Johannesburg-based commercial station HOT 102.7FM continues to shake up the South African radio industry, with the news that it has launched a new Christmas music stream online.
This follows the launch earlier this year of four new HOT 102.7FM online streams, called ‘HOT ROCK’, ‘HOT FUNK’, HOT EASY’, and ‘HOT CLUB’, which saw the station start delivering four new music streams via its website, www.hot1027.co.za and App, with each of these streams focused on playing a specific genre of music.
Similarly, the ‘HOT CHRISTMAS’ stream is playing classic Christmas hits from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s, featuring bands such as Boney M, The Beach Boys, Wham!, Queen, and The Carpenters, along with artists such as Mariah Carey, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Chris Rea, Whitney Houston, Michael Bublé, and Cliff Richard.
“We realised that there’s a lot of great Christmas music out there and our audience just loves this time of year, so we’re giving them what they want – a dedicated stream entirely focused on playing the best Christmas classics and holiday hits,” said Lloyd Madurai, Managing Director of HOT 102.7FM. “It’s all about listening to the needs of our audience and providing them with more options – all on the broader HOT 102.7FM platform – whilst staying true to our ‘Old Skool’ format.”
The strategic launch of this new music stream follows the overwhelming success of the HOT 102.7FM App since its unveiling in April 2023, giving the station another platform on which to engage with its loyal audience.
The HOT CHRISTMAS stream will be repurposed after the festive season and the channel kept open to accommodate musical content and information related to upcoming HOT 102.7FM-partnered events in the future.
“So, for example, it’ll have music from Midge Ure, Thompson Twins, Just Jinjer, PJ Powers etc, in the run-up to the Let’s Rock Festival in February, as they will be some of the artists on the bill there,” said Madurai. “It’ll also have things such as FAQs for those events and any other relevant information that we feel our audience will benefit from.”
All of this follows hot on the heels of HOT 102.7FM walking away with the coveted ‘My Station – Most Loyal Listeners’ award at the recent Telkom SA Radio Awards, along with Head of News, Tara Penny, being honoured in two categories, and presenters Darren Scott and Simon Parkinson being inducted into the SA Radio Hall of Fame.
HOT 102.7FM is also in the process of rolling out its Hot Cares Christmas campaign, off the back of raising a whopping R27.5 million in just 12 and a half hours at its annual Teddython Hot Cares charity fundraiser in November.
