King has an impressive résumé and has helmed key projects for some of South Africa’s biggest brands.
She joins the station from Nando's South Africa, where she served as General Manager of Brand Experience IMEA (India, Middle East, Africa).
Before joining Nando’s, King worked as Head of Marketing and Communications (Africa) for The Walt Disney Company.
She oversaw the marketing of the company’s motion picture business, three TV channels, digital content delivery, and media distribution.
“Jacaranda FM is a station on the rise – it has a world-class product and growing audiences across its FM and digital platforms. Finding someone to take the station to greater heights was no mean feat. Deirdre has exemplary media and marketing experience and will also inject the business with fresh perspectives. Her approach to building and empowering staff was particularly compelling. We are excited to have her at the helm,” said Nick Grubb, Kagiso Media Radio Chief Executive.
King is looking forward to bringing a new level of freshness and innovation to the Jacaranda FM team. “My whole life I have been in marketing and content and the one part of my vast experience that I don’t have is radio. I’m really looking forward to feeling uncomfortable and learning new stuff. I think where content is moving, and we are seeing it happening so rapidly with the coronavirus, there are new ways of delivering content. My experience out of the Walt Disney Company brings a new level of content that would be interesting to see how it would work in a radio environment.”
King says she is eager to join a station that was a big part of her childhood. “I grew up in Pretoria and watching Jacaranda grow and morph is part of my heritage - it’s part of so many people’s heritage. It was what we listened to when we were dropped off at school by our moms and dads or even driving to work, Jacaranda was the radio station that took you there. I am terribly excited about coming over to Jacaranda. I am excited to meet the team. They definitely are the most kickass team; we see that in all the nominations they received for the Radio Awards.”
