OUR PRESENTERS

Andrew Williams is delighted to join FMR and says “I feel like a kid in a candy store being surrounded by legends of the broadcasting industry.” Andrew is drawn to work that ignites his passion. For 15 years Andrew worked in the hospitality industry where he managed various restaurants. He now works in the motor industry. He loves sport, animals, nature, baking and of course music! As a child he would “borrow” his sister’s cassette tapes and record himself hosting his own shows, seeing it come to fruition is a dream come true.

Anna Stoddard presents Anna’s Baroque Bon-Bons on Tuesday mornings at 7:15. As a teenager, Anna discovered the wonders of Monteverdi and from then on, was gripped by Baroque music. She studied music, majoring in harpsichord, at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Academie voor oude muziek, Holland. With a harpsichord in tow, she spent eight years in Zimbabwe, teaching and presenting a Baroque program on ZBC. Since 2001, Anna has lived in Cape Town and teaches music at Reddam House School, Constantia.

Dave Kruger presents Matinée as well as specialist evening programmes on composers and performers. He was born and schooled in Johannesburg and settled in Cape Town in 1972. In 1976 he studied at UCT for a Bachelor Degree in Music Education, with guitar as his first major and singing as a second. When time allowed, he sang in CAPAB’s opera chorus. After graduation he taught at Camps Bay High School until 2007, when he retired, and went back to UCT to do a Masters in Music.

David Donde is our resident Motoring Journalist and Technology Expert and makes the complexities of these two worlds accessible to our listeners. When he isn’t being spoiled driving the latest cars or trying to find the joy in gadgets, he is busy as an entrepreneur and brand advisor working in the worlds of Coffee, FinTech and Edtech and even the odd speakeasy. He is well-known for bringing the fabulous Truth Coffee Roasting to life in Cape Town. Other than that, you can find him falling spectacularly off of a bicycle on the paths on our local mountains.

Dragana Jevtovic presents Dragana’s Wonderful World in the Lounge, Composer of the Week and Collage. She’s of Serbian origin, studied in Belgrade and has Honours in concert and opera singing, degrees in art and philosophy. She’s sung in Yugoslavia, the USA, throughout Europe and South Africa. Music critic for radio Belgrade 202 and the Belgrade daily “Politika”. Performed at Balkanology concerts and Cape Town Yiddish Song Festival. Dragana runs a world-renowned ceramics studio and paints in oils and acrylics. Besides music, Dragana is passionate about cooking, furry animals, travel, fast sports and lively parties. Brave and curious, she is a wife, mother of two daughters and numerous dogs.

Elizabeth Triegaardt Emeritus Associate-Professor (UCT); BSc(UCT,1966), FRAD. Elizabeth has hosted Invitation to the Dance since 1996. Her interest in dance music is a result of her 24-year career in ballet as a Principal Dancer and Ballet Mistress with the CAPAB Ballet Co and subsequently being the Honorary Executive Director and founder member of the CAPE TOWN CITY BALLET from 1997 to 2018. She also headed the UCT Dance Dept for 21 years. Having danced in, produced and staged all the major classics and other works by international and local choreographers, she enjoys communicating her love of dance with the FMR listeners.

Graham McCulloch is a news reader and presenter. He hosts In the Mood, Matinee, Jazz Album in the Lounge and Sunday Lunch. He earned his radio “stripes” as a bilingual radio presenter, interviewer and news reader on Radio Good Hope in the 1970s and 1980s. He learnt live radio from seasoned broadcasters, amongst whom were Percy Sieff, Nico de Kock, Peter Merrill, Patrick Kohler and Nigel Murphy. During the 1980s he free-lanced on Springbok Radio and the English and Afrikaans Services. In June 2010 he joined FMR as a news reader.

