Celebrating the story of 702

The compelling story of the innovative and in-your-face Radio 702 had never been properly told. The saga of how it came into being, the impact it made, and the legendary personalities who were part of it. That deficiency has now been made good by the lively new book The 702 Story – In Touch, In Tune and Independent. 

Many years in the making, the book was officially launched last week at the headquarters of Primedia in Sandton. Those in attendance included a sizeable number of 702 veterans who were household names in their day, among them Stan Katz and Jenny Crwys-Williams, as well as members of the Kirsh family. It was the late Issie Kirsh who founded the station in 1980 and led it in its formative decades. The evening was also framed as a tribute to him and everything he accomplished. 

The event, emceed by well-known 702 presenter John Perlman, commenced with a welcome message by the station’s long-serving programme manager, Alastair Teeling-Smith. Then, Mushe Kirsh spoke about her late husband and how he had put his unique stamp on a radio station that for him was always much more than just a commercial enterprise. For him, she said, it had from the outset also been a vehicle for doing what he loved to do, which was to help others and perform acts of kindness. Among the path-blazing social outreach initiatives he headed up were the 702 Helpline, the Crisis Centre in Hillbrow, and the unforgettable Concert in the Park, organised to raise funds for Operation Hunger and attended by more than 120 000 people of all races, a first for South Africa. 

Kirsh thanked the book’s authors and its publisher Batya Bricker, who both guided the project through the production stages and organised its publicity, including the official launch. 

The main event of the evening took the form of a conversation between Perlman and Williams, who was first brought in by Issie Kirsh to write the book and wrote its first draft. Williams, a reporter in the 702 studios in its early years, emphasised how 702 had been something everyone talked about and how it was the station that up-and-coming broadcasting talent across the country wanted to be part of. The original title of the book, he said, had been The Only Show in Town, and for the local radio scene at the time that had literally been the case. 

The evening concluded with closing remarks by Issie and Mushe’s eldest son, William, founder of the media juggernaut Primedia, of which 702 has from the outset been an important component. William recounted how he had gone about realising his vision of establishing the company, and the highs and some considerable lows along the way. Throughout this time, he said, he had been able to rely on his late father’s unswerving support, guidance, and wisdom, both in the business field and in terms of always being his role model for living an upright and moral life.