As we conclude Women’s month and our series of conversations with senior female leaders in the radio business, the message is clear. We’ve come a long way, but there is still distance to cover. In Part 4, Tim Zunckel unlocks conversations around accidental leadership, empathy and the need for collaboration.
Exceptional radio leaders have an instinct for people and know how to manage their performance. It’s not only about the professional output but also knowing when to support and when to let them fly. Two leaders who understand this balance are Pearl Sokhulu-Metz, Managing Director of Vuma FM in Durban, and Tessa van Staden, Station Manager of Cape Talk in Cape Town.
The Accidental Beginnings
Neither Sokhulu-Metz nor Van Staden planned to be radio bosses.
Sokhulu-Metz laughs as she remembers the moment she was offered the chance to run a station at just 27 years old: “I could go and serve articles at Ernst & Young, or I could run a radio station. How crazy is that?” For someone who had trained in accounting and marketing at Unilever, radio was never an initial career choice, and she declined her first job opportunity in the medium to stay in FMCG. But when the opportunity to run P4 Durban presented, she took the leap and has never left.
Van Staden’s path was less corporate, more creative. She recalls following her mother, an actress, into the SABC’s radio studios as a child when they were recording drama episodes. All the sound effects were recorded in real time with items in the studio. “If someone walked down the road, they stomped in a box of stones to create the sound. That was my first exposure to radio, and I loved it!” Years later, as a student at Stellenbosch University, she saw an advert for voice tests at the fledgling MFM and jumped in. “I was the first voice on air,” she says. That sense of being part of something new and building from scratch was the foundation of her solid career.
The Loneliness of Leadership
For Sokhulu-Metz early management opportunities came an unexpected reality, isolation. As the person tasked with inspiring her team every morning, she often found herself without her own sounding board and says, “there was a fair degree of isolation in the position.” Mentors are rare but in her in her role at P4, a Norwegian consultant, Rune Remoy, was the only person who truly took her under his wing. “He taught me the fundamentals of radio, and I will be forever grateful for his patience and insight” she reflects.
Formal mentorship wasn’t part of Van Staden’s journey either. She did have an opportunity to work with an Australian talk consultant, Shannon Fahey, and that was incredibly valuable, but she learned on the job by saying yes to challenges even when they stretched her to breaking point. “At one stage I was running Cape Talk and Eyewitness News in Cape Town, with a toddler and a baby, commuting three hours a day. In retrospect it was insane, but I can’t tell you how much I learned.”
For both leaders, the industry has been slow to build the structures that would make mentorship systemic rather than accidental. Sokhulu-Metz recalls attempts with colleagues to establish mentorship programmes, often falling flat without institutional support: “We talk, and we talk, and we talk, and then nothing comes of it. I’d love to contribute to something like that.”
Innovative Collaboration vs Competition
Innovative collaboration is an opportunity to create something new and challenge the status-quo. Van Staden places emphasis on the collaborative culture within her own team. For her, collaboration begins with permission to experiment. “I hope anyone on our team would say I’m a big supporter of trying new things whether it’s a show format, a pop-up stream, or a double-header. Creativity thrives where people feel they can test ideas without fear.”
This willingness to experiment led Cape Talk to launch Ocean FM, a youth-fronted online pop-up station in partnership with the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation. High school students hosted shows about conservation and broadcasting. For Van Staden, it was a reminder that collaboration can be innovative and joyful when framed around purpose.
Authenticity and Empathy
While Sokhulu-Metz points to empathy as a defining characteristic of her leadership, especially towards the many single mothers in her organisation, Van Staden talks about authenticity. Both perspectives derived from personal experience.
“Women in our society bear burdens men don’t,” says Sokhulu-Metz. “It’s difficult for me as a woman not to have a soft spot when I see single moms raising kids on lower salaries than their male counterparts. That motivates me to make sure we’re painting a future picture that excites the team and makes life better.”
For Van Staden, authenticity is central to talk radio. “If the content isn’t authentic, audiences sniff it out immediately.” That authenticity isn’t limited to on-air moments only it’s also about giving staff freedom to pitch, question, and challenge. “The human need for authentic connection hasn’t gone away,” she explains. “If anything, it’s increased with the creep of technology.”
Technology and the Human Touch
Sokhulu-Metz entered radio when resources were thin. Having come from a corporate giant she was astounded to see people sharing computers and managers digging into their own pockets to buy basic tools. For her, technology was often a gap to be filled. Turning struggling stations into viable businesses meant making the best of what little there was.
Van Staden embraced digital integration early. “Cape Talk is on AM, so I’ve always been aware of the need to use social and digital platforms. We knew we had to even when our first website looked terrible.” What excites her now is how her presenters live in multiple spaces; on air, on socials, in podcasts. Our breakfast show host was recognised by a young fan who had never tuned into Cape Talk but knew him from TikTok. “That’s our reality we have users who only engage with us digitally. It shows that good stories live in many spaces.”
Both women see AI as a tool rather than a threat. Van Staden’s team uses it for transcriptions while Sokhulu-Metz reflects on how AIi can assist in training. Both agree that the human element that radio delivers is irreplaceable. As Van Staden puts it: “My kids can spot AI-generated content immediately. They want authenticity. That’s the lesson for us.”
Personal Drive and Professional Fuel
Asked what keeps them going, both leaders refer to their personal drive. For Sokhulu-Metz, it’s the satisfaction of transforming a “losing” team into a winning one. “The joy of taking people who never thought it possible and helping them reach a point where they’re earning decent salaries, is the most satisfying thing. Especially when you know the difference it makes in their lives.”
For Van Staden, creativity fuels her day. She draws inspiration from podcasts during her long commute, from art, movies, conversations, even humour. “It’s all part of content creation,” she insists. For her, radio isn’t just a profession it’s a creative opportunity that allows for experimentation and play.
Future Female Influence?
Do women leaders see a future where the balance shifts further? Sokhulu-Metz believes female representation is improving but believes more needs to be done at board and ownership levels. Van Staden sees the future less in titles than in influence. “Everyone is publishing, everyone is sharing. There are drawbacks, yes, but incredible opportunities too especially for women.”
Neither is rushing to leave radio behind. Sokhulu-Metz has worked in banking, marketing, even technology, but never found a space as dynamic. “Where else can you move from a board meeting to listening to new music in the same morning? It’s the perfect balance.” Van Staden simply says she’s still enjoying the freedom to experiment.