Francis Doku: Multimedia Broadcasting’s Top 26 at 20 (1)
I got caught in a few things last week and so I could not make it here and therefore failed to fulfill my promise from the previous week. I did say that I would share with you who in my view have been the 20 of the best people who have played roles in the stations within the Multimedia Group over the last 20 years.
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I admit that 20 would be very a small number considering the number of years and the extent of sacrifices people had to make to see the different organisations within the group grow from concept to where they are now. I have decided to make it 26 (because I can); still small but an improvement, no?
Let me say, though I ought not, that whatever I am talking about here is what I have seen and observed from the outside. I have no internal appraisal documents or anything close to such to make my view. So I could be wrong in assuming that someone was good when internally he or she probably wasn’t.
I also know that set the bar at 20 people means there will be several other people that my brush would not paint and that could mean trouble for me, but as you already know, my middle name is trouble so that’s no problem at all.
First, let me correct an error in the previous piece in which I referred to the CEO of Multimedia Company Limited as Daniel Kwasi Twum. He is actually called George Kwasi Twum. Now that we get that of the way, here you go…
Let’s start with Kwaku Sakyi Addo who for about a decade and half brought home to Joy FM all the biggest newsmakers in Ghana and beyond. His programme, Front Page was the show on which you had to be if you thought you had arrived and he asked the hardest questions around here.
I took the ending of that show more personal than anyone else would because first of all, I grew on the show and also for me it defined how to host a talk show as it set the standard for others to try and do it.
No talk show on radio up until now can compare with Front Page and I doff my hat to KSA anytime for building the best radio talk show ever.
What again should be said about Komla Dumor? Maybe we should just get with the game and say that he wrote the book with his life and work about how to host the best morning show in Ghana.
He became the standard bearer for not just the morning show, but for all things broadcasting. A lot has been said about the legacy of legendary Boss Playa and so we end it here.
Gabe Adjetey or The Gabster as he used to call himself on radio set the tone for the best late afternoon show in Accra. As host of Drive Time on Joy FM, Gabe chose a path of fun, good music and interesting interaction with his audience.
Gabe played roles on other shows like the Friday Night Show and others, however the work he did in the early days ensured that Drive Time would maintain a name and place as one of the greatest radio shows in the capital.
Doreen Andoh has earned her name and her place among the pantheons of the broadcast business. For 20 years, she has been strutting the same turf and doing what she knows how to do best and encouraging other people in the process.
Doreen lay the foundation to and became the S.I. Unit for how to run a good mid-morning show.
As the first ever General Manager of Joy FM (or whatever the designation was at the time), Tommy Annan Forson has to take a lot of plaudits for making the station into one that drew a lot of listeners and love from the people they came to broadcast to.
Tommy was seen as that sweet guy on the radio but one who was the no-nonsense boss off air.
He was not just good as a manager, he was great on air and his early programmes such as a Gift of Song with Esi Ampah who he renamed Esi Glow, because she “was always glowing” was a hit that stuck with audience.
However, it was his love for country music (which incidentally brought him back many years after he had left) that defined his on-air persona. Tommy was a great resource and no book on Joy FM can be written without noting and acknowledging his efforts.
Dusty Wayne was the first host of the late afternoon show before Gabe took over. He and Tommy were among the experienced hands from GBC that came to strengthen the young team and to make sure they build a formidable station.
They did and then afterwards, Dusty went to Kumasi to do same at Luv FM. He was a great broadcaster and one whose industry helped to cement the Multimedia business in the market.
Cox Tamakloe had a strong background in music before the coming of Joy FM and Kwasi Twum and this whole radio thing. That background was useful for the station when it needed it most.
Cox became a presenter as well though his voice wasn’t what you’d be comfortable with. He however succeeded in that too and indeed when he was on, his was the place “you wanna be, boy”.
Cox also went to Kumasi and in the latter days, he helped to set up Asempa FM and made it a strong brand in talk programming before also helping to make Adom FM strong again.
He was instrumental in discovering and developing some talents for the business including Mark Okraku Mantey, Nii Ayi Tagoe and Bola Ray. Cox indeed paid his dues in full to Multimedia Company Limited!
From Joy FM through Luv FM to Adom FM, Kofi Kum Bilson will surely go down in history as one of the people who helped to build Mr. Twum’s business to the heights where it is now with his own style and creative abilities.
When Bilson hosted Lunch Time Rhythms back in the day, we made sure we were tuned in every single day and it was a heartbreak when he left to Kumasi. Trust me, Bilson did a lot in Kumasi to make Luv FM a household name before eventually being moved to Adom FM. At Adom FM he recreated the midmorning and made it a popular show than it was ever before he took over.
It was Kofi Tsakpowornu who made me love jazz. In the early days of Joy FM, he was the guy who brought us Jazz on Joy and his sleek and jazzy voice was an attraction. I thought we would never have his kind again when he left. But then we had Ken Addy who came from Groove FM and he took the jazz thing to the next level and my love grew higher.
So who is this for? It is for Addy because besides jazz, he also brought his knowledge in a love for other specialists and especially old school music to bear on the station. For so many years, he has done this and those who love his kind of music have stayed with the station. Don’t forget that Ken Addy was the maiden host of Eko Sii Sen on Asempa FM. Although I didn’t like him on that show, he was there nonetheless.
What can be said about Bola Ray and his contribution to the Multimedia business? A lot has been said and a lot can be said again, but let’s keep it brief. Bola Ray redefined drive time in Accra. He changed the Gabe Adjetey style and instituted his own.
For over a decade, he was the guy everyone looked up to and he was large, good and excellent in what he did. If there is anyone who had a name bigger than the show on which he was, it had to be Bola Ray. He did what he had to do and then decided to move on to other things. At that stage his star(r) had been planted in the Multimedia walk of fame!
If you don’t have a good memory, you won’t remember that when Dumor was away in Havard Joy Fm couldn’t find a good replacement though they tried several people including Nortey Dua, KSM and who? Until Adwoa Aidoo sat in with cheeky ease!
That woman saved Komla’s show and when the latter returned the two were paired, but it was a wrong move as two uber talented people could not work in that manner and so eventually Komla got his show back and Adwoa focused on her legal work at the Ghana Stock Exchange.