by Thinus Ferreira
A failure in the SABC's back-up power system and a power surge knocked multiple radio stations of the South African public broadcaster off the air for over an hour on Thursday night.
Thursday night's SABC radio stations blackout occured when Eskom loadshedding kicked in in Johannesburg, after which the SABC's back-up power system failed to work properly.
Presenters, crew and listeners of several SABC radio stations were shocked and confused on Thursday night over the unexplained SABC radio broadcast blackout that led to dead air on Metro FM, 5FM, Radio 2000, SAfm, RSG and the SABC's Channel Africa radio station.
In response to a media enquiry, Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, told TVwithThinus on Friday that "The SABC can confirm that at 20:20 last night, there was a disruption of broadcast services to our Johannesburg-based radio stations, due to a surge of our back up power systems caused by load shedding".
"The services were restored at approximately 21:30. The affected radio stations included Metro FM, 5FM, Radio 2000, SAfm and RSG, as well as Channel Africa. The SABC apologises for any inconvenience this may have caused."
