Story by Patience Nyagato
ZIMBABWE Broadcasting Corporation’s Classic 263 Radio held its sixth anniversary celebrations in Harare Friday night.
It was a moment of reflection, retrospection and celebration for producers, presenters and listeners as the station marked six years of broadcasting.
“At Classic 263, we have managed to make sure that our programming is in line not only with those in Zimbabwe, but also those that are out of Zimbabwe in the diaspora. We have introduced a number of programmes that we have actually catered for those who are out of the country.
“We also introduced the Classical Six World Business Club, where we are also encouraging our listeners to come with their views and tell us what they intend to listen to and perhaps appreciate what we are doing for the station. As a whole, we are also thankful to all our presenters and our producers and of course our listeners.
“We are thankful to our listeners throughout the country and those beyond for the assistance they have been giving us in as far as our programming is concerned,” said Classic 263 station manager, Mr Terrence Mapurisana.
Director for Radio Services, Mr Albert Chekayi says Classic 263 has recorded several milestones since its inception.
“Classic 263 was launched on the 21st of June, in 2018. We were rebranding from the then SFM, which had come from Spot FM and formerly Radio One and then because of the competition in the radio landscape, as you can see, it’s highly competitive and when we talk of competition about 18 radio stations competing. So the first decision we made was to rebrand and now there is Classic 263.
“Over the six year period it has been a period of competition a period of soul searching and where we are today, we are proud to say we managed to hold our own in the news in the radio. We have made changes, some decisions to say we have to increase our listenership here by increasing the band.
“In the past, Classic 263 the then radio one was like for the old people but we have extended that band to include those people who are mature.”
Listeners say Classic 263 is a station of choice for the mature at heart.
“This is my favourite channel. In fact it’s the only channel i listen to. It brings us back in time, and it’s chilled.
“Classic 263 is perfect for my liking. I like mature music and this is the perfect channel for me.”
Classic 263 formerly SFM, is known for its educative and informative talk radio programming.
