There’s magic, and then there’s Magic.

The ordinary magic – the Enid Blyton or Harry Potter kind – involves waving magic wands and reciting spells and undertaking dangerous quests to save the world.  But the real Magic, the most extraordinary kind, is when you switch on a radio and the presenter is telling you about the road that you are travelling on and the scenic wonder that you are looking at. “Oh, but’s that not magic,” you scoff, “that’s technology.” But that’s my point exactly.  Technology is a kind of magic, especially when you can get machines to talk to you as if they are an elf sitting on your shoulder.  Tourism Radio, based in Cape Town, is a kind of magic.  It’s a radio station that plays on your car radio, and all the programming is set to tell you exactly what you want to hear while you travel around the Cape. However, just as giving away the magician’s trick diminishes the wonder of it, I am a bit loath to explain exactly how Tourism Radio works, because then it stops being Magic and becomes Technology.  But even so, it is still rather marvellous, so here goes: The concept of Tourism Radio is based on a mixture of GPS and cellphone technology.  If you would like to tune in, you need to get a device like a decoder, which can either be supplied from your guest house, hired along with the car, or delivered directly to you.  Now you plug the device into your car via the lighter, or into an MP3 player.  The programming is not an audio guide to the trip you are undertaking, it has the sound and feel of a radio show, with the presenters chatting about the part of the city that you are in.  The radio announcers are well-known voices from our radio stations, interspersed with local music and advertisements.  Through the MP3 player you can also take the station with you if you decide to take a walk instead of driving.  Ex-journalist Mark Allewel started Tourism Radio in 2005, when the possibilities of GPS and cellular technology in tourism became intriguing.  The concept was bought by an international venture capitalist, and Tourism Radio went global. “We are connected to Radio Tourism International,” Mark says, “although at the moment the service is only offered in Cape Town and the Western Cape.  Most of our devices (decoders) are being rented by guest houses, who offer them to their guests.  It is still a new concept to many people, and needs to be explained.” One of the most amazing things about Tourism Radio is that the device knows not only where you are, but when you are there, and gives you advice and information accordingly.  So, for instance, if you should be driving through Constantia Nek at about lunchtime, the radio will not only tell you about Constantia, but will also be playing lunchtime adverts for restaurants in that area.  Should you be approaching Kirstenbosch in the late afternoon, it will remind you about the souvenir shops in the vicinity where you might want to stock up on keepsakes before you return home. “This makes advertising on this station extremely directed,” says Mark.  “If you are a wine farm, your advert will be played when the traveller is in the vicinity of your estate.  If you are a jewellery shop or a restaurant, the traveller will be told about you while they are in the area.” It gets even more remarkable than this.  Tourism Radio is connected to a traveller’s social networking site called www.hummba.com  The website allows you to look up information about places you intend to visit, and to get this information sent to your cellphone when you get there.  So, for instance, if you are going to France and intend to take a walking tour through Tuscany, you can load up all the information you want about Tuscany on the website.  And while you are on the journey, it will ring you on your cell and tell you what you want to know!  It’s not only a one-way street, you can also load your own information, your pictures and your travel diary, and send it to the site.  This will keep your family and friends up to date with your adventures. (Don’t overdo it, though.  I’m sure your work colleagues, slaving away in a stuffy office under the Demon Boss, aren’t really all that interested in your minute-by-minute cavorting on the ski slopes drinking ‘The Wind Blows Over the Alps Szzzhhhh’ and chatting up the ski instructor.) To find out more about Tourism Radio – how you can either listen to it, or explain it to your clients, or advertise on it – you can go to the website www.tourismradio.co.za with a touch of a button.  And now THAT’s magical!