Springbok Radio

In response to Hospitaal Tyd Ari Dembo submitted the following:

Here are a few memories of mine from old Springers!! what is really amazing is that you remember the jingle for Hospitaal Tyd too!

Obvously growing up in South Africa the only thing that we really had for entertainment was radio and as kids we loved listening to every minute of Springbok Radio, starting out with kids programmes way-back-when in the late 60's. Now I'm going to date myself...

The Casey Kids and Kooby The Bear and, as we got older and were alowed to stay up later, No Place To Hide, Squad Cars on friday night, 21 with Paddy O'Byrne, Venture with Kim Shippy and Neville Dawson, Pick-a-Box with (in my day) Bob Courtney.

That was the start, how we used to listen to everything we could during the day: The Eyes Of Laura Mars, Crystal, The Sunburnt Crop, Jalna, Women's Forum with Nan Fletcher. What about Pet's Parade and Hospitaal Tyd and Hospital Time both with Leslie Green. I even remember this..."Daar's a lied en 'n glimlag vir you, in hospitaaltyd onthou..." that was the theme song.

Of course I remember the Pip Freedman Show with all his characters: Johnny Peters etc. etc. Oh yes, and don't forget that during xmas they had the Springbok Radio Christmas Fund with Clark ("Clackie") McKay and Dana Niehaus doing their Morning Show and Mervyn John doing the Afternoon Requests up to the Afrikaans programing. Then I think it was So Maak Mens with Esme Everard and Jan Cronje, and the Afrikaans serials.

As we go into the Evening lineup, Gruesome Gresh (David Gresham) of course, World At 7 PM sponsored by Peter Stuyvesant, "your passport to smoking pleasure"!! The 7:15 pm slot, No Place To Hide, The Avengers, The Mind Of Tracy Dark and then all the other programes that I loved: Taxi! with George Corelyn (as Chuck) and Tony Jay (as Red Kowalsky)! Remember "True Romance In Pictures" and "Moitle" (Myrtle)? Who was the radio anouncer on the cab radio??

The Men From The Ministry: "hello, Pitkin here"!, Number One, Number Two, and Harivivice Punilal V. Makagee (what does the V stand for?). I actully won a talent contest when I was about 10 on Muizenberg beach imitating all the characters from The Men From The Ministry!

Do you remember these other programmes: Two's Company, Freinds & Neighbours, High Adventure, The World Of Hammond Innes, Ten o'Clock Tales, Consider Your Verdict, Inspector Carr Investigates with Hugh Rouse...and so many more?

I do have somewhere on record, Telefun Time with John Berks and Bill Prince, which I will try and resurect and distribute to all of you. Other programes I remember include Jet Jungle, Test The Team, Eustus Glean's Antique Shop, Big Band Show (with Peter Lotus), The Navy Lark, My Name's Adam Caine, Andre's Choice.

Obviously with all this new exposure some of it is coming back!

Rick Sutherland then added the following:

I think his name was Rumphasud Haribai Spoonilal V. Makaji. Obviously the spelling is wrong, but, I've never forgotten the name. The Men From The Ministry was one of my favourites.

I used to listen to Shep, a Sheepdog at 4:15 every afternoon after school. Of course, this was in the mid-sixties. Apart from that, General Motors: On Safari was a favourite of mine. I really missed that show after it ended, and still do. Strangly enough, I also remember the Hospitaal Tyd jingle, and I'm a dyed-in-the-wool "Soutpiel". The Forces Favoutrites tune "The Longest Day" as well.

Does anyone else remember Call Back the Past or Time to Travel? My Name's Adam Kain (in a strong Michael Cain) accent was also a favourite. Brought a smile to my face reading this mail, to remember that as did mention of Red Kowalsky! Was it all so long ago already?

An all time favourite of mine, as a kid of course, was No Mrs Maddux! It was about a woman trying to get a drivers license. Every program ended with the driving instructor screaming "No Mrs Maddux" followed by a huge car crash. Man, I loved that show. Also, Chicken Man (he's everywhere, he's everywhere). I had a friend who was putting on a little weight at the time. We used to call him Elephant Man. A sign of respect you understand.

Anyway, it looks like, unless we find a way to mass advertise in SA, we won't find anyone with old tapes. I'm writing to anybody I can find from newspaper and/or radio in SA. If you guys do the same, we might be able to generate some tapes.

FOOTNOTE, February 9, 2002
An excellent new website dedicated to Springbok Radio was launched today! Not only does it cover the history of the station, but it also has a great download section with many sound bites, including a number of the programmes mentioned above!

FOOTNOTE, April 27, 2002
The good news continues! Another outstanding Springbok Radio site was launched today. Richard Sutherland is kindly making a lot of his program material available for download. This site contains FULL EPISODES and not just sound bites - go there!