K-TV. Remember those days? Rushing home after school. Waking up on Saturday for Power Edition. Dreaming about Reggies Rush. Wondering if Simba will ever visit your school? Hoping to meet a presenter?
The magic of M-Net
When M-Net launched in 1986 it transformed entertainment. It came at a cost but it also came with a big sigh of relief: South African television escaped the handcuffs of the oh-so-pure and conservative roots established in 1976. The hits were many. Egoli and Carte Blanche come to mind. Within four years nearly half a million South Africans said yes to the magic. And one of their greatest success stories was K-TV.
K-TV paved the way forward for many ex-presenters, from Kim Frickleton who saw the start of it and went international to Roxy Burger who stayed on as a presenter until 2008.
But where are the other presenters?
Wondering that ourselves, SLOW looked for answers and released its first K-TV video in 2021 — a decade after K-TV closed. Judging from the response, and ex-presenters (like Roxanne Bennett) who got in touch with us, the impact of K-TV stretched far beyond the studio and what we saw on TV. And far deeper than M-Net could’ve ever imagined. Because here we are, more than three decades after it first aired, and 90s kids are still talking about it.
K-TV memories with Roxanne Bennett
The camera and the lights are set up just as Roxanne walks in.
Pinch yourself 90s kid. This moment is real. Unrealised Simba and Reggies Rush dreams don’t matter now.
Within the first hello her dimple-smile puts you right back. Cue the K-TV Be About It theme song. And bring the Coco Pops. Because you’re cashing in on that M-Net promise now: the magic never stops.
K-TV was one of M-Net’s greatest success stories. Television for kids by kids. With a studio that will make any kidfluencer of today yearn for those technicolour trimmings. And while the cartoons were great, it was the presenters that had us glued to the screens.
But not because they were the most famous teenagers in South Africa. There was something different.
Roxanne echoes this feeling, “I said to my mom, I want to be friends with those people, and I think that I’m going to become a K-TV presenter”.
By picking up a telephone book and calling M-Net she did just that. Six months later she made her debut on K-TV and stayed on for six years.
Roxanne’s success after K-TV resembles the same energy she had when she flipped through that phonebook.
She went on to Good Hope FM, did a few segments for Top Billing, ITV, BBC and hosted the International Football Awards in the UK. She took her experience in front of the camera and moved behind the scenes in the Seychelles where she runs Rockit, a creative production agency that is currently expanding into the States. In 2020 she won the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry Awards as female entrepreneur of the year.
“All my training, for the role that I am in now, is my experience from K-TV,” says Roxanne.
The presenter roots run deep. Adding to her already busy schedule, she is moving back in front of the camera to present luxury travel experiences in some of the world’s most exotic locations on her YouTube channel.
The cameras are packed away, the mic is not recording anymore. The interview is done. But not the conversation. Because as M-Net promised: the magic never stops.