South Africa, Feb. 11 -- Central South Africa's number one radio station, OFM, celebrates its 35th birthday this year.

From its humble beginnings in 1985 as an SABC evening broadcast of Radio Highveld in Bloemfontein for the central South African region to the Northern Cape and Free State eventually having their own station, Radio Oranje in 1986, to adopting its current name and format in 2002, OFM has had an remarkable journey thus far.

In 1996, Radio Oranje became the very first SABC radio station to be privatised. Sold for R11m to a consortium of investors, it would pay back its purchase price within 18 months.

The station underwent a radical presenter line-up shift in 2002. This signalled the end of the Radio Oranje sound (and name...