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 Published
July 1st, 2010
Anybody who
grew up around the 80s and 90s in the eastern and southern
parts of Nigeria will recall with nostalgia the activities
of a few individuals who made listening to radio a pleasure.
I remember how as young men growing up in Aba, the
commercial city of Abia state we were all addicted to Radio
Rivers 2 (FM Stereo). I could still recall their ‘Radio
Rivers Two, FM stereo’ trademark station jingle. The station
could easily be described as the best FM station in the
whole of the South East and South South at the time. They
were known for their quality informative, educational and
entertaining programmes, especially music shows which made
many young people to adopt the station as one of choice. A
few names I can recall from that pioneering golden FM era
are Marvellous Macaulay Apolema Junior, Daphne Gogo-Abbey,
Victor Burubo, Adokie Amasiemeka, Jude Tabai, Brighton Sogwe,
Jotex Jompey and of course the ‘King of Talk Radio’, the one
voice that symbolised the people-oriented philosophy of the
station, the late Boma Erekosima (Bless his soul).
Around the
South East, there were a few other stations which paraded
quality Radio DJs and talk personalities that resonated with
the people including Ngozi Ibegbu, Chuzzy Iboko, Rosemary
Azinge, Chris ‘Snakeman’ Odili and D.N.D Onyeachor of ABS
Enugu. Others are Frank Fyne Nwaonyigbo, Ken Ugwu, Nnamdi
Olegbara and Teddy Oscar Uju of IBC FM), but Radio Rivers 2
easily stood out from the lot. Many praises to the Radio DJs
of that era for their contribution to broadcasting
development in Nigeria despite the challenges. This was long
before the advent of GSM mobile phones which today’s radio
DJs increasingly rely on, for listener phone-ins, without
which many of them will struggle to host even an hour- long
show.
FM stations
have since exploded in Nigeria and become common features in
most urban cities. It is not surprising that Lagos has
coveted the title of FM station capital of Nigeria judging
by the number of licensed FM stations operating in Lagos.
There is Cool FM, Classic FM, Unity FM, Rhythm FM, Wazobia
FM, Beat FM, Star FM, Inspiration FM, Brilla FM (sports
focused) etc. No doubt the competition for the listening
ears and attention of the public is now very intense, as
that invariably affects a station’s ability to attract
advertising support. The need to attract and keep the
listeners entertained, especially restless young people who
are the primary targets of the new genre of music-inspired
FM stations that currently dot our radio broadcasting
landscape may have led to the introduction of various
programme formats by the various FM station owners, the most
popular being talk shows which air mostly during drive time.
These are call-in programmes that usually give listeners an
opportunity to rant or rave on air, and also to contribute
to whatever topics were being discussed. The programme
format is usually conversational and in-formal, there are no
scripts to follow and most presenters have occasionally
fallen into the ‘as the spirit leads’ trap, thus going off -
track pandering to what they may perceive as ‘popular
tastes’ which if truth be told actually offends the
sensibilities of the listeners. Perhaps this may have been
why Dafe Ivwurie had argued in his Daily Independent column
- ‘Dafe’s Joint’ that many of today’s FM talk show hosts may
not be able to survive in the broadcasting world if the live
phone-in concept is abolished. Dafe was obviously referring
to the unpreparedness of some of the hosts and hostesses who
rely mainly on listeners’ phone-in contributions to survive
on their daily shows.
No doubt
opening up such shows to audience participation helps make
the shows interactive but what needs to be checked is the
over-reliance on the audience as this now makes some of the
Radio DJs lazy, many have jettisoned researching their
themes and topics before coming on air, hoping as usual that
the listeners will rescue them by jamming the stations with
phone calls. I once listened to an afternoon show on one of
the wave making FM stations in Lagos and was appalled at the
apparent unpreparedness of a female presenter whose call to
the listeners to phone-in and contribute to a mundane topic
she had dreamed up on air was shunned. As the listeners did
not heed her call, she struggled all through the programme.
Such on-air technique obviously shows lack of respect for
the listening public and could be likened to a teacher going
into a classroom without her lecture notes and lesson plan,
hoping that he students will fill up her lesson time with
questions and answers and other activities that do not in
any way contribute to learning.
There is
also another issue to worry about, that of some of the
themes and topics that Nigeria’s modern day Radio DJs
introduce and discuss on air. It is now such that no topic
is off-limits. It is obvious that some of these topics are
not well thought through and researched before discussing
them on air. There is little regard for the social, cultural
and religious undertones of some of the topics. Everything
is now assumed to be okay, after all that is the way the
Americans and the British do them, therefore it must be
right and suitable for Nigerians. The major culprits of this
apparent cultural insensitivity are the returnee Radio DJs,
Nigerians who have sojourned in the diaspora and are now
back working in the various radio stations. You will find
not only their phoney accents annoying but also their dry
sense of humour. Throw in the mundane topics they discuss on
air sometimes and you wouldn’t need to go far to discover
who is killing radio broadcasting in Nigeria.
Just this
morning on my way to work, I was listening to a show hosted
by a male and female presenter on one of Lagos FM stations
and the topic they thought wise to discuss by 7A.M on a
Thursday morning when kids are being dropped off at school
by their parents was married women going out on ladies night
out. As if to add insult to injury, the female presenter
knocked my fellow Igbo brothers as the backward (she
actually used the word traditional) ones who would not want
their wives to go on such fun escapades, she invited Igbo
men and women to call in. And what did the male presenter
do? He not only invited Hausa men and women to also phone
in, but did so in the fakest imitation of Hausa accent you
will ever hear. This obviously was fun to him but to me it
was another poor attempt at stereotyping and ‘dumbing’ down
of a race. Of course I immediately changed to another
station.
I have also
had the misfortune of listening in to a show where the
presenters having searched the whole planet for themes,
topics and issues to discuss decided on a most ‘palatable’
one - fart and farting. Yes, you read right. And for another
hour, listeners were put through what I can only describe as
one of the worst moments in radio broadcasting in Nigeria.
There were callers (who are these people?) calling in to
describe how to do a great fart, the various odours, noise
levels etc.
There was
also this day when some presenters picked on mechanics,
describing them in such condescending terms that you will
think that auto mechanics are not human beings. Buoyed on by
the presenters, listeners started phoning in, one actually
lamented how his dad had once invited a mechanic on a visit
to their house to join him at the dinner table and he
actually did, only for his dad to get angry and shout at the
mechanic for not knowing that the offer was only
‘ceremonial’ and wasn’t meant to be accepted. They all
laughed about these and I was thinking, who is the crazy
person here? The man who invites another to table with the
hope that his offer will not be accepted? Or the mechanic
who humbly accepts a free lunch offer only to be scolded and
derided for it?
It’s good to
see that new things are happening in radio broadcasting in
Nigeria but the presenters should please not throw caution
to the winds by adopting a Lawrence Akapa tabloid style
approach in their quest to entertain the audience, our
children are also listening.
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