SABC's decision in December 1945 to develop a commercial service was constrained by post-war financial issues. After almost five years of investigation and after consulting Lord Reith of the BBC and the South African government, it decided to introduce commercial radio to supplement the SABC's public service English and Afrikaans networks and help solve the SABC's financial problems. The SABC would build the equipment and facilities and would place them at the disposal of advertisers and their agencies at cost for productions and allow them to make use of SABC's production staff.

On 1 May 1950, the first commercial radio station in South Africa, Springbok Radio, took to the air. Bilingual in English and Afrikaans, it broadcast from the Johannesburg Centre for 113 and a half hours a week. The service proved so popular with advertisers at its launch that commercial time had been booked well in advance. The service started at 6:43am with the music Vat Jou Goed en Trek, Ferreira. The first voice on air was that of Eric Egan, well remembered for his daily "Corny Crack" and catch phrase "I Love You".

Many drama programmes during the 1950s were imported from Australia but as more funding became available, Springbok Radio produced almost all its programmes within South Africa through a network of independent production houses. By the end of 1950, 30 per cent of Springbok Radio shows were produced by South African talent or material and independent productions were sold to sponsors. At the same time all air time had been sold or used and transmission time was extended. By the end of 1950 the revenue of Springbok Radio was £205,439, in 1961 it had grown to over two million Rand and by 1970 had reached R6.5 million.

By 1985, Springbok Radio was operating at a heavy loss. After losing listeners with the handing over of its shortwave frequencies to Radio 5 and facing competition from television, despite the late arrival of the medium in 1976, it ceased broadcasting on 31 December 1985.

Taken from Wikipedia