John Robbie

- 1980
Thirty years ago I was a  young rugby player tour ing South Africa with the  British Lions. A trip that  led to me moving to  South Africa.

- 2010
In 1994 Joe Slovo said  “The real struggle starts  now”, and it was and is  true. For me, 702 is more  relevant now than ever  before as we are part of  the struggle to ensure  service delivery to all  South Africans.   
Redi Direko

- 1980
I was two years old!  Sorry – no pics!

- 2010
I cannot imagine our  democracy without 702.   It has provided a plat form for South Africans  to get to know each other  and walk in each other’s  shoes.

We have not only  learnt how similar we are  as different South Afric ans but we’ve also em braced our differences. 

The opportunity to  have our voices heard as  citizens has put pressure  on policy makers to  listen and account.  Any  democracy needs this  platform.   
Chris Gibbons (be low)

- 1980
I joined the station in  May 1980 as chief  sub-editor News &  Sport, but on my first  day at work, the sports  editor himself didn’t  show up – so they made  me sports editor instead.  We spent our mornings  in May and June of that  year – prior to the launch  – rehearsing, checking  systems, wire feeds, and  studios.
Then at lunchtime,  we’d all head off to the  pub for a very extended  “news conference”.

- 2010
Back then, there was  only the news editor, the  sports editor and a sec retary who doubled-up  as a reporter. Don’t for get that it was a music  station – “The Rainbow  of Sound” – so there was  much less call for news  and information.
Contrast that with  today’s news- intensive  format and look at the  resources in the current  Joburg and Cape Town  newsrooms. I don’t  think anyone goes off to  the pub at lunchtime  anymore either!
Jenny Crwys-Willi ams (above right)

- 1980
Thirty years ago I was  working in Fleet Street,  London, when it was still  the home of major Brit ish newspapers.

I lived in Battersea and  getting to work in the old  SAAN offices in The  Daily Telegraph building  in Fleet Street took me  over Blackfriars Bridge  and then left past the old  Reuters Building, the  Daily Express and then  The Daily Telegraph.

I nearly fainted with  pleasure every time I  went in through the  doors because of the his tory that had spilled out  of the old building, and  just the romance of  newspapers which  seemed to disappear  over- night when we  changed from hot lead  and typewriters to com puters.

When I joined 702 in  the early Nineties, com ing out of newspapers as  I did, the daily and  weekly deadlines flew  out of the windows  when the deadlines were  minute by minute and  there was no room for  error.

It was the most excit ing place in the world in  which to work in those  years immediately be fore the 1994 elections.
John Berks held sway  in the smallest studio in  the world. Stan Katz  swaggered, John Robbie  railed at injustice at  night and set the talk  station alight.

- 2010
It’s a more mature ra dio station now, but at  heart I want it to remain  a rebellious teenager.

I know that the stakes  on a radio station such as  ours are high and we  need to be informed and  disciplined and ready to  handle anything.  
David O’Sullivan

- 1980

I had just left school,  and was studying aim lessly at Wits University,  wondering what to do  with my life, when I star ted listening to 702. I  knew very quickly that  radio was my future,  went to Rhodes and  studied journalism.

I joined 702 in 1995,  and was assigned to cov er the Rugby World Cup  by Chris Gibbons.
I had the wonderful  job of reporting all the  glory and national pride  of that World Cup live  on 702.

- 2010
Fifteen years later, as  we celebrate our 30th  birthday, I’m doing  much the same thing –  broadcasting the glory  and national pride of an other World Cup live on  702.  
Bruce Whitfield

- 1980
Thirty years ago I was  headed off to boarding  school in the Eastern  Cape – about as far away  from 702 as one could  get.

I fell in love with the  talk format while spend ing university holidays  in Joburg in the early  Nineties and heard  people like Jenny, Chris  and later John and  thought, “if only I could  be part of that…”

I first joined 702  briefly in the early  Nineties and quit as a  young reporter to travel  the world in 1994.  I  missed it every day for  nine years before rejoin ing in 2003.

- 2010
702 is the only radio  station I know that plays  such a significant role in  its community –  everything from Walk  the Talk, to Mother’s Day  concert at the Zoo plus  the on-air responsibility  that presenters take to  help people at their wits  end with bureaucracy.

There is a sense of  being part of a station  that makes a difference  in the lives of its listen ers.

I try every day to  present business in a way  that makes even people  who could not care  about the corporate  world listen and, as they  do so, I hope that I open  their eyes to the way in  which the business  world works.  

Aki Anastasiou

- 1980
My dad owned the  café down the street  from the studios and  while I was still at school  I would do all the deliv eries to 702.

I loved the environ ment and got to know  some of the presenters. I  did impersonations and  I remember doing a  Ronald Reagan imper sonation on Stan Katz’s  show.

I actually failed matric  because of 702 – I told  my parents I was study ing but actually I was  hanging out with the  overnight hosts.
When my parents and  the station manager  found out, I wasn’t al lowed back until I passed  the next year.

- 2010
Thirty years on we’ve  been through so many  changes and so many  cycles but it’s great to be  back on top again!