Who let the girls out?
I hope you had a very fulfilling Easter holiday and hopefully you showed your face at one of the many shows which were organised between last Friday and Monday.
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Apart from my church’s picnic at the new world class forest resort built by Papaye at Konkonuru on the Akuapem mountains (I dare you to visit this place) I was at just one other show in Accra, the MTN Praise and Choral Festival and I should let you know, if you were not there and yet to read it anywhere, that it was a fantastic show.
Anyway that was the Easter. My attention this week is on the fact that many years ago when we started this private broadcasting thing in Accra, there were so many women who found themselves on the arena to play good music and speak with sweet voices for us to enjoy listening to the radio back then.
Someway somehow, we lost most of them and we have not been able to recover the lost grounds even in the face of increasing number of radio stations appearing almost every day on our airwaves.
Sometimes, I reminisce about those days and things such ladies did on air.
Let me be clear from the onset that I am not talking about presenter of talk programmes and news on radio here, I am referring to the breed, the endangered breed of female presenters who play music and intersperse with some anecdote or a little talk here and there.
Back in the day, we had such a strong contingent of girls at Radio Gold such as Akosua Asomo Puni, Shirley Frimpong-Manso and Yvonne Andoh doing great things with music and their voices on the radio.
Somehow, all of these wonderful women moved on from radio on to higher challenges and do greater things for themselves, God and country.
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Sometime in the past, Choice FM had two of the most renowned mid-morning presenters the capital had known when Rachel Nyann and Vanessa D.D. Odonkor came right after Kwabena Pecku’s morning show to smash us with good music and tidbits.
Back then, Doreen Andoh was as good as she is now but she had good competition for a good measure and we were spoilt for choice in the mid-morning.
Talking about Doreen brings the issue that back then Joy FM had a lot more depth and choice of girls who could go on air and present any good show any day. Now it’s only Doreen (sure Mamavi is keeping good company but still not as before) but in the past we had Ivy Heward-Mills, Adwoa Aidoo and Naana Dankwa to hit us with good music and more.
Don’t forget what Rachel Nyann again, Naa Adjorkor Addo and other girls in the Groove FM posse could do to us back then. Indeed, Naa Adjorkor the Triple S or Super Soul Sister, as was the nom de guerre of the morning show presenter at YFM Miss Naa, was a tough contender whose whistle was more a music to the ear than a nuisance to avoid.
Vibe FM was not just “The Soul of the Capital” back then but also gave us a huge contingent of awesomely great female radio presenters. Anyone who doesn’t remember the exploits of Cindy Anafo and to some extent Blakofe on Vibe FM back then must be in their diapers at the time.
However, the woman who stood tall for me in the Vibe of the old was none other than the Drum ‘n Bass boss chick , Tish Ferguson as she was then known. Jungle was very massive at the time and Tish made it a lot bigger than was normal on her Friday night jaunts up the eighth floor of the Trust Towers!
I could go on and talk about some of the exploits of female presenters at other stations including what happened when Vanessa Odonkor was at Atlantis Radio and oh later when Betty Ashun aka Baisiwa Ashun aka Baisiwa Dowuona-Hammond did stuff from there too but I am sure you get my point.
Back , the men have to fight for the place and I am talking about great male presenters too, yet I look around now and there are only a few of such women who are rubbing shoulders with their male counterparts on radio.
Off the top of my head, I can count five women on radio in Accra who stand out in what they do when they present their music shows or give other relevant information along the course of their programmes or both just like those whom I mentioned from the past and I would like to mention such women.
First, Doreen Andoh is still the queen of the airwaves and she has been doing greatly for a long period of time. She was there when all the people I have mentioned were smashing heads and long after they have left she still keeps the fire burning as hot as before.
However, Joy FM needs to get a balancer or someone, a female, who is able to step in well when she is not around. Maybe, just maybe, Mamavi is the one.
The next is Jessica Opare-Saforo of Citi FM who matriculated at Vibe FM, continued at Choice FM and finally landed at Citi FM. When she took over from the pioneering host of the Brunch on Citi, Odilia Ofori, after handling the drive on Choice FM during Randy Abbey’s tenure as COO, Jessica has grown in leaps and bounds. For many observers of the industry, there is no gainsaying the fact that if Doreen is the female president of the airwaves then her Vice is Jessica.
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Another female presenter who has stayed the tide and remained relevant in the current situation is Deloris Frempong Manso or Delay as her fans call her. As far as the local language speaking female music presenters on radio are concerned, Delay is the leader of the pack.
Her style may be crude, her comments may be risqué and she may continue to hold the view that I don’t like her (even if it’s the figment of her imagination) but she is among the top female presenters currently “running things” in the capital.
Then there is YFM (or is it former YFM) presenter, Jeremie Van-Gershon who has for a while now captured the hearts of young people with her show on YFM. As I mentioned last week, she has done well for herself and the station she has been working with for the past four years and has cut a niche in the market she serves.
Having moved on to Live FM though it would be known in due course if cult and influence she created at YFM would remain with her or would be gone with the wind!
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Caroline Sampson brings the rear, in my view, on this list of five presenters who are pumping a lot of estrogen into the airwaves (not literally, please). She is not your loud presenter but this young lady has been around for a while doing the turns on Atlantis, Citi, Pravda and then settling to serve Room Service on YFM.
She hasn’t done badly with the songs and also not badly with the interaction with listeners and has been the super sub on most programmes on the station. With Jeremie’s departure it would seem the heir apparent to the Y Lounge seems to be Caroline who sits in now, by the way.
So as you can see from the above, if you have not been dozing reading this, there have been several female presenters who have strutted the turf of the capital over time but it is these few (and there are some who must up their game) who are shining the light on behalf of the women. Long may they live!
By Francis Doku/Graphic Showbiz
Email: [email protected]
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