Radio Pulpit awaits verdict

According to a press statement from Radio Pulpit, the SABC team presented a comprehensive argument against Radio Pulpit's so-called “national” licence. The SABC argued that the radio station must be treated the same as all other community stations and thus only be given a community broadcasting license. This would mean that Radio Pulpit will be limited to a certain geographical area.

Radio Pulpit's legal team argued that Radio Pulpit is not an ordinary community station and has built up an audience of hundreds of thousands of listeners over 27 years of broadcasting. It was also emphasised that the station does not have a national broadcasting licence in mind but only a licence that will provide for a similar footprint than Radio 2000, the station from where Radio Pulpit bought airtime and broadcasted for 18 years. The team further emphasised that a significant audience has developed in all nine provinces of South Africa and thousands of these listeners cannot hear the station at the moment.

Concerning the legal position, the Radio Pulpit legal team argued that the station represents a countrywide community of interest of Christians. Furthermore, the station has a unique history and is the only radio station that did not receive a licence in 1995 in the bridging period. An argument was also made with regard to the licencing authority's discretionary power that it may use in exceptional cases.

The hearing, which lasted seven hours, took place on Thursday, 20 September 2007.