusations of censorship 7 see also 8 references 9 external links company history edit early years edit radio broadcasting began in south africa in 1923 under the auspices of south african railways before three radio services were licensed the association of scientific and technical societies as & ts in johannesburg the cape peninsular publicity association in cape town and the durban corporation which began broadcasting in 1924 . 7 these were then merged into the african broadcasting company in 1927 owned by i w schlesinger a wealthy businessman but in 1936 these were sold to the sabc established that year through an act of parliament . 8 the sabc took over the african broadcasting company s staff and assets . it maintained a state monopoly on radio until the launch of radio 702 in 1980 . 9 although the subscription funded television service m net was launched in 1986 the sabc had a monopoly on fre to air television until the launch of e.tv in 1998 . during national party rule from 1948 onwards it came under increasing criticism and accusations of being biased towards the then ruling party . at one time most of its senior management were members of the broederbond the afrikaner secret society and later drawn from institutions like stellenbosch university . the sabc was a radio service until the introduction of television in 1976 . there were three main sabc radio stations the english service later known as radio south africa the afrikaans service later known as radio suid afrika and afrikaans stereo and the commercial station springbok radio . 10 programmes on the english and afrikaans services mainly consisted of the news radio plays such as the forsyte saga story of an african farm the summons written and produced in south africa serious talk shows bbc radio shows children s programming such as sound box light music broadcasts featuring south african talent such as orchestras arrangers musicians and singers . accomplished musicians such as pianist and composer charles segal were featured on all three stations on a regular basis in shows like piano playtime . accordionist nico carstens was a regular on the afrikaans programmes . 11 recent history edit on 4 february 1996 two years after the anc came to power the sabc reorganised its three tv channels so as to be more representative of different language groups . 12 this resulted in the downgrading of afrikaans status by reducing its airtime from 50 % to 15 % a move that alienated many afrikaans speakers . 13 the sabc has since been accused of favouring the ruling anc political party mostly in the area of news broadcasting . it remains the dominant player in the country s broadcast media . criticism of the public broadcaster intensified around 2003 2005 when it was accused of a wide range of shortcomings including self censorship lack of objectivity and selective news coverage . radio edit establishment edit following its establishment in 1936 the sabc established services in what were then the country s official languages english and afrikaans with the afrikaans service being established in 1937 . 14 broadcasts in languages such as zulu xhosa sesotho and tswana followed in 1940 . 9 springbok radio edit springbok radio the sabc s first commercial radio service started broadcasting on 1 may 1950 . 15 bilingual in english and afrikaans it broadcast from the johannesburg centre for 113 and a half hours a week . 16 the service proved to be so popular with advertisers that at the time of its launch commercial time had been booked well in advance . 8 the station featured a wide variety of programming such as morning talk and news game shows soap operas like basis bravo 15 children s programming music request programmes top ten music talent shows and other musical entertainment . one popular saturday noontime comedy show was telefun time whose hosts would phone various people and conjure up situation comedy a similar brand of humour to the films of leon schuster . 17 by 1985 springbok radio was operating at a heavy loss . 18 after losing many listeners with the handing over of its shortwave frequencies to radio 5 and facing competition from television it ceased broadcasting on 31 december 1985 . 19 sabc news service edit the news service was established in june 1950 replacing the programmes of the bbc . 20 although this was because the bbc broadcasts were seen as giving a british viewpoint of current affairs there were also concerns that the sabc service would become overly pro government or our master s voice . 21 by 1968 it had over 100 full time reporters in the main cities and local correspondents all over the country with overseas news provided by reuters afp ap and upi . 22 there was a news film unit which prior to television in 1976 produced films for news agencies and television organisations . 