Rian van Heerden joins Jacaranda 94.2

“Radio personality”, “stand-up comedian”, “columnist”, “TV talk show host” or simply “the guy who is prepared to stick his head up ANY lion’s mouth”. What you call him really doesn’t matter. What does… is that Rian van Heerden will be joining Jacaranda 94.2’s on-air team from 4 July 2011.

Rian, also the host of Rian on KykNET, is well known for provoking anything from insightful and entertaining discussions to heated debates around the topics on everyone’s lips, and will be presenting “THAT SHOW” on Jacaranda 94.2, weekdays between 7:30pm and 10pm.

With features like

·         I’m regular! – where Fifi the Dwarf, Jan the Hobo, Angie the prostitute, Bob the New York smokehouse chef and Oom Stoffel share their views on the world once every second week.

• Taste Test: chart topping tunes from 10 radio stations in the furthest corners of the globe, back to back!
• Rate this day: we decide if the day was good, bad or ugly. Listeners vote on the blog, via SMS or by phoning in. All the “best of” will be played on air!

·         GONG guess: Every day a different object is used to hit a gong. Listeners guess what we used with the help of some interesting clues!

• Beauty Pageant Interview: high profile or celebrity guests are interviewed and asked questions from a bowl containing questions once used at beauty pageants!
• Top 10: A weekly Top 10 – announced on Fridays. A theme is announced on a Monday and listeners phone in to leave a message.  The top 10 calls will be played out on a Friday. Themes will be… “unusual”, i.e. “Things you don’t want to hear when waking up” or “Ways to amuse yourself on the N1”. Entertaining? More than mildly!

·         2nd Chance: We will record a number of professionals when they are at their busiest. I.e. a traffic cop manning a busy crossing, a pilot before take-off, a boxer outside the ring, a bus driver while trying to manoeuvre through heavy traffic, a bee keeper…We play the song they requested… then we play one we deem to be more “fitting” of their profession!

·         Who’s that animal? : Lisa the bartender is used to all sorts of animals! She makes the sound of some odd animal and tells us later in the show what the hell that thing was…supported by a few fun facts 50/50 style!

In Rian’s own words: “In South Africa the opinion is an endangered species. In expressing mine, I’ve been fired (numerous times), sued and blik… well… let’s just say ‘handled’. Still I believe that the only way to tame this animal is to show you’ve lost all fear of it. So, bring your thoughts, opinions, beliefs, quirky comments, interesting bits of info, and non-interesting bits of info… ALL of it, to this show.”

“And don’t expect something too serious”, he continues, “We want to have FUN too, for crying out loud!”

Neil Johnson, Programme Manager at Jacaranda 94.2 says: “Our listeners, and Jacaranda as a station, are passionate about changing people’s lives for good. Seeing as a good change almost always starts with a good chat, and Rian delivers exactly that, this is a natural match. We are confident that he will be a great addition to an already star-studded line up.”