East Coast Drive team: We were on the edge of our seats to #HelpFindDurbanBaby

It’s a story that has captured the hearts of everyone. When it was announced there was a kidnapped one-month-old, the East Coast Drive team with Phat Joe battled to control their emotions. Their show had to be extended to another hour as the story developed. 

Read: Police release picture of abducted Durban baby

The team decided to reflect about what exactly happened during the show and how they handled the news.

Zaba

As a mom, one of the most terrifying things is losing your child and the moment I heard of the story I thought ‘I feel so sorry for the mom, imagine what she is going through’. So many thoughts went through my mind. Was the child fed? Was she warm? Was she changed?

Criminals tend to be ruthless during these situations and this made me wonder how they would have treated this young child. This past Friday’s show had to be one of the most emotionally draining shows I’ve ever done in my life. When you are on radio, it is difficult for you to hold back the emotions and this is all what I wanted to do. I wanted to burst out and cry.

I am happy that the story ended with a semi-happy ending although I am still confused and annoyed with the mother. I keep wondering what was her involvement in the entire situation. I guess I just have to wait and find out during case. 

Read: BREAKING: Baby Siwaphiwe found

Rory

In my almost 10 years in radio, I have never experienced anything quite like the atmosphere in studio on Friday afternoon. I cannot even remember a single song that played. It was all purely about #HelpFindDurbanBaby. 

It was a day in which every single time I saw one of the telephone lines light up in studio, I grabbed it immediately, hoping there was good news on the other end of it.

I was also reminded of the power of radio and the willingness and eagerness of the people of KZN to get together as one for a good cause.

We were on the edge of our seats for the full (extended) 4-hour show. It was a day in which we learned radio is not a medium. It is a large.

Gareth

It's not often that something like this completely takes over the psyche of a whole community of people. 

Once we started getting more details, we couldn't help but dedicate almost every minute of the show to doing what we could to rally the community and keep people informed. I was totally moved by the support of everyone who rallied together to help in any way they could.

It’s moment like these that really hammer home the power of radio.

Take a look below at what went down during the show this past Friday.