Media News South Africa

Kevin Savage for OFM

Central South African radio station OFM has signed broadcasting legend Kevin Savage to host the weekend mid-morning slot 9am – 1pm, as well as Lindsay Batteson to co-host the youth show with Divan de le Guerre, weeknights, 9pm until midnight. Savage and Batteson join the station on 1 May 2007.
Kevin Savage
Kevin Savage

In announcing the appointment of Savage, OFM MD Lyndon Johnstone saays Savage brings a wealth of experience to a growing radio station.

“Kevin will play a vital role in identifying, training and nurturing young radio talent in central South Africa. We’re delighted to bring him on board at a time in OFM’s history when it is experiencing unprecedented growth,” comments Johnstone.

Homecoming

Savage described his move to OFM as a sort of homecoming. “When Capitol Radio started in 1979, it could only be heard in Bloemfontein and Welkom. I’m looking forward to the challenge of joining a dynamic team at OFM,” says Savage.

Savage has an enviable broadcasting pedigree that dates back 30 years. Having worked in his hometown of London and then Canada in the ‘70s, he arrived on SA shores in 1979.

Since then he has been a constant voice on stations like Capital 604 and 702. He is perhaps best known for his slot on 5FM where he presented the lunchtime show for a decade. He established the “Music Power Half Hour” request show in that time, a feature which still exists in a different guise.

In the late ‘90s he served as Programme Director at KFM in Cape Town. In recent years he has worked exclusively as a voiceover artist. There is a great demand for his voice on radio and television and he currently contributes to the entertainment magazine show “Top Billing”.

New youth show co-host

Programming manager Shana Kilbee believes that Lindsay’s sense of fun will appeal to OFM’s younger listeners across the region.

“Lindsay is poised, outspoken and interesting and we believe she will be someone our youth market can really identify with.”

Born in Johannesburg 24 years ago, Batteson was raised in Welkom. She furthered her passions of debating and drama while at school and then studied language practice at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein. She became a communications lecturer there in 2004, a position she still holds.

She is currently undertaking an M-Tech degree and lists music, film and popular culture as some of her main interests. Batteson hopes “to bring a fresh contemporary vibe to the show and create relevant content that young adults can relate to”.

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