By Anote
Ajeluorou and Gbenga Salau
Radio One 103.5FM, one of the 40 Frequency Modulated stations
under Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), based in Lagos last week
celebrated its first anniversary of being an all-news, all talk and all-sports
format station with a lecture that had the gathering of many veteran
broadcasters who had worked with the station while it was called Radio Nigeria 2 (RN2).
While many of the guests, especially the
veterans took time to talk about the good old days, there were also kind words
for the new station and its managers, as many commended the team leading the
station for truly living up to its mandate of an all-news, all talk and
all-sports radio station.
Chairman of Channels Television, Mr. John
Momoh, who delivered the lecture, noted that professional journalists would
continue to be relevant in the oldest means of mass communication, radio, in
spite of the huge new challenges technology is bringing forth. He advised them
to come to terms with technology to enhance content.
According to him, new tools and practices are
changing the ways that journalists are producing information which is also
redefining the place of professional journalism in a new world information
system. After listing a series of digital radio platforms, ChannelTV boss argued that digital and analog radio would continue
to grow in harmony for certain reasons.
According to him, “While there may be some
concern about the damaging consequences of these trends for the quality of
journalism and the professional survival of journalist, I believe very strongly
that the current developments may in fact be paving the way toward better
journalism and more independent journalists”.
He also stated that with technology which is
changing the environment in which the professional journalists now operate, “new
facts are being uncovered daily, more audience feedback is being integrated;
more voices are being heard; more diverse perspectives on the same news subject
are being presented”.
“With digital environment more stories
available, more archived materials are available and searchable for longer
periods of time; more men and women of power are being watched more closely;
and more people are engaged more actively with the changes around them-by
taking photos or making podcasts of key moments, by commenting on blogs, or by
sharing the stories that matter to them”.
“Today, journalism seems to be more alive
than ever and going through a multiplication of both forms and content at
amazing speed”.
Momoh observed that although radio had been
threatened by new and emerging technologies, but it seems somewhat resilient to
change even though things are changing.
“From the dots-and-dashes of wireless
telegraphy in the late 19th century and on to the algorithm-driven, personalised
music stations we see, strewn across the web today, ‘radio’ as a concept has
evolved for sure. But what does the future hold for the age-old medium? Put
more succinctly, what is the relevance of radio, more so an ‘All News’ station
in a digital age?
“For sure, radio isn’t what it used to be.
That old battery-powered work-of-art that sits on your bathroom window sill may
be what immediately comes to mind in terms of ‘radio’, but it’s now so much
more than that. The lines where radio and music-listening meet have blurred,
making it difficult to distinguish what’s what.
“In the analog days, it was easier to
differentiate ‘radio’ from someone listening to music, say, on their record
player. But now, with Spotify, Pandora, podcasting and all the rest, the waters
have muddied”.
A professor
of Mass Communication, Ralph Akinfeleye, who applauded the speaker for his
erudite discussion of the issue, called on the Federal Government to ensure
continued training and retraining of FRCN
staff, as it would be a misnomer to have digital equipment managed by
analogue staff.
Before the lecture by Momoh, there was a
panel discussion of veteran and retired FRCN staff with root in Radio One. The panel members were Mr.
Soni Irabor (MD, Inspiration FM),
Mrs. Stella Awani and Mrs. Regina Anajemba. Each spoke on how they joined FRCN and their experiences while there.
Awani was a major point of discussion as many who passed through her, including
members of the panel and the guest lecturer of the day, highlighted the
drilling they went through under her watch, as a speech lecturer at FRCN training school. And she lived up
to her billing, when she took everyone back to the classroom with her brief
phonetic lecture while giving the correct pronunciation of some troublesome words.
General Manager of Radio One 103.5FM, Mrs. Funke Treasure-Durodola, thanked everyone
who had in one way helped to grow the station. According to her, the switch-over
to an all-news, all talk and all-sports format in the last twelve months had
been a successful attempt with the station at the forefront of the reportage of
human angle stories. She, however, stated that as in any change project, the
switch-over had its challenges, particularly for marketers, advertisers,
independent producers and members of staff because changing the location and
character of a general interest station with content that had 80 per cent
religious propgrammes and appealed mainly to Yoruba extraction was a tough
call.
Treasure-Durodola said adjustment became
necessary in order to shed some weights, “A major change was the adoption of
English as language of broadcast.” She also said that with the changes, the
unique selling point for the station is its all news slant which stands it out
from other similar stations based in Lagos.
“Radio
One is arguably the oldest radio station in Nigeria, her historical
antecedents speak for itself. However, my focus today is on the milestones the
station has recorded since its switch-over to an all-news, all talk and
all-sports format on August 4, 2014.
“As we celebrate our first anniversary, we
recognize the fact that we have only just begun. The best is yet to come. We
are equally not oblivious of the fierce competition from other private radio
stations in Lagos. What is worth celebrating is the fact that despite the
limited resources and constant regulations by our mother organisation, Radio Nigeria, we have risen from
obscurity to prominence within so short a time”.
Director, Lagos Operation of FRCN, Mr. Ken Ike Okere, thanked Momoh
for accepting to deliver the lecture, adding that the lecture is planned to be
an annual event. According to him, many of the FM stations of FRCN are technology driven and are run
with a business orientation mindset. Okeke said the mandate he was given when
he was appointed was to transform the Lagos operation and when he gave
Treasure-Durodola and her team the marching order to work in line with the new
philosophy in three month and they delivered. He thanked them for helping him
to transform the station, describing her and her team as fantastic.
Some Nigerians were given awards for helping
to place the station in the heart of the people. Some of the awardees were John
Momoh, Prof. Edamisan Temiye, Dr. Tunji Mabawondu, and Prelate of the Methodist
Church, Dr. Samuel Uche.
Apart from an array of professional
broadcasters, there were mass communication students drawn from schools in
Lagos. One of them, Adesola Olayinka, a student of Nigerian Institute of
Journalism (NIJ) commended the organisers of the lecture because it was an
enlightening forum for her besides giving her the opportunity of meeting veterans
in the broadcasting industry. She described her experience as an awesome
privilege, saying that as an aspiring broadcaster, she has been challenged to
work to be the best, especially seeing that the revered broadcasters have made
a positive impact in the country.
Some of the dignitaries present at the forum
were the Speaker of the Lagos State House Assembly, represented by Hon. Tunde
Buraimoh; former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu; Mr. Patrick
Oke; former Minister of Finance, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu.
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