Joburg’s best Old Skool and R&B, HOT 102.7FM, has kicked off the new year in style by hosting the Scottish rock band Deacon Blue for their very first SA visit, in February. And the live ‘80s/’90s vibes don’t end there…

HOT 102.7FM is now proud to announce, in partnership with Breakout Events, the imminent arrival of another golden great, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or OMD), which will play a once-off gig at Marks Park in Emmarentia on the afternoon of Saturday the 20th of April. This concert is part of their international ‘Greatest Hits Tour’.

“We know that our audience loves its ‘Old Skool’ music, and that they respond enthusiastically to big acts of this calibre, It was a no-brainer for us to get involved, with the knowledge that we could deliver significant value to Breakout Events, engaging our audience and driving ticket sales effectively,” said Lloyd Madurai, Managing Director of HOT 102.7FM. “We get a lot of satisfaction from playing the music our audience loves to hear daily, and a live concert just takes that to another level. Who doesn’t want to see one of their favourite ‘Old Skool’ bands live in concert?”

OMD are one of the biggest synth-pop bands of the 1980s and 90s, thanks to hits such as “If You Leave”, “So in Love”, “Electricity”, “Enola Gay”, and “Sailing on the Seven Seas”. They are famous for being one of the pioneers of electronic music and have a huge catalogue of catchy hits that concert-goers can look forward to.

As the Breakout Events media partner for both concerts, HOT 102.7FM was tasked with using its influential platforms to drive awareness and ultimately, ticket sales, with its engaged upper SEM audience.

This the station has achieved by running an integrated campaign across on-air and digital, including promos and live reads on high rotation, carefully-worded DJ conversation pieces, ticket giveaway competitions, and interviews, with both Deacon Blue and OMD.

These interviews and content pieces were amplified via social media engagement, giving a further promotional boost to the two concerts and, ultimately, resulting in greater awareness and ticket sales.

“When we partner with events, we go all in and do it properly,” said Madurai. “That means using every possible means available to us to ensure that our event partner derives significant value, over and above what any signed agreement might say. At HOT 102.7FM, we pride ourselves on that, and will continue adopting that approach with any event with which we partner.”

The Deacon Blue and OMD news follows confirmation that HOT 102.7FM is the fastest-growing radio station in South Africa, having nearly doubled its audience within the past 12 months, according to the independent research house WhyFive. They presented the findings of their annual BrandMapp survey in Johannesburg recently, showing that HOT 102.7FM’s current audience is approximately 613 000 listeners.