Jacaranda FM is named after the
Jacaranda tree, a prominent tree in Pretoria and Johannesburg. The station started broadcasting at midnight on 1 January 1986 during a special outside broadcast from a New Year's Eve ball in the Pretoria City Hall. Radio Jakaranda/Radio Jacaranda was established as a result of the restructuring of the
South African Broadcasting Corporation's regional radio portfolio following their decision to discontinue the popular
Springbok Radio on 31 December 1985. The original three regional services,
Radio Good Hope,
Radio Port Natal and
Radio Highveld were expanded with three new services - Radio Jacaranda,
Radio Oranje and
Radio Algoa. Jacaranda's transmitting signal was upgraded to stereo in 1990 - coupled with a name change to Jakaranda Stereo/Jacaranda Stereo. In 1994, the name was changed again to Jacaranda 94-97. The original location was Studio RS9 at SABC Northern Transvaal Broadcasting Services in Weavind Park, Pretoria until a move to a highly visible location next to the N1 Ben Schoeman Freeway on Samrand Avenue, Centurion, when the station was privatised in 1997 - and renamed "Jacaranda 94.2 - More Music, More Stars/Meer Musiek, Meer Sterre". In 1999, the payoff line changed to "Your Soothing Companion/Jou Streler Speler", and currently is "More Music You Love". Prominent past presenters of this radio station include: Maurice Carpede, Fanus Rautenbach, Willem Engelbrecht, Ben Theunissen, Helen Naudé, Theo Conradie, Tom Henderson, Alida Theron, Anelle Schotkamp-Hugo, Pierre Schnehage, Anton Schmidt, Derrich Gardner, Morné Zeelie, Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp, Kieno Kammies, Duncan Pollock, Clayton Robbertze, Darren Scott and Martin Bester. Jacaranda FM is part of
Kagiso Media, South Africa's biggest black-owned media company. Jacaranda FM is the group's top performer and is currently South Africa's number 1 independent radio station by weekly audience figures (2,089,000 weekly listeners - RAMS June 2014) Radio legend
Alan Khan and media expert Mile Siluma were both former CEO's of Jacaranda FM. ==Location==