The Weekly Archivist interview: English Archivist

Phindile Maringa

The SABC Radio Archives has Archivists who focus specifically on a specific radio station and/or an indigenous language. This is the last interview as part of a series of interviews where they answer the same questions addressed to them.

It is a way of getting a better understanding of what an Archivist do, as well as getting a better insight into the scope of our collections.

The Archivist answering the questions this week is Phindile Maringa. She is the archivist for SAFM. She has been with the Radio Archives for nearly 3 years.

Phindile, please tell us a little bit about yourself. (Where you grew up, where and what you studied and your work experience before you joined the SABC Radio Archives)

I was born at Elim, Waterval in the Limpopo province, and have studied at the University of the North. I have acquired a B.A and B. Honors in Media and Communication studies. I have worked for Heinemann publishers as a publishing assistant and David Krut publishers as a communication officer.
I started working for SABC through a graduate programme, in the TV programme Archives on the 14th of February 2008. I joined SABC Radio Archives on the 1st of August 2008 as an English Archivist.

Please tell us about a normal day in your studio. What material do you work with?

My normal day in the studio involves recording, editing, cataloguing, quality checking, labeling, filing and priority is given to drama.

Do you struggle with technical difficulties?

At times yes, but with people ready to assist at all times makes it easier to deal with all difficulties.

If you have an anecdote about a specific piece of interesting audio material, please share it with us.

This is a tough one, as there is a lot of material! I have to mention the interesting audio of a book reading “Long walk to freedom” about Nelson Mandela and Africa’s greatest entrepreneur, about how the richest people in Africa get where they are today. Above all I had a chance to listen to the voice of Johann Greyling (colleague), an interview with him ten years back, about the Nandos advertisement.

Tell us why you enjoy doing the work that you do

Working with information has been an area of interest to me. This is complemented by using technology in the process of preserving this information.


Related posts:
The Weekly Archivist interview: Sport Archivist
The Weekly Archivist interview: Channel Africa collection
The Weekly Archivist interview: Ikwekwezi FM
The Weekly Archivist interview: Music
The Weekly Archivist interview: News and actuality
The Weekly Archivist interview: Afrikaans
The Weekly Archivist interview with the Manager of the SABC Radio Archives


Questions and blog post by Karen du Toit, Afrikaans Archivist in the SABC Radio Archives.