After a protracted battle with cancer, renowned South African broadcaster Mark Pilgrim passed away on Sunday.
The radio station he most recently worked for, Hot 102.7, confirmed his passing. His passing has sparked a deluge of touching obituaries on social media.
In March 2022, Pilgrim received a lung cancer diagnosis. The radio host started a YouTube video series after receiving his diagnosis to document his healing process.
He previously served as presenter of the game show Power of 10 and the reality TV series Big Brother South Africa and Big Brother Africa. In 1988, the father of two beat testicular cancer.
After finding his feet on campus radio in the late 1980s, Pilgrim started his professional radio career with 5FM in the mid-1990s, spending 10 years with the station before the next decade saw him broadcasting simultaneously on 94.5 KFM across the Cape and 94.7 Highveld Stereo in Johannesburg.
In 2014 Pilgrim joined start-up community station Hot 91.9FM and went on to pick up two SA Radio Awards in his time with the station. When a new commercial station was launched in Johannesburg in July 2021, in the form of Hot 102.7FM, Pilgrim was handed the mid-morning slot.
In 2021 Pilgrim was inducted into the SA Radio Awards Hall of Fame, but he also made his mark in TV, hosting numerous prime-time shows over the years, including, memorably, South Africa’s first ever ‘Big Brother’.
He was also a sought-after voice artist, published author, MC, corporate DJ, and motivational speaker, along with holding a BCom degree in Industrial Psychology and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School.