Munghana Lonene FM is an
SABC (South African Broadcasting Cooperation) radio station broadcasting in
Tsonga language in
South Africa. In Tsonga, "Munghana Lonene" means "a true friend." Munghana Lonene FM is geared to listeners who understand Xitsonga. Munghana Lonene FM is branded as an "infotainment" radio station with a 50% split of music and talk. It offers an environment interactive with its listeners, providing a mixture of news, music, current affairs, talk shows, education, sport, weather and traffic. The music repertoire consists of
Jazz,
R&B,
Kwaito,
House,
Gospel music and
African music.
Munghana Lonene FM's broadcast areas includes
Gauteng,
Limpopo, eastern
Mpumalanga and Mozambique.
History
On 1 February 1965, initial programmes in the
Tsonga language were broadcast for listeners in the then Northern
Transvaal, from the
Johannesburg studios of the
South African Broadcasting Corporation, at that time situated in Broadcast House, Commissioner Street. This service later became known as Radio Tsonga. On 1 February 1984 Radio Tsonga was also broadcast on
medium wave from
Pietersburg (now Polokwane). On 1 May of the same year, coverage was extended to listeners in
Soweto via a low power
FM transmitter atop the SABC building at
Auckland Park.
Amongst those who managed the station is former presenter and
Radio 2000 manager, James Shikwamabane[1] after Tsakani Baloyi left the station in 2011. Former sports presenter James Swikwambane has won more National and International Awards; he was the station manager from May 2012 to September 2016.
From 1 December 2016, Lawrence Ubisi was the station manager till March 2021. Vongani Nkanyane is the station’s marketing manager. On 1 September 2018 the station announced
Tebogo Jacko Magubane as its new Programmes Manager.
Tebogo Jacko Magubane, Rose Tshabalala and Ruth Maphophe are the station’s current Top Management, managing the station with Rudzani Mashamba who is the Marketing Manager for the Limpopo Combo consisting of Munghana Lonene FM,
Phalaphala FM and
Thobela FM.
As of 4 February 2020,
OVHD is adding SABC Radio stations on its audio banquet and Munghana Lonene FM is now part of the stations on the banquet on Channel 622.