Phalaphala FM

Phalaphala FM is at 48 in a listing of 100. Read the rank as a rough position rather than a standing: the click counts in the middle of a long national list are close enough together that a handful of opens moves a station several places.

With three recorded opens, Phalaphala FM sits in the part of the directory where the numbers stop discriminating. The station's position in South Africa's list should be read as approximate for exactly that reason.

Phalaphala FM has no language recorded in the directory. We do not infer one. Guessing from the country would put every station in South Africa on the same shelf regardless of what it broadcasts, which is exactly the kind of filled-in blank that makes a directory untrustworthy.

The gap here is large: 48 kbps where South Africa's stations typically run 128. Rates at this level were designed for dial-up and for mobile data that was billed by the megabyte, and plenty of stations simply never changed the setting.

10 of South Africa's entries are served from playerservices.streamtheworld.com, this one among them. A shared host means a shared fate. If this stream is silent, the fastest check is not this station's own site but whether its neighbours on the same platform are playing.