Student Radio in South Africa

I just heard about a student radio endeavor in South Africa, which attempts to pull content from a number of college radio stations in order to lure web visitors into the "student lifestyle." Student Radio Network is a commercial venture that provides streams from a number of student stations in South Africa, along with other youth-oriented offerings like games and music news. According to an article in BizCommunity.com, 14 different stations "...can be streamed live from the website, providing regional South African campus radio stations exposure to national and international listeners, as well as potential advertisers."

Here's a blurb from the Student Radio site:

"Student Radio is more than just the birthplace of radio stars, this is where people have discovered the core of the real life, that is where to have the best party...

Now studentradio.co.za brings you more.... where to find everything you need to live the student life, from parties, to music and everything in between. Yesterday Student Radio was about sounding like amateurs on air and only to the cafeteria, today it’s about being better than the big stations and keeping in touch with your lifestyle!"

The marketing copy couldn't be cheesier, and indeed, the stations that I listened to had a very slick top 40 feel to them with iconic commercial radio-style station IDs. From the charts and station descriptions listed on the site, it's clear that many of the stations are playing popular music (I tuned in to one station playing Britney Spears), so I'd be interested to hear if any of them have a more independent music focus. Also, there's some ad support for the network, with streaming sponsored by an Internet casino when I listened. Regardless, kind of fun to take a listen to college radio from another country.