Exactly 30 years ago, Dave Tiltmann started his journey with Algoa FM and the award-winning radio station’s managing director will now take on a new role as CEO of JSE-listed company African Media Entertainment (AME).
While the appointment was effective as of December 1 2018, Tiltmann said he would continue working with Algoa FM until the end of its financial year in March.
AME owns numerous companies, including Algoa FM, OFM, United Stations and Radio Heads.
Financial media group Moneyweb Holdings also falls under the AME companies banner
Tiltmann said the new move would see him spend most of his time in Johannesburg but he would commute to Port Elizabeth weekly for the first three years.
“My family loves PE, and I love PE, and I have a son who will be starting grade 10 at Grey High School this year,” he said.
“I am going to be working from Johannesburg, but as you know, modern trends allow us to be available at any time.”
Tiltmann said AME had for years operated without a CEO and largely relied on its subsidiaries, like Algoa FM, to be successful.
The Port Elizabeth-based radio station recently left its home at the Boardwalk in Summerstand and is temporarily located at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
One of Tiltmann’s projects as managing director was building the station’s new office block in Brickmakers Kloof.
“AME bought the property in the Baakens Valley, so as much as it was my project at Algoa FM, the station will now be the tenant on behalf of the group.
“So I will now be the landlord,” Tiltmann said.
“This is a very exciting project for us. Algoa FM has been a very successful business for the group.”
Tiltmann obtained his BCom from the then University of Port Elizabeth in 1986.
He began working at Algoa FM as a freelance announcer in 1989 and has held positions as music manager, programme manager and operations manager since then.
He was officially appointed managing director of the station in February 2000.
But Tiltmann said he could not have asked for a better work year than 2018.
“Last year [was] the cherry on the top of everything.
“We [Algoa FM] won Station of the Year. I was inducted into the Hall of Fame and I worked at the 2018 Soccer World Cup in Russia as a broadcast liaison officer.
“And then obviously the promotion. It [was] a fantastic year,” he said.
While AME operates mostly in secondary markets like Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein, he said the group would need to look at “stepping up”.
“Providing content is the way to go. The critical thing about the future is that, as much as radio will always be there, with the changing habits of technology, people are asking more and more for on-demand products.
“We have the content, we have the product and we have the people – so it’s just about understanding how to give it to them in another format and then to be able to commercialise it.
“As a group, we are constantly on the lookout to find new ways to build revenue. But our focus is still going to be largely on radio – because I believe that is still the heart of the company,” he said.