Hadley Tituss presents Cape Diary, Kaapse Dagboek, In the Mood and News. He was Theatre Manager of Artscape for 32 years and started at FMR in 2000. Born and educated in Cape Town he LOVES animals and chocolate and poetry. Hadley is very patient, but has no truck with bullies, rudeness, name-dropping snobs, stubbornness and poor service. He is acutely bored with endless pontification over food, restaurants, overseas holidays, TV Shows, sports scores, fashion (even though there’s no excuse for dressing badly… after all LOOKING GOOD IS THE BEST REVENGE!) His taste in music is eclectically catholic. Hadley is a sexagenarian vegetarian.

Johan van Lill presents Kaapse Dagboek/Cape Diary. Johan is an award winning arts journalist and has gained a reputation for enriching the lives of listeners across South Africa with his insightful documentaries on the arts, education, spirituality and parenting. His vast oeuvre has been recognised by the South African Academy of Science and Arts, and he received a medal of honour for his contribution to this field in 2018. In 2017 he received the Silver BASA Award for Art Journalism and also won six ATKV Media awards for arts journalism. He is a passionate visual arts collector.

Jon Geidt presents evening programmes on FMR. A chorister and bell ringer at Winchester cathedral, he has doodled on the piano and played the recorder. A Bruckner enthusiast, he likes choosing from the unique variety now available of interpretative performances. He doesn’t particularly admire Schoenberg, Liszt or Lully. He enjoys pushing buttons and moving sliders. His Italian pronunciation is not always 100%. He has produced two programmes on the music and rhythms associated with steam railways.

Karen Miller presents Collage and the occasional Symphony at Seven. From an academic and management consultancy background, she is delighted to be able to indulge her love of classical music at FMR where she has been a presenter for more than 20 years. She has made wonderful friends but also sadly lost some Collage co-presenters: notably, the late Charles Dingley, and Wallace Molteno. “At the beginning we were a fledgling group finding our way in the world of broadcasting; now we are a technologically sophisticated outfit but with a very special human touch.”

Kechil Kirkham presents Looking Up on Wednesday at 5.30 pm. “Space nut” is one way to describe Kechil Kirkham, who has the great fortune to work in the South African space industry in the field of astronomy. She was raised in a village on the Scottish border, and has a degree from Cambridge University in Anthropology. A few more degrees along the way and an abiding passion for the stars, brought her to Cape Town. Most people don’t associate South Africa with cutting edge science and the biggest telescopes in the world – but Kechil is here to set the record straight.

Lorraine presents evening speciality programmes and Reflections. She has been a journalist since leaving school and has reported on just about everything from horseracing and wrestling to eventually the doings of politicians during an 11-year stint in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She retired in 2002 and does freelance translating and proof reading. She loves travelling and has a passion for music. She has no musical background and she finds the research for the programmes makes it all the more fascinating.

Louise Howlett presents Matinee and For the Love of Opera, featuring all the latest news and reviews of opera around the world today. She studied classical singing at the Royal College of Music. She is a versatile performer mixing classical, jazz and Broadway in unique projects. Louise wears a number of ‘hats’ off stage as well as on. A keen promoter of classical music, Louise is General Manager of the Cape Town Concert Series, Artist Liaison for La Motte Wine Estate and co-ordinates the Unplugged concert diary of classical events across Cape Town.

Melissa Stephens presents Jazz ‘till Sunset on Saturdays. When she’s not behind the mic, she’s using her voice to sing as part of a Cape Town chamber choir, SATB, who recently toured Germany. Her love and passion for all things music and radio transfers into her day, where she grafts her craft at a Cape Town based radio station.

Michael Avery presents the Morning Market Report and Classic Business. He is a financial journalist and broadcaster with over 16 years’ experience covering financial markets. Avery edits the country’s premier private equity publication, Catalyst, and was the driving force behind the SA Water, Energy & Food Forum (SAWEF). He has had forays into mass newspaper publishing with the Second Business and has a Dionysus-like affection for all things grape. Avery holds a B.A. Journalism from the University of Johannesburg.

