DJ's in the Jungle

                                                              DJ's in the Jungle

Advertising in the press had gone on for months – the British Radio Station, Capital 604, was going to open a station in Port St Johns, and broadcast from there, 24 hours a day. It would reach Durban, East London, Johannesburg, and all the latest music would be played by top notch DJ’s from England and the United States. In 1976, Radio 5 (previously L M Radio), was regarded as mod, but they only broadcast in the major centers. Capital 604 would show the SABC what broadcasting was about.

The mansion known as the Port Captain’s house on the hill overlooking Port St Johns, was turned into a radio station, the windows were all double glazed, so that the rooms could become studios. Broadcasting equipment was brought in, technical staff were hired, and Port St Johns was set a buzz, the town’s population doubling over night.

The DJ’s, mostly fresh from the UK, moved to PSJ. All were a bit shell shocked. Here they were in the middle of what looked like a tropical jungle, with nothing but dirt roads (that were impassable when it rained), no shops, no nothing! But professionals that they were, they started broadcasting to the outside world.

Most of them were housed at Ferry Point, the cluster of houses on the Eastern side of the river mouth that had once been a holiday resort. The bridge had been washed away in a previous flood, and to get to the other side, you had to use the Pont.

On occasion, the Pont’s driver would decide that he’d had enough of work, and would knock off early, leaving DJ’s stranded on either side of the river. One night, or rather morning, one of the DJ’s, after many a tequila, found himself on the opposite side of the river to what the ferry and ferry man were. No problem to him, he decided to swim across and teach the driver a lesson. So he jumped in the river. The ‘river’ is not just any river. This is the mighty Umzimvubu, which has its headwaters in the Drakensberg mountains, and has the largest catchments area in South Africa. To boot, it was summer, and the river runs strong in the rainy season. And it was dirty, attracting in the odd shark to swim up river. But being tequila’d to the hilt, the DJ wasn’t fazed, and swam across the river. He clambered onto the Pont, where the driver was fast asleep. He was rudely awaken by a drunken, naked, screaming apparition, who got him to start the ferry and fetch the rest of the stranded people.

Not much has changed since Sidney Turner, in a letter in 1885 wrote: ‘Port St Johns appears to be becoming a receptacle for the outer fringes of South African society’. Many interesting characters have come to PSJ, because they were after  the mind enhancing substances that were rumoured to be freely available. As in most towns, most things are available, but some of the new imports went to new highs and started new trends. Should you be invited to lunch with one of the more colourful employees, chances were that you would be served the three course meal of the day, while he would have uppers for starters, in-betweeners  for the main course, and then the meal would be rounded off with downers.

Capital Radio 604 sounded exactly like their counterparts in the UK and Kenya. The same British accents, the same type of adverts, the same jingles, the same music. Traveling to either the UK or Kenya, and being unaware that this was a ‘chain’ radio station, on hearing it, one was very often temporarily confused, thinking one was back in South Africa.

Capital 604 was the radio station to listen to. Capital Radio clothing with its colours of white and different blues with ‘604’ emblazoned across it was ‘must have’ items in any teenager’s wardrobe, so we all wore sweat shirts, t-shirts and caps with the logo, and were very hip.

Of course, things were rumoured to be not as straight as they appeared. It was said that because they broadcast from a country that wasn’t internationally recognized, Transkei, they ‘avoided’ all royalty fees, and just raked in the advertising fees. Today, stories abound of plans to assassinate the top brass; colourful, elaborate stories that sound like a mixture of James Bond and James Hadley Chase stories – are they true? I like to think that they are more a product of over active suburban minds trapped in a town that had little to offer in the way of entertainment, and lots to offer in the way booze.

But sadly, Capital Radio 604 did cease to exist, and today it’s just a memory of great music, interesting characters and yet another marvelous chapter in Port St John’s history.

For those wanting to take a giggle down memory lane, Face Book has a group dedicated to those years in Port St Johns.