The year 2016 which we have just kissed ‘bye bye’ to was generally a good year for the budding radio industry in Ho, the Volta Regional capital. The industry has seen significant growth in terms of competition with a new radio station, Global FM, joining the fray in August. This has obviously intensified competition among the stations for our ears. A good number of poachings (or should l say, transfers?) also happened during the year. Below is an attempt by yours truly to summarize the major events which took place at the various stations in Ho for your reading pleasure.
Kekeli 102.9 FM
Being an election year, the studios of Kekeli FM became a hot bed for political discussions with activists from mainly the NDC and NPP battling it out on daily basis in their attempts to woo the voting public to their sides. At a point in time, it became obvious the slot on the morning show for political discussions was not enough so Kekeli Drive, hosted by Sizzla l, which hitherto, was an entertainment programme also catched the political fever and started hosting politicians to keep up with the times.
A few presenters also left the station to ply their trades elsewhere. Hard hitting disc jockey, DJ Misty joined Jaydee 99.9 FM whilst the smooth talking Paul Mensah Anku and versatile sports presenter, Christian Chibueze alias Mourinho moved to the newly established Global 105.1 FM. In the absence of Mourinho, young presenter Randy Edudzi Ahadzi, added the sports portfolio at the station to his lunch time schedule. But just to mention that ever since he took over fully as the ‘sports man’ of the station the very popular Saturday morning sports review programme has not been regular on air.
During the period under review, young disc jockey, Prospect Imature also established himself as the No. 1 music ‘disher’ on the network with the controversial (for his utterances on air) DJ Senses holding down the youth with the station’s Hip Pop shows. Kingsley Atitsigbe, as usual, was the sub for the station’s morning show host and became even more regular on the show in the later part of the year.
Kuul 103.5 FM
The year 2016 saw the station growing stronger in the English language space of the radio market in Ho. The morning show host on the network, Blessed Sogah, used the electioneering season to further established himself as the go-to guy when it comes to asking politicians tough and probing questions on the phone.
The station, however, lost some of their key presenters such as Caleb Delanyoh, Xormse Ametame, Romeo Dravi and producer extraordinaire, Kofi Gamor. These four guys played key roles in making Kuul FM what it is today in Ho. For instance, the versatility of Caleb saw him working as a sports presenter, a DJ (a good one for that matter) and host of the station’s mid-morning show Kuul Express ever since Mr J. B.K. Avorgah left the scene, and sometimes as a technician. Xormse was the station’s main technical guy and also hosted some of the popular musical shows on the network (he was virtually an E. P. Church Choir master on Sunday mornings). Romeo worked as a producer /presenter at the station and Kofi Gamor, who in my estimation, was the main factor behind the success the Kuul Morning Show has recorded ever since they entered the market, working as the main producer of the show.. He was also the super sub when the main host was not available for one reason or the other, and also hosted a couple of talk shows on the network.
In the absence of DJ Caleb, a lady presenter by name, Belinda, has been the host of the mid-morning show, Kuul Express and if her exploits on the show so far are anything to go by then l can say we are in for a good ride with her. She seems so comfortable in her new role and her smooth radiogenic voice and good command over the English will make her strong contender in that segment of the market, sooner than later.
Bright Ellis remained the host of the Ultimate Drive on Kuul FM throughout the year and it is no longer news that he is one of the dominant figures in that segment of radio in Ho. The early part of the year saw the introduction of two youngsters, Sedi and Jeremy Young on the Ultimate Drive and they added a new flavour to the show but both left somewhere along the line. The later part of the year also saw the introduction of a new ‘mate’ by name Zito King on the same show and he has been helping keep conversation alive on the show.
Sports is almost dead on Kuul FM since the departure of Caleb Delanyoh . My discovery of the year at the station has been Togbe Adraku, who comes around in the afternoons to faultlessly deliver the news in Ewe.
Tosh 103.9 FM
Tosh FM is known for two things; airing hot political talk shows and playing good music for the listening pleasure of their listeners. The year 2016 was no exception to this norm. The election was evenly contested for by the NDC and NPP communicators on the numerous platforms created by the management of Tosh FM.
Much to my delight, they restructured their morning show to include many more interesting segments. Efo Kwame Senyo, one of the greats when it comes to broadcasting in the Ewe language, moved to Tosh FM and have been sharing the morning show slot with Prince Amevi. Mr Kwame Senyo’s Nyaseto segment on the AM Show, a satire designed to address social issues, is one of the new additions to the morning show. If you’ve never heard Mr Kwame Senyo conducting an interview in English language before then you may want to make a date with him on the Tosh Am Show. It is always exciting to listen to him do so perfectly considering the fact that most of us grew up knowing Mr Kwame Senyo of Volta Star Radio for doing his programmes in mostly unadulterated Ewe language.
Sports has also been brought back into the scheme of affairs at Tosh FM with the addition of Davies Attuquaye Clottey of US FM and Talksense Sports fame to the team at Tosh FM.
Volta Premier 98.1 FM
Not much has changed at the only campus-based radio station in Ho, in the year under review. The station continued to compete in the English language space of the radio market in Ho. Mawuli Yevu-Agbi and Rustum Gameli Senorgbe were the morning show hosts throughout the year with the later sitting in for the former whenever he is unavailable to host the show. In my opinion, they need to put a little bit of energy into the show to make it more exciting in the coming days.
Bruce Dylan nnd Micheal Nene Lamptey were at post for the greater part of the year to present their respective shows. Whilst Dylan held on on to the feat as one of the most exciting presenters on urban youth radio with his swag on the mid-morning show Nene managed – amidst all the competition – to hold on to the loyal listeners of the Home Drive on VP FM. The show also witnessed the introduction of a segment where Nene and his team probed into trending stories in the country’s entertainment industry.. A good number of celebrity interviews were conducted on this segment of Home Drive in the year.