23 sabc symphony orchestra edit the sabc symphony orchestra has its origins in its three studio ensembles in johannesburg durban and cape town and the municipal orchestra of the johannesburg city council . when the sabc centralised its broadcasting in johannesburg the future of the three ensembles were in doubt but at the same time the municipal orchestra of the johannesburg city council had been disbanded . 24 the sabc was able to form an orchestra of 80 musicians from these groupings in 1954 and while its main base was at the johannesburg city hall it would tour the country . 25 the orchestra would be lead for many years by the sabc s head of music anton hartman but had other conductors such as franceco mander and edgar cree . 26 there were also international composers such as igor stravinsky . 27 the sabc junior orchestra was also created and began in february 1966 under walter mony . 28 regional radio edit regional fm music stations were started in the 1960s . popular music edit following the establishment of a republic and withdrawal from the commonwealth of nations in 1961 the afrikaners goal was to promote their culture and so at first the sabc s choice of popular music reflected the national party government s initial conservatism especially on the afrikaans channel with musicians such as nico carstens . however carstens was also ostracised by the sabc as his music was influenced by the coloured and malay communities of cape town . 29 eventually musicians broke through the barrier when the young english speaking jewish musician and composer charles segal collaborated with the older afrikaans lyric writer anton dewaal to write songs . 30 segal s songs like die ou kalahari became highly popular with the afrikaans speaking public . 31 however there was tight censorship over all broadcasts particularly of pop music with for example the music of the beatles being banned by the sabc between 1966 and march 1971 . 32 in 1966 the sabc established an external service known as radio rsa which broadcast in english swahili french portuguese dutch and german . in 1969 the sabc held a national contest to find theme music for radio rsa . this contest was won by the popular south african pianist and composer charles segal and co writer dorothy arenson . their composition carousel remained the theme song for radio rsa right through to the 1990s . radio rsa is now known as channel africa . 1996 restructuring edit in 1996 the sabc carried out a significant restructuring of their services . the main english language radio service became safm . the new service after some initial faltering soon developed a respectable listenership and was regarded as a flagship for the new democracy . however government interference in the state broadcaster in 2003 saw further changes to safm which reversed the growth and put it in rapid decline once more . citation needed today it attracts only 0.6 % of the total population to its broadcasts . the main afrikaans radio service was renamed radio sonder grense literally radio without borders in 1995 and has enjoyed greater success with the transition . by contrast sabc radio s competitors like primedia owned radio 702 cape talk and 94.7 highveld stereo have grown steadily in audience and revenue while other stations such as the black owned and focused yfm and kaya fm have also attracted black audiences . programming policy edit as of 12 may 2016 the sabc has implemented a policy to promote local content 90 % of all music played on the broadcaster s 18 radio stations will be sourced from local artists with a focus on kwaito jazz reggae and gospel genres . 33 station list edit station language website webcast safm english www.safm.co.za 1 5fm english www.5fm.co.za 2 good hope fm english afrikaans www.goodhopefm.co.za 3 metro fm english www.metrofm.co.za 4 rsg afrikaans www.rsg.co.za 5 radio 2000 english www.radio2000.co.za 6 ukhozi fm zulu www.ukhozifm.co.za 7 umhlobo wenene fm xhosa www.uwfm.co.za 8 thobela fm pedi www.thobelafm.co.za 9 lesedi fm sotho www.lesedifm.co.za 10 motsweding fm tswana www.motswedingfm.co.za 11 phalaphala fm venda www.phalaphalafm.co.za 12 munghana lonene fm tsonga www.munghanalonenefm.co.za 13 ligwalagwala fm swazi www.ligwalagwalafm.co.za 14 ikwekwezi fm ndebele www.ikwekwezifm.co.za 15 lotus fm english for the indian community www.lotusfm.co.za 16 x k fm xu khwe 17 tru fm formerly cki fm english xhosa www.trufm.co.za 18 television edit early history 1975 1995 edit sabc logo used from 1976 to 1996 . in 1975 after years of controversy over the introduction of television the sabc was finally allowed to introduce a colour tv service which began experimental broadcasts in the main cities on 5 may 1975 before the service went nationwide on 6 january 1976 . initially the tv service was funded entirely through a licence fee as in the uk but advertising began in 1978 . the sabc both television and radio is still partly funded by the licence fee currently r250 per annum . the service initially broadcast only in english and afrikaans with an