A year ago, the idea of Gareth Cliff headlining a tech conference would’ve seemed a little bizarre. He was, after all, a shock jock on the ancient medium of terrestrial radio.
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The launch of CliffCentral earlier this year though made him probably the most high-profile person to attach himself to an online radio station in South Africa. A partnership with WeChat and a now defunct relationship with Comedy Central meant that it was one of the most high-profile online media launches the county’s ever seen.
That in turn, makes it ideal fodder for one Africa’s biggest technology conferences.
Cliff’s talk, titled “Why I’m betting my brand and income on internet radio”, will apparently aim to answer questions around why technology is relevant for creating an un-radio, why internet radio is going to beat old school radio and whether the quality of an internet radio listener is better enough to make it all stack up.
Cliff’s fellow headline speaker is Erik Hersman. The iHub and Ushahidi co-founder will be talking about the development of the BRCK, the mobile internet router designed to address some of Africa’s most deep-seated connectivity issues.
Other keynotes speakers include SleekGeek founder Elan Lohman — who will talk about how he grow the fitness movement without any marketing budget — and Andy Hadfield who will address the failure of RealTimeWine.
Tech4Africa Johannesburg takes place on 8 and 9 October.
