Rhodes Music Radio, or RMR as it is more commonly known, is the campus radio station of Rhodes University. It was also the first non-State broadcaster in South Africa's history to be allowed to broadcast legally. The pioneering broadcasts of RMR's FESTIVAL FM were reported worldwide in 1991 as global media highlighted this 'first breaking' of the half-century monopoly on broadcasting exercised by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). History The station was formed in 1981, at which point it broadcast only across Grahamstown's Rhodes University campus. One of the founding music presenters at the station, David O'Sullivan, is today one of South Africa's most respected radio talk show hosts as a presenter on Talk Radio 702. Another notable personality to emerge from RMR's early days includes South African television and radio personality Jeremy Mansfield. More recently the station has produced a string of household names in South African television, radio and journalism including former CNN sports presenter Graeme Joffe, 5FM DJs Nicole Fox, Jon Savage and Mlungisi Dikulu, SABC news and talk presenter Sherwin Bryce-Pease, SuperSport presenter Leigh-Ann Paulick, Talk Radio 702 and Daily Maverick reporter Stephen Grootes. Recently the station compiled a more complete list of its alumni, available on its website. Timeline 1981: RMR begins narrowcasting to the Rhodes cafeteria on 1 August, later expanding to the residences on campus. 1987: 16 University residences linked to the narrowcasting system. 1988: Test transmissions of Rhodes Educational Radio (RER) introduced. 1990: 5 RMR presenters (the wider team included Station Manager Alex McGowan, Reuben Goldberg, Andrew Bolton, Kyle Hannan and Tove Kane) set a record for non-stop broadcasting by a campus station (336 hours). The last minutes are broadcast live on Capital Radio. 1990: Breakfast presenter Kyle Hannan wins national campus DJ competition at the Camel Pyramid of Light in Johannesburg's Ellis Park stadium (just ahead of Mark Gillman who later went on to national fame on national pop station 5FM). 1991, June: RMR granted permission to broadcast in conjunction with Radio 5 at the Grahamstown Festival of Arts (10-day temporary licence for a station named "Festival-FM"). Broadcasting took place on 89.7 MHz FM for a 15-kilometer radius, with the target audience being visitors to the Festival as well as Grahamstown residents. The licence was the first of its kind in South Africa and broke the SABC's half century long monopoly on legal broadcasting. Station Manager at the time was