By
Jonathan Atsu Tachie
For a very long
period of time the people of the Volta Region in general, and Ho in particular
did not have the luxury of choice as far as radio was concerned. In fact, for
more than a decade after the advent of private radio in Ghana, the people of Ho
were left with no choice but to move their FM radio dials between GBC’S Volta
Star Radio and Volta Premier FM (popularly known as VP FM ) owned by the SRC of
Ho Polytechnic. For the records, VP FM is a few months older than Volta Star Radio
and has always given Volta Star Radio a good run for their money, especially in
Ho and its environs.
It is worth
mentioning here that the youthfulness of the presenters of VP FM at the time
naturally made the station the darling dial of most young minds in Ho. Indeed,
radio in those days was fun with budding talents like Emmanuel Reagan Tetteh,
Joseph Kwame Amevor (Aseco, arguably, the best borborbor DJ ever known in this
region), Princella Eyram Adu, Hitman Freezer, Patrick Selassie Kudiabor, D.D. Atobli,
Divine Norvieto (the Hon. Minister for Love and Romantic Affairs), etc made
radio worth listening to and made VP FM a very popular FM dial in Ho and its
environs.
For Volta Star
Radio, its strengths in those days and l dare say even now, lie in their
ability to attract ‘the oldies’ in Ho with rich cultural content on their
network. Suffice, to say though, they also had a few youthful hands on the
turntables who won them some listeners among the budding youth in the region,
mostly outside the catchment area of VP FM. Names like Derrick Johnson
Kamassah, Kafui Kumagah, GQ, etc easily come to mind when talking about the
folks who held the fort for Volta Star Radio in the youth segment of the radio
market in the region.
In recent years,
however, the radio industry in the Volta Region has changed tremendously with
the establishment of many radio stations across the region. Ho, the regional
capital, is now home to five additional radio stations namely Hope FM, US FM,
Kekeli FM, Tosh FM, Kuul FM and if the information available to me is anything
to go by, more stations are on their way to the H.O. City, as Ho has been
branded of late. The end of the VP FM-Volta Star Radio duopoly in Ho due to the
arrival of these new stations has brought in its way many talented presenters
who gladden the hearts of many radio lovers, including yours truly, with their
unique presentation skills.
To make this
series meaningful I intend to express my honest opinions (not binding on
anybody, though) on various segments of radio broadcasting vis-a-vis the Ho
market. In that case, the morning shows, the mid- morning shows, the late
afternoon shows (or what most uninitiated radio fanatics refer to as drive time
shows), the sports shows and entertainment review shows will be looked at in
parts. If I live long enough after finishing this series l may look at the late
night shows and probably, do a piece on the very ‘noisy’ dawn broadcasts from
the so-called prophets and men of God.
