YFM chronicles

I woke up with YFM on my mind today.

Strange.

Maybe I was feeling nostalgic after seeing a snippet of their studios on TV last night.

Maybe I was just sad at where the brand, YFM is at this particular point in time.

Maybe.

I remember YFM back when I had no idea what YFM was. It had this allure about it. The mysterious (to me) voice of the Joburg youth. The unofficial youth representative.

To this day, I still don't have a clue as to what the Y in YFM stands for, but for the longest time, I've always convinced myself that it can only stand for one thing and one thing only... Youth.

I used to hear/read about YFM a lot in the papers and on TV. The idea of a youth radio station fascinated me somewhat. I had never really had much interest in radio, or the 'behind-the-scenes' part of it until I heard about YFM. At the time, YFM is the reason I was convinced that sound engineering was what I wanted to do.
After seeing some career shows about radio, and the technical side of it, I was sold on the idea. Next stop was to research as much as possible about my future employer.

I remember when I first saw Y-Mag on the magazine stands at a local filling station, I didn't even think twice about buying it. And i bought it every month thereafter. A few memorable covers spring to mind — the Zola cover, with him wearing a blue & red Loxion Kulca jacket; the Lebo Mathosa cover with her red wig/weave...

First issue of Y-Mag

My favourite issues were always the bumper issues... your Dec/Jan-type issues. Because I knew for a fact that that might just keep me going till the next issue.

I bought the magazine religiously until it went off the shelves for no apparent reason. I was convinced the reason was that people in my community weren't buying the mag and had they had to stop stocking it as a result. I was pissed! Pissed because I BOUGHT IT! So I was sure everyone else had to buy it too.
I remember the day I went to get my latest issue, and couldn't find it. I was convinced that I was a bit too early. Maybe if I waited a few more days it would show up on the stands. It didn't. I couldn't understand why. I had timed the delivery date perfectly — the 27th of each month — without fail!

I was so sad.

To this day, I still don't know what ever happened to Y-Mag. But, according to Wiki, it basically imploded. Much like the radio station is today... but more about that later...

I tried finding a replacement in SL magazine. Seeing as it was from the same publishing company, but it just didn't feel the same.
Sidenote: It was through SL mag that I discovered 5FM.

Bear in mind that I had never ever ever heard even a single broadcast of this illusive YFM. All I knew about YFM was what I had read about in the magazine. I remember their 'Parental
 Advisory, Explicit Content' 2-page spread before the music review pages. This was my monthly fix on what's the latest in the music industry. Who's released an album, what was hot, what wasn't.

I remember at tertiary, spending the time in between classes browsing yworld.co.za. It was like an extension of the mag. But better somehow. Eventhough I had no idea what I was doing on the internet back then. I just enjoyed seeing who was on air at the time...

I remember seeing RudeBoy Paul & Unathi, Bad-Boy T, Shabba, Phat Joe, Chilli M... and all the rest, and just picturing what their shows sounded like.

Then Chilli went to MetroFM later on... Unathi was on Castle Live... Phat Joe got a TV spot...

Things were looking good. I could finally get a taste of what the culture was like at YFM. Ambitious people who refuse to remain one place too long.

Fast-forward to 2004. I am in Gauteng for the first time. I remember seeing a huuuuge billboard of DJ Fresh, some guy and a girl. Wearing their gowns/pyjamas with toothbrushes in the mouth an all. Guess what radio station they were advertising...? YFM!

So, naturally what's the first thing I wanna do soon as I'm settled in Pretoria? That's right, isten to YFM!

After years and years of fiddling with my radio, back home in the Free State, I was finally gonna be able to tune to 99.2Mhz and get a dose of what my soul had been yearning all these years - taste of GP youth culture. Finally!

This is back when DJ Fresh was still with Y, before moving to 5FM. He hosted a breakfast show with a guy with the same name as him - Thato. Can't even remember what their show was called (was it "Thatho & Thato in the Morning"?) No clue.

First thing I hear as I tune into Y for the first time is Fresh's contagious laughter. you could tell it was genuine, that this person is actually so free in his environment that he can't help but laugh like he's in the privacy of his own home. From that moment on, I was hooked!

I listened, religiously every morning. I used to work 5 minutes (walk) away from where I lived, but I made it a point that I listened to the show from the very beginning. From 6am up until I was almost late for work. People at work could never understand how I managed to arrive late at work while living so close.

As the years went by, I appreciated more and more how people at Y were popping up in other media fields... William Lehong (the black Chinese) was a sports reader (I dunno what they call it) on Y, he's not on eNCA. McFarlane Moleli was a news reader on Thato & Thato's show, he's now also employed by eNCA as a news reader.

The other half of the Thato & Thato franchise, Thato, is now a co-host on a MetroFM show...

Anyway, with all this nostalgia... it just saddens me that the YFM that made my GP stay, so memorable and unforgettable has become what is it today.

Where everyone and anyone who wants to be on radio can. No credentials needed. No special talents necessary.  Just be popular and you are welcome on YFM. When I hear that someone is a 'DJ' on YFM, I don't get as excited as I used to. Like when I heard DJ Sbu was causing chaos at YFM. And the good kind of chaos at that. I couldn't wait to hear the show. The jokes, the laughter, the overall ambiance of his show. The same format which basically spilled over to his CD compilations with snippets of the show as intros and outros.

Now everyone and anyone with a connection can make it on YFM. I'm not happy at all.

I'll leave this here. I could go on the whole day...

...maybe I should break this post into parts; seeing as this one is soooo long.