Mike Eghan: Iconic broadcaster
In the 1960s, Takoradi-based Broadway Dance Band released a song entitled “Ayefro” (Akan word literally meaning a newly-married person), whose central message was the celebration of personal achievements during one’s lifetime and not after one passes on, since that would be inconsequential in the land of the dead.
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This theme resonates with the saying that “the nation that does not honour its heroes is not worth dying for”, implying that achievers must be recognised while they are alive.
It is within this context that some of the indelible achievements Mike Eghan has etched in the landscape of public broadcasting in Ghana are being spotlighted, though from a personal/subjective perspective.
Early memories
In the early 1960s, Mike Eghan was a regular co-host of Radio Dance Time with David Larbi on Radio Ghana, the only radio station in Ghana at the time.
He underwent a period of nurturing and polishing up during his five-year stint with the British Broadcasting Corporation between 1965 and 1970, after which he returned home to join the commercial service of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, GBC 2, where he made a seismic impact with his innovative style of presenting musical programmes on radio known as disc jockeying.
Mixed reactions
Despite the seemingly hostile reception among some GBC 2 listeners to this new phenomenon of “running commentaries alongside playing songs and abruptly ending them”, disc jockeying gradually became an established style of presenting popular music among many of Mike Eghan’s contemporaries and those who came after him.
Listeners came to appreciate its educative aspects: the tit-bits of information on the bands, song titles, dates of release, artistes and the instruments they played and other related matters of interest to music lovers.
Mike’s response to some of his critics was, “I’m paid to talk”.
Mike Eghan’s immense contribution to what could be described as the golden years of vhighlife music, with particular reference to the music of C.K. Mann (Western Region) and Nana Kwame Ampadu (Eastern Region) cannot be forgotten.
He provoked a lively healthy radio debate between himself and his colleague Akwasi Ampadu Boateng as to which of the two musicians was the better exponent of highlife music in Ghana.
Mike’s boast that “the best comes from the West” was the bone of contention between the two camps.
However, highlife music was the ultimate winner, as the contest brought the best out of the two popular highlife giants in the 1970s and beyond.
Mike Eghan Show
This Saturday night show on GBC-TV was as educative as it was entertaining, with Mike Eghan in the thick of affairs.
The calibre and quality of personalities and performers he showcased demonstrated his superb interviewing skills, a clear indication of the depth of research that elicited the kind of responses his guests shared on the show.
One particularly interesting thing about the show was the one-line song he composed and always rendered as its signature tune, “Welcome, welcome, welcome to the show”, backed by the big band sounds of the GBC Dance Band.
First live phone-in
In the mid-1970s he co-hosted a late-night session with Ms Joyce Aryee, dubbed My Late Night Friend Show, which had a slot for live phone calls from listeners, the first of its kind on GBC 2.
Though this novelty sadly enjoyed a short lifespan, it set the stage for Charlie Sam and Tommy Annan-Forson to replicate the same later on in an afternoon show in the early 1990s.
Unfortunately, it was unexpectedly terminated after a couple of outings, obviously due to the prevailing “unfriendly” political climate when the country was under military rule.
Today, phone-in segments have been integrated into most radio and television programmes countrywide.
Twilight years
Mike Eghan became a pacesetter in the local fashion scene after he returned home from the UK to introduce what came to be called “the Mike Eghan hat”, which enjoyed substantial patronage among fashion lovers, especially the youth.
Unsurprisingly, this fashion-conscious, accomplished broadcaster was chosen as the sole Master of Ceremonies for the historic Soul To Soul marathon musical concert which rocked Black Star Square in Accra from March 6 to 7, 1971.
Now in his eighties and having fully paid his dues to his motherland, Mike Eghan must be enjoying a fulfilling, restful retirement.
Ayekoo… Uncle Mike.
Your nation is proud of you.
The writer is a retired educationist.
E-mail: [email protected]