Mirumba Ya Ṅwali FM

Mirumba Ya Ṅwali FM is a community-driven freeform internet radio station and podcast based in Venda, South Africa. We host an inclusive and diverse selection of people, shows, and perspectives from across the province, country, Africa, and the world. Our work in expanding online radio station and podcast in local communities has created a new era of culture-driven identities, music-aligned engagement, curation, and appreciation within and around youth culture. We started broadcasting in June 2023 (Technical Broadcasting) and have grown to an impressive number of shows spanning several audiences, hosts, and guests’ interests within our community. (Stats can be forwarded on request) Our programming matches our audience — we continue to focus on representation across all races, genders, ages, and economic backgrounds, with the internet, entertainment, information, and music as the unifying language. Mirumba Ya Ṅwali strives to be a forward-thinking online radio station and podcast along the lines of big commercial stations Our Mission Endless Streams! URL and IRL Events! Opportunities for Co-Creation! Mirumba Ya Ṅwali documents the scene and creates stronger connections between communities! Our mission is to be a meaningful, connected, diverse, music community and a platform for pioneering artists, creatives, and business-minded youth from underrepresented communities in South Africa and beyond to share their wildest perspectives in community building. Mirumba Ya Ṅwali was created out of a need for a community radio when the nation was at its most disparate during the initial global lockdowns for COVID-19, but the enthusiasm for what we set out to do took hold and grew into a community platform that started connecting people, bring information, entertain with music and sounds in South Africa in a way that was never experienced before. Since the start of online radio platforms and podcasts like Podcasts And Chill With MacG, The Joe Rogan Experience, On Purpose With Jay Shetty, and Ted Talks to mention a few, and the collaborative workshop initiatives spearheaded by them, more youth, women, LGBTQ+ and people of color have started producing radio shows, Podcasts and started hosting and presenting than ever before in South Africa. We have to keep these opportunities evolving and growing to nurture equitable futures in this industry! Why Internet radio? There are so many creative and talented people here in South Africa, and streaming video and radio allows the world to see all that we have to offer. More people are seeking cultural knowledge, indigenous music, and the authentic feel of Venda all-inclusive in the entertainment sector and the discovery of new media allows us to achieve more than we ever could. We are simply reaching new heights, we are connected all over the world simply by being online. In an age where much of our music is decided by an algorithm, we need to give a voice to the communities (music, social, and cultural) that define who we are in an incredibly lopsided globalized world. FM stations are limited to their transmitter’s power — streaming radio is accessible from anyone who has an internet connection anywhere in the world! This is why we say "From Venda to URL" — the possibilities of the "you" in "URL" are incredibly vast, and with Africa being the last continent to properly join the world as a connected entity, we want to be at the forefront of that conversation!