Future Beats

One of Higher Health’s most consistent interventions is the Future Beats programme which harnesses the credibility and creativity of campus and community radio stations to produce and air youth-friendly health and wellness content.

Up and Away

Future Beats marked its eighth birthday in 2022 and proved its continued relevance by partnering, once more, with 20 campus and community radio stations. These gave HIGHER HEALTH access to a combined listenership of more than 1.1 million on campus or in neighbouring communities.

Each of the stations receive a grant from HIGHER HEALTH to produce and air youth-friendly health and wellness content. There were approximately 100 radio journalists across these stations and, via a series of webinars, HIGHER HEALTH developed their capacity to undertake health reporting.

View our Radio Stations

Sound Cloud

Listen to Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia from our Sound Cloud channel.

Objectives

Create awareness about Health and lifestyle choices for students in the PSET sector through interactive radio shows
Promote the Higher Health work in Post Schooling and Education and Training (PSET) sector through collaboration with Campus Health and Wellness Coordinators (CHCWs)
Using social media(Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook) effectively to promote Future Beats and Higher Health content
Ensuring sustainability of the Future Beats partners through support

Broadcasting

In 2021, every station broadcast two shows a week on COVID-19. HIGHER HEALTH made a grant to the Voice of Wits (VOW) to develop these shows and syndicate them to other stations. VOW won the content producer award in the campus and community radio category at the 2021 South African Radio Awards for its COVID Report show.

All stations are also assisted to produce and air content every week on other student health, wellness and development topics. In July 2021, a virtual capacity development and training programme was delivered to journalists, following the modules comprising the Second Curriculum.

The Future

HIGHER HEALTH guides the content of broadcasts throughout the year by circulating a schedule of themes and topics. In this way we ensure Future Beats supports all our focus areas and carries through the holistic approach of HIGHER HEALTH. Podcasts of the radio broadcasts are available on the radio stations’ social media channels.

Listen to Our Podcasts

Our Radio Stations

Below is a list of our campus and community radio stations. With over 500 000 + combined listenership, we are proud to share our media across all provinces.