Alan Khan
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Alan Khan (born in Durban, South Africa, 17 December 1971), is a media and radio personality in South Africa. Alan is currently the Senior Director of Corporate Affairs at the Durban University of Technology [1] in Durban, South Africa. He also presents a daily talk show on national radio via the SABC on Lotus FM. The show is broadcast Monday to Thursday between 19H00 and 20H00. In April 2015, two months before celebrating his 25 year anniversary on radio, Alan was inducted into the South African Radio Hall of Fame.
He is a former Chief Executive Officer of Jacaranda 94.2 [2] and Jacaranda RMFM. Jacaranda is South Africa's biggest independent (non-government controlled) radio station.
He was Deputy MD of East Coast Radio, [3] in Durban, and also presented the weekday morning show called the BIG Breakfast with model, businesswomen and TV star Sorisha Naidoo. Khan started his career at TNT Radio back in 1990. In 1993, he joined Capital Radio 604, [4] where he worked until the station's last day of broadcast, which was on November 29, 1996. Alan co-hosted the last show on Capital Radio with colleague Kenny Maistry. Alan decided to branch out into television, where he covered powerboating on Super Sport in the 1990s and then co-hosted am2day, the daily morning national TV show on SABC2.
Alan currently sits on the Transformation Committee of the Kwazulu Natal Rugby Union [5] and is a member of the KZNRU Marketing Committee. In March 2012, the Consul General of India in Durban appointed Alan as a Director of the India South Africa Business Forum [6].
In 1997, ELLE Magazine in South Africa listed Alan as one of the most eligible bachelors in the country. He married two months later.
He was also on stage in the capacity of Programme Director during the official Millennium Party in Durban [7], and has interviewed several prominent personalities, including Nelson Mandela, Alex Ferguson, Steffi Graf, Janet Jackson, Cliff Richard, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sepp Blatter, Sachin Tendulkar, Reverend Jesse Jackson and Stevie Wonder amongst others. He loves sport and supports Everton FC [8].
Alan has been invited to stand as a member of the global media selection panel that nominates candidates for the annual Laureus World Sports Awards.
He was also the inaugural President of the Convocation for the newly merged Durban University of Technology and a member of the University Council. Khan was in that position until 2005. In October 2006, the Durban University of Technology named Alan as the recipient of the 2006 Silver Tusk Award, the annual honour given to one member of the Alumni in recognition for Outstanding Achievement. He studied Chiropractic and then Journalism at the DUT - during an interesting era in South Africa's history, that saw the unbanning of the ANC, the release of Nelson Mandela and eventually, South Africa's first ever democratic elections in 1994. Alan also went on to successfully complete his MDD at the Graduate School of Business at UKZN and also achieved an EDP at Georgetown University in Washington DC in July 2004, in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters [9]. Alan did his Board Leadership Programme at GIBS UP in 2008.
In November 2006, Khan was appointed CEO of South Africa's number 1 independent commercial radio station, Jacaranda 94.2' [10] - which is based in the economic hub of Gauteng province in South Africa. Jacaranda is also owned by the listed black empowerment media giant Kagiso Media, the same company that owns East Coast Radio and that has stakes in other stations in Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg.
Apart from radio, Alan has acted as a weekly columnist for POST newspaper in Durban, where he wrote a sports opinion piece between 2001 and 2005.
Alan is a Board member for the South African NGO Women & Men Against Child Abuse [11].
In April 2008, Alan was asked to join the judging team for the Tony Koenderman South African ADReview Awards.
He delivered a presentation at the 3rd Annual African Media & Broadcast Congress in October 2008 at the Sandton ICC in Johannesburg, where he spoke on "The Future of Radio in a Digital World. Is the Internet an Extinction Level Event for Radio?"
Alan was featured in the April 2009 edition of CEO Magazine, where he was interviewed about radio in the digital age: "How is Jacaranda responding to the global economic challenges?"; and his general view of leadership and management. He was quoted as having said: "They said video would kill the radio star. We are still here. Where is VHS?"
Alan was invited to judge the MTN SOUTH AFRICAN RADIO AWARDS in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
He also hosted the 2014 and 2015 African Renaissance Gala Banquets at the Durban ICC and Alan was the Programme Director for the Business Women's Association 2014 Regional Achievers Award. He was also invited to join the Businesswomen's Association of South Africa and has the distinction of being the only male in KwaZulu-Natal to receive this honour to serve with the regions leading business women.
Alan is married to sociologist, Dr Mariam Seedat Khan. Apart from her work in academia, Mariam has also developed a programme to help people explore methods to learn and study. The learning tool is call SMART (Simply Managing Academic Related Tasks) [12]. The couple met in September 1996 and they married in March the following year. Alan had interviewed Mariam on his talk show "Capital Live" on Capital Radio 604 and that's how they had first met. They have two sons, Nasser and Ameer, who both attend school in Durban.