The later part of the year saw the introduction of a new voice on the sports desks at VP FM. The young man by name Richard Korley was on hand a few occasions to present the sports segment of Home Drive with Christian Sowada and Rustum Gameli making appearances as analysts or ‘summarisers’. Apostle Paul was on hand to present his shows for the greater part of the year with a new kid on the bloc, Prince Gbadago, sitting in for him whenever he is unavailable to do so.
Global 105.1 FM
The new station started operating in August of the year under review. In fact, it seems this station had the shortest test transmission in the history of radio in Ho (l stand to be corrected, though) because they launched into regular programming just a few weeks after they started transmitting from their Old Housing- based studios. It was as if they had a ‘tight’ deadline to meet and someone was pushing them to do so.
Over the few months that the station has been on air it seems to have made some significant gains in the market. What worked the magic for them was the decision to assemble a team of on-air personalities who were already popular names in radio circles in Ho.
Presenters such as Togbe Ahorgo l, (their morning show host), King Norbert Akpablie (who started their drive time programme) and Christian Chibueze (who leads their sports team) were already popular names on radio in Ho. That naturally made Global FM’ s entry into the market much easier. So far, the station has become a credible competitor in the morning show and mid-morning segments of the market with a little bit of excitement and energy needed to also push the drive time show to a level that it can be counted among the top players in the market.
Sports coverage, especially the EPL, has been phenomenal on the network with Tilda Acorlor of Volta Star Radio switching allegiance on weekends to complement the efforts of Christian Chibueze alias Mourinho as they bring to listeners action from the EPL every weekend.
The compelling news bulletins they promised on the network is yet to materialize except for the 5.pm one which, in my estimation, is yet to reach the crescendo that will make me drop those being relayed from Accra for theirs. Komla Gbortsu’s evening talk show has gained some popularity just that some of us have to split our television evening news space with that programme.
Hope 93.1 FM
Hope FM in the year under review remained the place for anybody who prefers radio without any ‘noise’ (what others called fun and excitement) to seek solace at. Because of the solemn nature of things at the station, one could easily count the number of on-air personalities at Hope FM throughout the year.
One remarkable achievement in the year as far this station is concerned is the decision to broadcast live proceedings of the Ho Municipal Assembly meetings. It offered most listeners the rare opportunity to monitor the contributions of our ‘small honourables’ who are supposed to lead the development agenda of the area. It was a refreshing experience to hear some of the positive deliberations (and the many absurd ones too) in the assembly from the comfort of our homes and work places.
The parliamentary ambition of the CEO of the station, Mr Tukpeyi, was also given much prominence on the airwaves of Hope FM as listeners were bombarded with many campaign songs of the man who wanted to represent us in parliament as an independent candidate. Many of his campaign activities were also broadcast live or recorded and played back to listeners.
The Hope FM team also welcomed into their midst, three of the presenters who left Kuul FM namely Kofi Gamor, Xormse Ametame and Romeo Dravi. Kofi Gamor has since been hosting the morning show (a domain he is used to) on the network and Xormse has been been on the drive time show (what he was doing before leaving to Kuul Fm).
Nana Yaw Ansah Asare and Theophilus Zottorgloh were around throughout the year to feed the listeners of Hope FM with sports.
Volta Star Radio 91.3 FM
The Volta Regional subsidiary of the state broadcaster, GBC, carried out its constitutional mandate of educating, informing and entertaining its listeners in the year under review. The major development at the station was that, one of the most experienced, and l dare say, most popular broadcasters ever seen in the region, Efo Kwame Senyo, took a bow from VSR. For some of us, Volta Star Radio was Kwame Senyo, and Kwame Senyo was Volta Star Radio when it comes to the popularity of the man.
It is now left to the top brass at Volta Star Radio to deploy the remaining veteran broadcasters like Anani Gbadago , Little Ben Vidzreku, etc strategically in serving the needs of their loyal listeners. As with all GBC outlets, much was not heard on VSR as far as political discourse was concerned. Some parliamentary hopefuls, however, made appearances occasionally to sell their visions to the electorates.
Jaydee 99.9 FM
This station is gradually turning out to be the official ‘music box’ for listeners of radio in Ho, with taxi cab drivers being the greatest beneficiaries. For anyone who has been listening to this station, it is very difficult to tell whether the station is still doing test transmission or regular programming as all that happens on the network is playing good danceable tunes nonstop and this they have been doing for more than a year.
I heard ace broadcaster, Joseph Kwame Amevor, better known as Aseco, of Volta Premier FM fame is the manager of the station. If that is true, then one can expect some good programmes on the network if they decide to start talk programmes in our generation. In the meantime, we will continue enjoying the good music they serve us with and probably get intoxicated by the numerous adverts of Joy Daddy Bitters.
PS. Nene Lamptey was adjourned the RTP Awards Radio Personality for the Volta Region in the year under review. I heard he wanted to organize a press conference to officially reject the award due to the palpable flaws in the nominees’ list. The RTP Awards nominees list for the Volta Region has been a source of worry for some industry players in recent years. It seems the folks in Accra (l mean the organizers) has been recycling the same nominees list for the last three editions of the scheme. The reason they still had Juliet Nugble, who has been off air for close to two years now on the list, and Israel Pentem, who left Tosh FM close to three years now as a nominee from Tosh FM in the year 2016. Folks, an award scheme is as good as the integrity of its organizers. If there is the need to boycott this RTP thing as a form of protest you better start now.