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We’ve all heard the saying, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Taking this to heart is RX Radio by giving a voice to those who are the most vulnerable and voiceless in our society – children.
This year celebrates its fifth anniversary, the radio station officially went on air for the first time on Saturday 20 May 2017.
Based at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, it is one of the first radio stations in the world to have child and young reporters broadcasting from within a hospital.
RX Radio broadcasts around the clock, both live and pre-recorded programmes, including shows, music, podcasts and radio diaries.
The station transmits audio and images through the hospital’s internal television system to all wards and public spaces in the hospital.
It also live streams the same content on its website and app.
But Noluyolo Ngomani, RX Radio station manager, says they are so much more than just a radio station.
“We are also an advocacy unit, advocating for children’s rights, advocating for health promotion, health education and just to make sure that children’s voices are heard broadly.”
She says the radio station’s main purpose is to create a platform for communication between hospitalised children, their parents and the health care workers.
“Just to provide them a space to talk about issues that are important to them – especially children with chronic conditions. They are seldom given an opportunity to just talk about anything, let alone about their health, about their fears, their concerns.”
Ngomani says the station gives them the opportunity to be part of the conversation, to talk about advocacy work, children’s rights, and service delivery that is rendered to them in the hospital.
She says they also wanted to contribute to the children’s healing process in the hospital.
“To create a space where they can be motivated, a platform where they can be empowered as children, and for future purposes, to contribute to their development. Most of our reporters now have decided to pave their career paths and become journalists.”
One of these is Emily Olivier.
The 14-year-old, who lives in Ottery, has been a reporter at RX Radio for the past four years. She explains she doesn’t attend the hospital, but often accompanies her twin sister, Hannah, to the hospital for appointments. At present she hosts a show called “Let’s talk about it with Emily”.
She says before she started at RX Radio, she didn’t know how much she would like being in front of mic and the cameras.
“But now I love it and I would definitely like to do this as a job one day,” Emily says.
Radley Theunissen, 13, from Kenilworth has been a reporter for the past six months. Diagnosed with a stage-3 brain tumour in 2018, he says he saw the other reporters in action during a visit and was interested.
Describing himself as an introvert, he says his first interview was nerve wracking, although he cites it as his favourite.
“It was with my brother Leighton, 24, and my mom, Tania,” Radley pointed out.
“I asked them about such things as what it like to be at the hospital with me. I always wanted to ask such questions, but never really had the time to have that kind of talk with them.”
Yaseen Blankenberg (12) from Hanover Park has been involved with the radio station since last September.
His favourite interview was also the one he had with his mom, Feroza, “because my mom means everything to me, and I love her.”
Yaseen, who also wants to be a radio reporter when he grows up, says the experience has helped him to speak about his feelings.
“I was shy to speak about my feelings, but now I have built it up so I can say how I feel and what I like and don’t like. My mommy would always ask me, ‘Are you okay, are you okay?’ and I would just say yes, even though I wasn’t okay.”
Imaad Gopaul (10) from Pelican Park is an old hand at radio reporting. He joined the RX Radio team when he was just four.
Imaad says he was born upside down.
“I have a heart problem, so they had to operate on me because my hands were blue. They had to operate on me three times – once this year.”
Today Imaad does the weather, traffic and sports reports. He says his experience as a reporter has given him so many stories to share with his classmates.
“At school, when it is story time, I can say I met the President (Cyril Ramaphosa) in 2019. When hearing such stories everyone in my class will be shocked.”
RX Radio has put a call out to funders, philanthropists and the community in general to support the station by donating.
“Children’s voices are still something that is rarely supported, but are needed in each and every conversation,” says Ngomani.
For more information on the radio station, visit www.rxradio.co.za