Nic Ciro presents Classic Drive. He had an intuitive desire to play with vinyl albums, microphones and headphones when he was six years old. When he was in high school Nic was fortunate to interview Roger Moore, which made things a lot more serious. Years of university led to winning a 702 audition, to news reading at 5FM and to his first paid job at Capital Radio. After 15 years broadcasting at 5FM he settled in the Cape and has “worked” at Fine Music Radio for more than ten years. “It’s an absolute labour of love.”

Nick Plummer presents FMR@the Movies and (once a month) Sunday Lunch. A classically-trained musician, Nick’s broad and eclectic taste in music has allowed him to share his enthusiasm for music across the diverse FMR broadcast schedule. When he’s not behind the FMR microphone, he is in high demand as a voice artist and voice dubbing actor. An award-winning stage actor, he owns a wine sales company, is a devoted husband and father to two daughters, and unashamedly pursues an unrequited love affair with golf. His motto is: “Life is too short to listen to bad music or drink bad wine.”

Patric van Blerk stands in, when needed, for Dragana’s Wonderful World in the Lounge. Songwriter, record producer, presenter, he co-owns Cape Town Sound recording studios in Woodstock and Cape Town – and WooWi Global distribution. Born a Beatle-baby, he has grown into loving music of every kind, notably the Great American Song Book, jazz and classical. Co-writer of song hits such as “Paradise Road”, “We Are Growing” (from Shaka Zulu) and “Charlie”. Loves music, food, politics, reading, Bulldogs – and being home. Friends and pets are a treasure.

Paul Wise presents Matinee and is copy editor of Opus. His real-world occupation: a former English teacher and Hansard editor, now a freelance editor and translator. He is from a family of musicans and has always been fascinated by the medium of radio. Musical credentials: Grade VIII piano (by the skin of his teeth) and choirs. And playing the tuba (briefly and VERY badly) in a school band. He hopes to please the ordinary music lover, but also intrigue the expert. Every programme is a voyage of discovery for him – and an adventure in pronunciation!

Priscilla Laing presents Reflections, Great Interpreters, Composer of the Week and on Sunday evenings, A Musical Alphabet. Kenya-born Priscilla spent her early adult years travelling before ending up in Aberdeen, Scotland, working in the oil industry. Changing direction to consulting in an IT environment her corporate world took her to Singapore and Sydney, where she lived across the water from the famous opera house. Wherever she was she would to tune in to the local classical music station, her other love being books. ‘Scilla loves the research that goes into specialist programmes and getting feedback from listeners.

Rodney Trudgeon presents The Classic Morning and People of Note. In a radio career spanning over 40 years, Rodney Trudgeon has sought to make classical music more accessible and more entertaining. After a short spell as a freelance flautist in the Durban Symphony Orchestra Rodney joined SABC. He moved to Classic FM in 2000 and then to FMR in 2005 where he was Programme Manager until 2022. He was inducted into the Liberty Radio Awards Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also author of Rodney Trudgeon’s Concert Notes – A Selection of Favourite Masterpieces published by Jonathan Ball Publishers.

Shireen Fisher presents Shireen in the Lounge. She is a journalist who works in a corporate media setting by day and freelances for a number of magazines and agencies after hours. She obtained her National Diploma and BTech Degree from CPUT and is an alumnus of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival’s Arts Journalism Program. Her broadcasting career started in community radio in 2014 and she is beyond excited to be back behind the mic, this time reconnecting with all things jazz. She dabbles in gifting and is chief provider of treats and belly rubs to a feisty Maltese called Bentley.

Stephen Aspeling (Spling) presents Talking Movies on Saturday mornings. As a child, Spling gravitated to the magical world of cinema. Achieving academic honours at Kingswood College, he completed a B.A. at UCT with a focus on film, media and visuals. Spling continues to review, judge and consult for a host of websites, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, screening events, festivals and has made several TV appearances. Milla Jovovich wishes she thought like him, John Cleese criticised his “Holy Grail” t-shirt’s punctuation, and Spling was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live.